Legal Ethics

  • March 24, 2025

    Conn. Firms Sue For $175K Fee After 8-Year Estate Litigation

    Two Connecticut law firms have sued a grandmother's estate to recoup $175,000 in attorney fees, saying they've spent eight years litigating four separate challenges to the woman's will and haven't been paid in more than five years.

  • March 24, 2025

    Paul Weiss Chair Defends Trump Deal Amid Outcry

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP Chairman Brad Karp explained to the law firm's personnel on Sunday his decision to strike a deal with the Trump administration to avoid retribution related to the firm's selection of clients and DEI practices, a decision that has prompted public outcry among legal industry pundits and firm alumni.

  • March 21, 2025

    Trump Tells AG To Seek Sanctions On 'Vexatious' Attys

    President Donald Trump on Friday night directed the U.S. attorney general to seek sanctions against attorneys and firms who lodge "frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious" lawsuits against the federal government, focusing on immigration and BigLaw attorneys he claims "coach clients to conceal their past or lie" when seeking asylum.

  • March 21, 2025

    Attys Suing FIFA Say Humans, Not AI, Made Citation Errors

    Attorneys accusing soccer's international governing body, its Puerto Rican affiliate and a regional soccer association of trying to block local rivals told a Puerto Rico federal judge Friday that it was simply human oversight — not the use of artificial intelligence — that led to citation inaccuracies in recent filings.

  • March 21, 2025

    Paul Weiss Stuns Legal Industry With Trump DEI Deal

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP's decision to strike a deal with the Trump administration to defuse an executive order targeting the firm has drawn criticism across the legal industry and highlights the challenges preventing BigLaw firms from taking collective action against the White House.

  • March 21, 2025

    Jenner & Block Fights Sierra Leone's Fraud Claims In $8M Suit

    Jenner & Block LLP on Thursday urged a D.C. federal judge to nix Sierra Leone's counterclaim accusing the firm of fraud as it looks to collect some $8 million from the country in unpaid legal fees, saying the claim is improper in a breach of contract suit.

  • March 21, 2025

    3rd Circ. Axes Ethics Claim Against Judge Critical Of Trump

    A D.C. federal judge who criticized then-candidate Donald Trump in a CNN interview last spring has escaped judicial misconduct charges, with the Judicial Council of the Third Circuit finding that the judge had not violated judicial canons in his statements regarding Trump's social media posts amid a pending legal action.

  • March 21, 2025

    Colo. Disbars 'Unregulatable' NY Atty For Abandoning Clients

    An immigration attorney licensed in New York may no longer practice in Colorado federal courts due to her track record of abandoning clients, disciplinary authorities have ruled, with the order set to be enacted next month.

  • March 21, 2025

    DOJ Seeks To DQ Judge From Perkins Coie's Exec Order Suit

    The U.S. Department of Justice moved Friday to disqualify the D.C. federal judge presiding over Perkins Coie LLP's challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the firm for its diversity-focused hiring efforts and its political representation.

  • March 21, 2025

    Wright Says Defamation Suit Did Not Violate Anti-SLAPP Law

    Onetime Federal Trade Commission member and law professor Joshua Wright, who recently dropped a $108 million defamation suit against two attorneys who accused him of sexual misconduct, is now fighting a sanctions bid brought by one of the women, arguing it hinges on "selective — and largely misleading — presentation of evidence."

  • March 21, 2025

    No Suspension Pause For Ex-Alex Jones Atty, Ethics Boss Says

    A former Alex Jones attorney's two-week suspension from practicing law in Connecticut should not be halted amid an impending appeal, but he should get credit for a previous weeklong suspension he served over the same mishandling of confidential information about family members of Sandy Hook shooting victims, the state's chief legal ethics official said in a new filing.

  • March 21, 2025

    Ex-Buzbee Client Says Roc Nation Can't Exit Conspiracy Suit

    Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's company Roc Nation can't exit a lawsuit that claims his company conspired to "finance" malpractice suits against attorney Tony Buzbee because it was "an integral and driving force" behind the alleged misconduct, according to a response filed in Texas federal court to a motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds.

  • March 21, 2025

    Musk Atty Spiro Evading Subpoena, Twitter Investors Say

    A class of investors suing Elon Musk over allegations he tried to smear Twitter to lower the price of his $44 billion acquisition of the site says one of Musk's Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP attorneys and close advisers has refused to accept service of a subpoena to be deposed and should be served by alternative means.

  • March 21, 2025

    Judge Accused Of Bias Expresses Regret Over MDL Remarks

    The chief judge of the Eleventh Circuit has dismissed a judicial ethics complaint alleging that a Florida federal judge had shown impermissible bias in favor of women leading the multidistrict litigation over the hormonal contraceptive drug Depo-Provera, after the judge said she "regrets any misunderstanding" and took steps to address the issue.

  • March 21, 2025

    Conn. Firm Appeals Client's Win In Suit Over Email Scam

    The Connecticut law firm Mancini Provenzano & Futtner LLC says it will appeal a negligence verdict won by a client after a fraudster infiltrated one of its attorney's emails and tricked the client into wiring $90,586 to an incorrect account.

  • March 21, 2025

    Pa. Attorney's Discovery Dispute Leads To Sanction Threat

    A plaintiffs attorney's discovery demands and insistence that a defendant follow his firm's "mandatory" electronic discovery procedures have led a Pennsylvania federal judge to threaten sanctions over the lawyer's alleged failure to try to resolve disputes in good faith, according to court filings in a pregnancy-discrimination case.

  • March 21, 2025

    High Court Says Misleading Statements To FDIC Not Criminal

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned a Seventh Circuit ruling that upheld the conviction of a former Chicago alderman for making false statements about loans from a defunct bank, clarifying that the federal law in question criminalizes false statements but not those that are merely misleading.

  • March 20, 2025

    Trump Rescinds Paul Weiss Order After Firm Strikes Deal

    President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will rescind an executive order suspending security clearances held by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP employees after the law firm agreed to not adopt DEI hiring practices and to provide $40 million worth of pro bono services to support administration initiatives.

  • March 20, 2025

    Fox News Host Wins Atty Fees Over Failed Defamation Row

    A New York federal judge on Thursday ordered a former business associate of Hunter Biden and an attorney to pay more than $331,000 in attorney fees to a Fox News analyst they targeted in a failed defamation lawsuit, saying the analyst's counsel didn't engage in "duplicative" and "opportunistic" billing practices.

  • March 20, 2025

    9th Circ. Judge Takes Aim At Calif. Gun Ruling On YouTube

    A Ninth Circuit judge on Thursday took to YouTube to issue a dissent over the court's decision to ban in California all high-capacity magazines for weapons, a move that several of his fellow judges lamented as "wildly improper" and said they needed to address "lest the genre proliferate."

  • March 20, 2025

    LA Hit With Sanctions Request In Encampment Sweep Lawsuit

    Homeless residents accused the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office of hiding documents they requested in their suit challenging the constitutionality of encampment sweeps, asking a California federal court for case-ending sanctions for the second time in two weeks.

  • March 20, 2025

    Payday Lender Gets Appeal On Lawyer's Blackmail Conflict

    The Second Circuit has decided to let a former payday lending executive, now incarcerated on charges that he ran a fraudulent $2 billion lending scheme, move ahead with a new appeal after hearing that his trial counsel faced blackmail from another client.

  • March 20, 2025

    Philadelphia Inquirer Gets OK For Data Breach Class Deal

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has given the final okay to a $525,000 settlement that resolves litigation against the Philadelphia Inquirer alleging the paper failed to protect the personal information of over 25,000 people compromised by a cyberattack.

  • March 20, 2025

    Faegre Drinker Faces Sanctions Bid In Trump IP Song Suit

    Isaac Hayes' estate urged a Georgia federal judge Thursday to sanction a conservative political group and its Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath counsel in a copyright lawsuit over President Donald Trump's playing of Hayes' "Hold On, I'm Comin'" hit song at rallies, arguing they filed a "frivolous" dismissal bid.

  • March 20, 2025

    Attys Suing FIFA Appear To Have Used AI In Fighting DQ Bid

    A Puerto Rico federal judge is threatening sanctions for attorneys accusing soccer's international governing body, its Puerto Rican affiliate and a regional soccer association of trying to block local rivals, after the attorneys appeared to use artificial intelligence to help write briefs containing citations to nonexistent cases.

Expert Analysis

  • Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

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    Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.

  • An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

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    As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.

  • Series

    Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Making The Pitch To Grow Your Company's Legal Team

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    In a compressed economy, convincing the C-suite to invest in additional legal talent can be a herculean task, but a convincing pitch — supported by metrics and cost analyses — may help in-house counsel justify the growth of their team, say Elizabeth Smith and Roger Garceau at Major Lindsey.

  • The Implications Of 2024's AI Rules And Regs For Patent Attys

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    Christina Huang, John Smith and Devin Stein at Faegre Drinker review this year's new rules and regulations on the development and use of artificial intelligence — from the Biden administration, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the American Bar Association and various states — as they apply to patent attorneys.

  • When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

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    As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • What 2024 Trends In Marketing, Comms Hiring Mean For 2025

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    The state of hiring in legal industry marketing, business development and communications over the past 12 months was marked by a number of trends — from changes in the C-suite to lateral move challenges — providing clues for what’s to come in the year ahead, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Series

    Group Running Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The combination of physical fitness and community connection derived from running with a group of business leaders has, among other things, helped me to stay grounded, improve my communication skills, and develop a deeper empathy for clients and colleagues, says Jessica Shpall Rosen at Greenwald Doherty.

  • How White Collar Defense Attys Can Use Summary Witnesses

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    Few criminal defense attorneys have successfully utilized summary witnesses in the past, but several recent success stories show that it can be a worthwhile trial tactic to help juries understand the complex decision-making at issue, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Opinion

    6 Changes I Would Make If I Ran A Law School

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    Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner identifies several key issues plaguing law schools and discusses potential solutions, such as opting out of the rankings game and mandating courses in basic writing skills.

  • Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware

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    Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Top 10 Legal Malpractice Defenses As Claims Tick Up

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    As legal malpractice claims and payouts increase, law firms should remember certain time-tested defenses, such as asserting no duty to nonclients, omissions beyond the scope of engagement or lack of proximate cause, say attorneys at Goulston & Storrs.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out

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    In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Immigration Atty Tips For Avoiding Prosecution Under Trump

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    Under the incoming Trump administration, immigration attorneys may need to protect themselves from prosecution when advising clients who may not qualify for relief sought by choosing their words carefully and keeping other key factors in mind, says Michele Carney at Carney & Marchi.

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