Legal Ethics

  • April 03, 2025

    Law Firm Says Insurer Shorted On Defense Of Blackmail Suit

    A law firm accused by a Florida state judge of causing her emotional distress via blackmail is suing its insurer, alleging the insurer underpaid the firm's defense counsel by nearly $600,000 in connection with the settled underlying lawsuit she filed.

  • April 03, 2025

    Baltimore Atty Avoids Prison After $25M Extortion Conviction

    A Baltimore attorney has been sentenced to three years of probation with six months of home confinement after being convicted of trying to extort $25 million from the University of Maryland Medical System.

  • April 03, 2025

    Law Firm Fights Ex-Paralegal's Anonymity Bid In Bias Suit

    A former paralegal at a Pennsylvania law firm made speculative and illogical arguments to take her identity away from her overtime and retaliation suit, the firm said Thursday, urging a federal court to keep her name known.

  • April 03, 2025

    Pick For DC's US Atty Exits Roles To Prepare For Confirmation

    The nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, has made his law firm inactive and resigned from other roles in preparation for his confirmation.

  • April 03, 2025

    Atty Suspended Over Billing Lapses In State Street Case

    The former managing partner of Thornton Law Firm LLP has received a 30-day license suspension for his decision to sign an inaccurate billing declaration to a federal judge in an investor action against State Street Bank.

  • April 03, 2025

    Ex-JPMorgan Atty Gets Probation For NYC Housing Fraud

    A former Bronx prosecutor and JPMorgan attorney was sentenced in New York state court Thursday to probation and community service for fraud and grand larceny, after she pled guilty to using forged records to obtain low-rent apartments.

  • April 03, 2025

    Adams Case Threatens NY Southern District's 'Supremacy'

    The controversial end to New York City Mayor Eric Adams' historic criminal corruption prosecution could threaten the Southern District of New York's privileged status within the Justice Department and its leverage over other districts when it comes to vying for the lead on high-profile cases, experts say.

  • April 02, 2025

    5 Fed. Circ. Clashes To Watch This Month

    The Federal Circuit will hear arguments this month in patent cases involving Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine and a blockbuster Johnson & Johnson schizophrenia drug, and the court will itself be the subject of a case at another appeals court as Judge Pauline Newman seeks to end her suspension.

  • April 02, 2025

    Perkins Coie Urges Court To End Trump's 'Assault' On Firm

    Perkins Coie LLP on Wednesday asked a D.C. federal judge to permanently block enforcement of President Donald Trump's "unconstitutional assault" on the firm and the rule of law, filing a summary judgment bid the same day the federal government pushed for the firm's suit to be tossed.

  • April 02, 2025

    'Zero Support In The Bar': Judiciary Downsizes Amicus Project

    Faced with wide-ranging opposition and potential constitutional challenges, federal judiciary advisers Wednesday sharply scaled back plans to strengthen scrutiny of amicus briefs, a retreat that won praise from disparate corners of the legal industry.

  • April 02, 2025

    Calif. Panel Questions Hacking Case Against Ex-Prosecutor

    A California appeals panel probed Wednesday whether criminal charges were properly brought against a former top prosecutor at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for improperly using confidential sheriff's deputy files, with one judge observing that the case applies an "awfully broad understanding" of a hacking statute.

  • April 02, 2025

    Client Says Colo. Injury Attys Didn't Tell Him About Settlement

    A personal injury plaintiff is suing his former attorneys and their Colorado law firm for malpractice after they allegedly failed to notify him of a settlement offer in time, forcing the case to trial where jurors issued a verdict that was less than the settlement offer.

  • April 02, 2025

    Feds Claim Immunity For ICE Agent Who Made Midtrial Arrest

    Lawyers with the U.S. attorney's office in Boston asked a federal judge Wednesday to toss a state court judge's contempt finding against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who detained a defendant midtrial, calling the decision a "damaging state intrusion into federal functions."

  • April 02, 2025

    NY Judge Sanctions Attys For Adding Claims In Bad Faith

    Lawyers representing an education resources supplier that sued its business partner over allegations of price-fixing and bid-rigging within the New York City school system have been sanctioned for repeatedly attempting to add claims to unauthorized amended complaints in what a federal judge said was bad faith.

  • April 02, 2025

    Ex-Kirkland Atty To Drop Bias Suit, Appeal Atty Firing Ruling

    A former Kirkland & Ellis LLP intellectual property associate is expected to drop her claims against the law firm and related defendants, while also appealing a ruling that precluded her from firing her attorney in the case, the parties told a California federal court Tuesday.

  • April 02, 2025

    Atty Can't Duck Land Dispute Malpractice Suit, NJ Sisters Say

    New Jersey sisters who sued Fox Rothschild and a firm attorney over the handling of their late stepfather's estate have told a New Jersey state judge that their claims were timely filed and that issues of material fact that would preclude summary judgment still remain.

  • April 02, 2025

    When Can Attys Decide To Drop Clients? ABA Says It Depends

    Lawyers can drop clients at will as long as doing so won't harm the client's legal objectives or needlessly drive up costs, according to new guidance by the American Bar Association — but the guidance also notes that "getting out of a matter can be a lot harder than getting in."

  • April 02, 2025

    Trump Can't Dodge Suit Over Use Of Isaac Hayes Song

    President Donald Trump and his 2024 campaign on Wednesday were denied an early exit from a suit over their use of the 1966 song "Hold On, I'm Coming," as a Georgia federal judge ruled that the estate of soul artist Isaac Hayes plausibly alleged it held the rights to the song he co-authored.

  • April 02, 2025

    Forum Shopping Debated At Nationwide Injunctions Hearing

    Legal experts gave varying testimony at a Senate hearing on Wednesday about how addressing forum shopping would remedy issues related to nationwide injunctions, which Republicans have been highly critical of due to the vast number issued against President Donald Trump's policies since he came into office.

  • April 02, 2025

    Fla. Litigation Funder Must Face NJ Lawyer's Counterclaim

    A Florida-based litigation funder pursuing an $18 million breach of contract suit against a New Jersey lawyer must face the bulk of a countersuit alleging the business reneged on an agreement to secure funding for nationwide personal injury cases.

  • April 02, 2025

    Eric Adams Case Dismissed As Judge Rebukes DOJ 'Bargain'

    A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday permanently dismissed corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, heeding advice from court-appointed counsel Paul Clement even as he gave credence to district prosecutors' claims of a quid pro quo between Adams and Trump administration officials in the Justice Department.

  • April 01, 2025

    Schiff Says He'll Hold On Trump's Pick For DC US Attorney

    Senate Judiciary Committee member Adam Schiff announced Tuesday he will hold on President Donald Trump's nomination of Ed Martin to be the top prosecutor in Washington, D.C., calling Martin a "one-man wrecking ball" demolishing the wall between the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • April 01, 2025

    AG Paxton Objects To Whistleblowers' $2.4M Fee Award

    The Texas attorney general's office color-coded over 100 pages of billing records provided by attorneys for its former deputies, telling an Austin court that eight categories of their work should be subtracted from a proposed $2.4 million fee award.

  • April 01, 2025

    Pork Price-Fixing Fight Over Sales Data Swap Heads To Trial

    A Minnesota federal court mostly denied Monday a slew of summary judgment motions from Tyson and other pork producers seeking wins in an antitrust suit alleging they conspired with data firm Agri Stats to fix pork prices and reduce supply, teeing up the high-stakes multidistrict litigation for a June trial.

  • April 01, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Review Reviving Medical Device Patent Suit

    A Federal Circuit panel on Tuesday declined to reconsider a decision reviving a patent infringement suit against a medical device manufacturer, letting stand its holding ordering a new trial in the case.

Expert Analysis

  • How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work

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    Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.

  • Series

    Competitive Weightlifting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The parallels between the core principles required for competitive weightlifting and practicing law have helped me to excel in both endeavors, with each holding important lessons about discipline, dedication, drive and failure, says Damien Bielli at VF Law.

  • Opinion

    Inconsistent Injury-In-Fact Rules Hinder Federal Practice

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    A recent Third Circuit decision, contradicting a previous ruling about whether consumers of contaminated products have suffered an injury in fact, illustrates the deep confusion this U.S. Supreme Court standard creates among federal judges and practitioners, who deserve a simpler method of determining which cases have federal standing, says Eric Dwoskin at Dwoskin Wasdin.

  • In-House Counsel Pointers For Preserving Atty-Client Privilege

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    Several recent rulings illustrate the challenges in-house counsel can face when attempting to preserve attorney-client privilege, but a few best practices can help safeguard communications and effectively assert the privilege in an increasingly scrutinized corporate environment, says Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics.

  • Applying ABA Atty Role Guidance To White Collar Matters

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    The American Bar Association’s recently published guidance, clarifying the duties outside counsel owes to both organizational clients and those organizations' constituents, provides best practices that attorneys representing companies in white collar and other investigative matters should heed, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Series

    Collecting Rare Books Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My collection of rare books includes several written or owned by prominent lawyers from early U.S. history, and immersing myself in their stories helps me feel a deeper connection to my legal practice and its purpose, says Douglas Brown at Manatt Health.

  • Opinion

    Judge Should Not Have Been Reprimanded For Alito Essay

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    Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor's New York Times essay critiquing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for potential ethical violations absolutely cannot be construed as conduct prejudicial to the administration of the business of the courts, says Ashley London at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.

  • Lights, Camera, Ethics? TV Lawyers Tend To Set Bad Example

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    Though fictional movies and television shows portraying lawyers are fun to watch, Hollywood’s inaccurate depictions of legal ethics can desensitize attorneys to ethics violations and lead real-life clients to believe that good lawyers take a scorched-earth approach, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

  • Perspectives

    Accountant-Owned Law Firms Could Blur Ethical Lines

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    KPMG’s recent application to open a legal practice in Arizona represents the first overture by an accounting firm to take advantage of the state’s relaxed law firm ownership rules, but enforcing and supervising the practice of law by nonattorneys could prove particularly challenging, says Seth Laver at Goldberg Segalla.

  • AI Will Soon Transform The E-Discovery Industrial Complex

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    Todd Itami at Covington discusses how generative artificial intelligence will reshape the current e-discovery paradigm, replacing the blunt instrument of data handling with a laser scalpel of fully integrated enterprise solutions — after first making e-discovery processes technically and legally harder.

  • When Innovation Overwhelms The Rule Of Law

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    In an era where technology is rapidly evolving and artificial intelligence is seemingly everywhere, it’s worth asking if the law — both substantive precedent and procedural rules — can keep up with the light speed of innovation, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Imagine The Possibilities Of Openly Autistic Lawyering

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    Andi Mazingo at Lumen Law, who was diagnosed with autism about midway through her career, discusses how the legal profession can create inclusive workplaces that empower openly autistic lawyers and enhance innovation, and how neurodivergent attorneys can navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with disclosing one’s diagnosis.

  • Disciplinary Rule Updates Every Texas Lawyer Needs To Know

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    Sweeping amendments to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct that recently went into effect provide essential clarity and modernity to rules governing conflicts of interest, client confidentiality and duties to prospective clients, says Robert Tobey at Johnston Tobey.

  • Series

    Documentary Filmmaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Becoming a documentary filmmaker has allowed me to merge my legal expertise with my passion for storytelling, and has helped me to hone negotiation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are important to both endeavors, says Robert Darwell at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Litigation Funding Disclosure Debate: Strategy Considerations

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    In the ongoing debate over whether courts should require disclosure of litigation funding, funders and plaintiffs tend to argue against such mandates, but voluntarily disclosing limited details about a funding arrangement can actually confer certain benefits to plaintiffs in some scenarios, say Andrew Stulce and Marc Cavan at Longford Capital.

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