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Legal Ethics
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October 30, 2024
US Sanctions Swiss Attys For Handling Illicit Russian Funds
The U.S. on Wednesday hit two Swiss lawyers with sanctions for taking advantage of a loophole in Switzerland's anti-money laundering law that officials said allowed them to discreetly move cash for Russians also sanctioned for aiding Moscow's military-industrial base.
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October 30, 2024
Calif. Judge Scolded For Public Fight Over School Renaming
A California state judge has been publicly disciplined for leading a monthslong crusade against the renaming of his old high school, during which he spoke at rallies and fundraisers, called opponents "morons" on social media and generally "demeaned the judicial office."
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October 30, 2024
Treasure Hunter Urges Atty DQ In Fla. Shipwreck Suit
A member of an ocean salvage company urged a Florida federal court Wednesday to disqualify counsel applying to represent his opponent in a lawsuit over a claim to a Spanish galleon's sunken treasure, saying the attorney previously represented the company in a separate dispute involving the same wreckage.
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October 30, 2024
Seward & Kissel Can Shield NJ Malpractice Docs For Now
Seward & Kissel LLP got an early win on Wednesday when a New Jersey state judge blocked a discovery bid from the wife of hedge fund Two Sigma Investments LP's founder in her malpractice suit and put in place some stipulations.
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October 30, 2024
Ohio Justices Say Attorney In Prison Should Not Be Disbarred
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that an attorney in federal prison for his participation in a tax fraud scheme should not be disbarred, and should have a chance to reapply for his law license in the future
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October 30, 2024
Judge Says Attys Asking For Too Much In Hess Wage Deal
A New York federal judge refused to sign off on a $36,000 deal that would resolve a former oil field worker's suit alleging Hess Corp. failed to pay him overtime, saying the worker's attorneys are requesting too large of a share.
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October 30, 2024
Conn. Judge Cites Day Pitney Ties In Lego Settlement Recusal
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish has recused himself from presiding over settlement talks between Lego and a New York artist who is suing the toy company over a play set based on the Netflix series "Queer Eye," citing the fact that his former firm, Day Pitney LLP, represents the defendants.
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October 29, 2024
Ex-Texas Prosecutor Gets 3 Years For Extortion
A Texas federal judge sentenced a former elected Starr County, Texas, prosecutor to more than three years behind bars after he pled guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for dropping charges in criminal cases, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
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October 29, 2024
Ex-ComEd GC Calls Madigan's Interest In Law Firm 'Strange'
A Jenner & Block LLP attorney and former Commonwealth Edison general counsel testified Tuesday that he found it "strange" to read ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was interested in the granular details of the utility's negotiations with Chicago law firm Reyes Kurson. Madigan's counsel, however, appeared to suggest a confidant and co-defendant had name-dropped the speaker in 2016 without actually talking to him.
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October 29, 2024
DQ'd Zeta Atty Using MDL Info In Other Cases, Plaintiffs Say
A group of crew members aboard a Transocean drilling rig during Hurricane Zeta asked a Harris County judge Monday to sanction the company and its former law firm, writing that a former attorney has continued to use information he obtained while working on the case despite being disqualified in 2023.
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October 29, 2024
Cannon Won't Recuse In Trump Shooting Suspect's Fla. Case
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon declined Tuesday to recuse herself from overseeing the case of a man charged with attempting to shoot former President Donald Trump, saying Trump's praise of her and reports that he would consider her for attorney general if elected are not enough to disqualify her.
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October 29, 2024
Mich. Top Court Won't Halt Ethics Claims Against Trump Allies
Michigan's Supreme Court has refused to stop disciplinary proceedings against Sidney Powell and other lawyers who advanced former President Donald Trump's election fraud claims.
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October 29, 2024
GOP Rep. Roy Opposes Efforts To Stop 'Judge Shopping'
A Republican on the House Judiciary Committee is threatening to withhold support for legislation bolstering the operation of the federal courts if the Administrative Office of the Courts doesn't stop considering measures aimed at ending "judge shopping."
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October 29, 2024
NJ Judge Exits Disbarred Atty's Suits Over Ties To State Bar
A disbarred New Jersey civil rights attorney persuaded a New Jersey federal judge to recuse herself from cases he has pending before her due to the "slim, but conceivable chance" of an appearance of impropriety stemming in part from her time as president of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
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October 29, 2024
Besieged NJ Prosecutor Keeps Suit Over Resignation Alive
The former county prosecutor in Warren County, New Jersey, has partially defeated a motion to dismiss from Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matthew Platkin, and can pursue a state court claim that he never technically resigned before being replaced.
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October 29, 2024
4th Circ. Unclear On LeClairRyan Founder's Tax Liability
A Fourth Circuit panel appeared confused and noncommittal Tuesday as it wrestled with a narrow question of contract interpretation that could determine whether Gary LeClair of defunct LeClairRyan PLLC is on the hook for massive tax bills tied to the firm's collapse.
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October 29, 2024
Ex-Boston University Law Prof Settles IP Suit With School
A former Boston University School of Law instructor has settled a copyright infringement suit with the school that he filed in August accusing it of pilfering his course materials in violation of a prior settlement agreement.
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October 29, 2024
Legal Marketer Sues To Halt New Pa. Atty Text Solicitation Ban
A marketing company focused on soliciting criminal defendants on behalf of attorneys has filed suit in Pittsburgh federal court looking to overturn a new Pennsylvania ethics rule barring lawyers from using text messages to recruit clients.
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October 29, 2024
Circuit Judge Rips Atty's 'Unearned Windfall' In Liability Case
Although the Sixth Circuit has affirmed a decision awarding roughly $353,000 to a Texas attorney in a decadelong fee dispute over his representation of a client in a product liability case, one circuit judge expressed "extreme disapproval" over the lawyer's conduct in the matter.
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October 28, 2024
Apple Withholding Docs In Monopoly Row, Epic Says
Epic Games and Apple continued on in a discovery dispute in Epic's suit accusing Apple of monopolizing the iOS app distribution and in-app payment processing markets, with the video game company saying in a joint letter filed Friday that Apple is withholding "tens of thousands" of responsive documents.
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October 28, 2024
Partner Sues Over Firm Breakup After $100M Conn. Verdict
Ryan C. McKeen, the former CEO of a trial firm known for high-dollar verdicts, is wrongfully trying to arbitrate a dispute over the terms of the practice's breakup, his former law partner Andrew P. Garza alleged in a state court showdown between the two 50% owners and their families.
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October 28, 2024
DC Circ. Won't Revisit Quinn Emanuel's $486M Award Fight
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP lost its bid to get the D.C. Circuit to reconsider its decision in a dispute over the firm's authority to represent a port operating in a long-running legal spat with the Republic of Djibouti, according to an order issued Monday by a divided panel of judges.
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October 28, 2024
Monsanto Attys Fined $20K For Late Reports In PCB Trial
A Washington state judge has ordered eight attorneys defending Monsanto in a Seattle PCB poisoning trial to pay $2,500 each to the local bar foundation for late disclosure of expert reports, saying the "sting" of personal sanctions should deter any future bad behavior causing "chaos and disruption."
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October 28, 2024
Calif. High Court Says Judicial DQ Bids Must Be Timely
The California Supreme Court on Monday held that an appellate court got it wrong by determining a timeliness requirement doesn't apply when a party alleges that a judge is disqualified due to bias, in a case that resulted in a $43.5 million judgment for hundreds of title company employees.
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October 28, 2024
Judge Leaves Patent Case After Fed. Circ. Undoes Ruling
A Minnesota federal judge has recused himself from a patent dispute between Teleflex and Medtronic he has handled since 2019, saying he was "at a loss" on how to proceed after the Federal Circuit faulted his interpretation of terms in Teleflex's catheter patents.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Series
Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers
Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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Revisiting The Crime-Fraud Exception After Key Trump Cases
Evidence issues in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and classified documents cases involving former President Donald Trump offer an opportunity to restudy elements and implications of the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine, noting the courts' careful scrutiny of these matters, say Robert Hoff and Paul Tuchmann at Wiggin and Dana.
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Series
Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.
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Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Opinion
AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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Series
Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.
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Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners
Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
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Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics
Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.
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It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers
Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.
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Opinion
More Guidance Needed On Appellate Amicus Recusals
Instead of eliminating the right for amici to file briefs on consent, as per the recently proposed Federal Appellate Rules amendment, the Judicial Conference's Committee on Codes of Judicial Conduct should issue guidance on situations in which amicus filings should lead to circuit judge recusals, says Alan Morrison at George Washington University Law School.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.