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Legal Ethics
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August 29, 2024
Samsung Nabs Costs After Beating Staton Techiya IP Case
A Texas federal judge on Thursday awarded Samsung $108,674 in court costs stemming from a patent infringement suit filed by the company's former in-house patent attorneys — a case he tossed earlier this year based on unclean hands — and asked for more information on costs still in dispute.
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August 29, 2024
Philly Legal Org. Must Face Atty's EEOC Bias Suit At Trial
A Pennsylvania federal judge declined Thursday to side with either party on the core claims in a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging a Philadelphia legal services organization fired an attorney who asked for more medical leave, ruling that the case is best fit for trial.
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August 29, 2024
Judiciary Group Urged To Table 'Mega' Bankruptcy Panel Ban
A subcommittee urged the Judicial Conference's bankruptcy rule advisory committee to hold off on considering a ban on so-called mega bankruptcy panels at an upcoming meeting, saying a different committee's work overlaps with a rule proposed to curb the controversial practice.
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August 29, 2024
Burke Warren Nixed WFH Request, Violating ADA, Suit Says
A former legal assistant at Burke Warren MacKay & Serritella PC has sued the firm for disability discrimination in Illinois federal court, saying he was illegally fired rather than accommodated when his cancer treatment led him to ask for a permanent work-from-home schedule.
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August 29, 2024
Ill. Judge Overrules Dismissal For 6 Paraquat Cases
An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday declined to dismiss several cases in multidistrict litigation over the herbicide paraquat, finding that even though counsel didn't fill out questionnaires on time, it was because he was left the sole attorney in the firm after others quit.
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August 29, 2024
Texas Justices Sign Off On Attorney Ethics Rule Changes
The Texas Supreme Court has adopted a number of amendments and new professional conduct rules for lawyers practicing in the Lone Star State, including some that address the duties of a managing partner or supervising attorney and an attorney's responsibilities to prospective clients.
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August 29, 2024
Feds Say Ex-BigLaw Atty Can't Shake OneCoin Conviction
Federal prosecutors have told the Second Circuit that former Locke Lord LLP partner Mark S. Scott has "greatly exaggerate[d]" the importance of testimony from a government witness, some of which was later shown to be perjury, in a bid to have his money laundering conviction reversed.
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August 29, 2024
6th Circ. Tosses Atty's Challenge To Court Recording Ban
A Michigan attorney who was held in contempt for posting a screenshot of a Zoom hearing on Facebook can't use the First Amendment to challenge a prohibition on recording courtroom proceedings, because he lacks standing, the Sixth Circuit has ruled.
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August 29, 2024
Quinn Emanuel Seeks DC Circ. Rehearing In $486M Award Fight
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP has asked the D.C. Circuit to reconsider its ruling in a dispute over the firm's authority to represent a port operator in a long-running legal battle with the Republic of Djibouti.
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August 29, 2024
Offit Kurman Must Pay Over $4M In Legal Malpractice Suit
A Pennsylvania judge has awarded over $4 million to Mitts Law LLC in its suit claiming that Offit Kurman Attorneys At Law's discovery violations while representing a client resulted in a $3 million judgment, ruling that the firm's representation "fell below the ordinary skill, knowledge and care exercised by attorneys under the circumstances."
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August 29, 2024
Ex-Littler Atty Drops Suit Alleging Firm Violated $1M Deal
A former Littler Mendelson PC lawyer has dropped her California state court lawsuit against the firm that alleged it had violated a settlement inked in a suit the firm filed in Texas state court accusing the attorney of stealing confidential information, wrapping up the dispute between the former associate and the firm.
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August 29, 2024
Seward & Kissel Faces Docs Demand In NJ 'Betrayal' Suit
The wife of the billionaire founder of hedge fund Two Sigma Investments LP told the New Jersey state court that Seward & Kissel LLP cannot hide behind attorney-client privilege to avoid producing documents in her malpractice case because the firm defrauded her.
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August 29, 2024
Foley & Lardner Must Face Ex-Clients' Breach-Of-Duty Action
A Texas appellate court has reversed a decision that let Foley & Lardner LLP escape a suit filed by two partners in an oil and gas venture who allege that the firm failed to disclose conflicts of interest and misused their confidential information after representing them in several matters.
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August 29, 2024
Bannon Again Seeks Bail As DC Circ. Considers Rehearing
Imprisoned former Donald Trump adviser Stephen Bannon asked a D.C. federal judge on Thursday to reimpose his bail while he waits to hear whether an appeals court will give another look at his contempt of Congress conviction.
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August 28, 2024
9th Circ. Revives Atty's Suit Against State Bar Officers
The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday reversed a summary judgment win for Oregon State Bar officers, ruling in a published opinion that a member attorney established that the bar violated his constitutional right to freedom of association when publishing statements he objected to that criticized former President Donald Trump.
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August 28, 2024
Orrick, Okla. Atty Deny Violating MOVEit MDL Judge's Orders
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and an Oklahoma attorney have denied violating court orders in multidistrict litigation over a 2023 data breach involving Progress Software's MOVEit file transfer tool, telling a Massachusetts federal court they were allowed to settle similar state litigation against a payroll software provider outside the federal action.
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August 28, 2024
Pa. Atty Admits To Dodging Taxes On Mass Tort Deal Fees
A Pennsylvania attorney pled guilty Wednesday to failing to pay taxes for approximately $1.2 million in income she received over three years, depriving the government of up to half a million dollars in revenue, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
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August 28, 2024
NY Firm Calls Gas Co.'s Contract And Fee Claims Duplicative
Albany, New York-based Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP has moved to trim breach of contract and disgorgement of fees claims brought by a former client over allegedly bungled tax advice, telling a New York federal judge the claims are redundant when the ex-client is also pursuing a legal malpractice cause of action.
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August 28, 2024
NJ Health System Repeats Call For Proskauer DQ
New Jersey health network CarePoint Health Management Associates LLC has redoubled its call for a New Jersey federal judge to disqualify Proskauer Rose LLP from representing competitor RWJBarnabas Health Inc. amid antitrust claims brought by CarePoint, arguing CarePoint's prior representation by Proskauer is substantially related to the case.
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August 28, 2024
LA Atty Accused Of Bilking Inmates With False Freedom Hope
A Los Angeles attorney accused of raking in thousands of dollars by giving inmates and their families intentionally misleading information about their chances for resentencing after convictions for violent crimes faces an 18-count disciplinary complaint filed this week by the State Bar of California.
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August 28, 2024
NFL Concussion Litigation Funder's Case Heading For Trial
A New Jersey federal judge has advanced a case for trial in which a litigation funder accuses a solo practitioner in the NFL concussion case of unfairly shielding assets by buying and transferring himself a house through his firm.
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August 28, 2024
Congress Urged To Address Trump Financial Conflicts
After possible financial conflicts of interest caused consternation during President Donald Trump's first term, an ethics watchdog is calling for a series of legislative reforms to prevent them from recurring if he's reelected.
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August 28, 2024
Ex-Defender Opposes Bid To Fix Record In Harassment Case
A former assistant public defender in North Carolina who lost her suit accusing the judiciary of botching her sexual harassment complaint has called out mistakes in the trial transcripts but opposed the government's method for correcting them, calling the proposal "fundamentally unfair."
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August 28, 2024
Holland & Knight Sued Over Client Info In Ex-Partner's Divorce
Holland & Knight LLP and former partner Patrick McCabe are facing a lawsuit in Pennsylvania court filed by a former client of the law firm who claims McCabe and two employees who reported to him unlawfully accessed the client's confidential documents in order to gain an upper hand in his contentious divorce.
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August 27, 2024
Gharavi Threatens Defamation Suit In Chiles Controversy
Prominent arbitrator Hamid Gharavi is accusing the authors of a viral article questioning whether he should have been conflicted off the tribunal that stripped U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles of her Olympic bronze medal of defamation, saying they exposed him to "public hatred, threats and disgrace."
Expert Analysis
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Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity
The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: July Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers cases touching on pre- and post-conviction detainment conditions, communications with class representatives, when the American Pipe tolling doctrine stops applying to modified classes, and more.
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Opinion
Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism
As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
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Lawyers Must Be Careful When Using Listservs
The American Bar Association's formal opinion from May correctly states that attorneys must obtain clients' consent before posing related questions to listservs, but potential risks and drawbacks of using listservs go beyond those highlighted by the ABA, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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Opinion
A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.
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Series
Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.
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Opinion
Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
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3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.