Legal Ethics

  • February 10, 2025

    BCLP Received Improper OK To Challenge Ga. Fee Ruling

    A Georgia state appeals court said Monday that it improperly gave Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP the green light to appeal a trial court ruling ordering the firm to return more than $125,000 in connection to a dispute between an Atlanta attorney and an airport travel spa operator.

  • February 10, 2025

    Goldstein Rearrested After Feds Say He Hid Millions In Crypto

    U.S. Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein was arrested again Monday following his earlier release on criminal tax evasion charges, after prosecutors alleged that he secretly made millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency transactions in recent days and was a serious risk to flee.

  • February 10, 2025

    Ex-FTC Commissioner's Accusers Call Damages Bid 'Fiction'

    Women who accused former FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright of sexual misconduct stemming from his role as a law professor have told a Virginia judge that his damages expert in his defamation lawsuit against them failed to do his homework and his testimony shouldn't be allowed at the upcoming trial in the case.

  • February 07, 2025

    Injury Attys In Hot Water Over Possible AI-Hallucinated Cites

    Morgan & Morgan PA and the Goody Law Group on Friday withdrew pretrial motions in a personal injury lawsuit against Walmart over an allegedly defective hoverboard after a Wyoming federal court ordered the firms to explain why the filings contained what appears to be case law hallucinated by generative artificial intelligence.

  • February 07, 2025

    2nd Circ. Orders In-House Counsel Docs In Grand Jury Case

    The Second Circuit on Friday ruled that an in-house attorney for a publicly traded company under federal investigation in New York must turn over communications as part of a grand jury investigation under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege.

  • February 07, 2025

    NC Judge Knocked By Fed. Circ. For Rushing Patent Trial

    A Federal Circuit panel on Friday stripped a patent case over respiratory treatment devices away from a North Carolina federal judge, with the appeals court reversing a noninfringement verdict that came out of a jury trial he oversaw and finding that it was at least the second time the judge "did not intend to manage a fair trial."

  • February 07, 2025

    DC Prosecutor Axed Jan. 6 Case Against Client, Group Says

    A legal group filed a bar complaint in Missouri Thursday against President Donald Trump's top prosecutor in Washington, D.C., saying the attorney violated rules of professional conduct when, in his new government role, he moved to dismiss charges related to the U.S. Capitol attack against his own client.

  • February 07, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Pushes Back At Doctors Who Vouched For Newman

    The Federal Circuit judges considering Judge Pauline Newman's request to end her suspension said Friday that they had retained doctors who have expressed "significant concerns" that there are errors and oversights in reports from physicians who deemed the 97-year-old judge fit to serve.

  • February 07, 2025

    Fla. Atty Couple Can't Escape Verdict Over Abandoning House

    A Florida state appeals court has reinstated the original verdict against an attorney husband and wife team for breaching a lease agreement on a rental house and leaving it in disrepair, ruling that a reasonable jury could find that the landlord performed his expressly authorized duties to preserve the property.

  • February 07, 2025

    Conn. Trial Firm Partner Seeks Sanctions In Heated Split-Up

    Connecticut Trial Firm LLC former co-owner Andrew Garza has asked a Connecticut Superior Court judge to issue sanctions against his former 50-50 partner, Ryan McKeen, accusing McKeen of "misconduct presenting a threat to the administration of justice" in heated litigation over the firm's split.

  • February 07, 2025

    Pullman & Comley Escapes Ex-Tech CEO's Legal Ethics Claim

    A Connecticut state judge ruled that the former CEO of WorldQuant Predictive Technologies LLC cannot sue Connecticut law firm Pullman & Comley LLC over the loss of $6 million in WorldQuant stock, determining that he should have raised those concerns earlier in the termination process.

  • February 07, 2025

    NAFTA Case Useful In Bid To DQ Quinn Emanuel, Judge Says

    A Florida federal judge has ruled that a Mexican oil company can use information on dismissed NAFTA arbitration and other documents in a bid to disqualify former counsel Quinn Emanuel, saying the evidence is relevant to underlying litigation over alleged funds transfers.

  • February 07, 2025

    Fla. Atty Disbarred For Fund Mishandling, Cover-Up, Contempt

    A lawyer in Florida has been disbarred over uncontested allegations of misconduct, including not filing a lawsuit on behalf of a client, fabricating a settlement amount and paying the client out of her personal bank account using commingled funds from an unrelated settlement.

  • February 07, 2025

    UAE Prisoner Subpoenas Ex-Dechert GC Over Torture Claims

    A Jordanian lawyer imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates has subpoenaed Dechert's former general counsel in the U.S. over what the law firm's top brass knew of alleged human rights abuses said to have been committed by a former partner.

  • February 07, 2025

    NJ AG Seeks To Escape Retaliation Suit Over Alleged Fraud

    The New Jersey Attorney General's Office is urging a state judge to reconsider a ruling that denied its bid to escape a lawsuit accusing the Warren County Prosecutor's Office of retaliating against two officers for their part in uncovering an alleged fraud scheme, saying the office cannot be held liable for the purported misconduct.

  • February 07, 2025

    Prosecutors Urge Ga. Justices To Revive Trump Charges

    Prosecutors have called on the Georgia Supreme Court to undo a state appellate decision that affirmed the dismissal of six counts in the state's election interference case against President Donald Trump, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others.

  • February 07, 2025

    4th Circ. Says LeClairRyan Founder May Duck Tax Liability

    Defunct law firm LeClairRyan PLLC's operating agreement did not bar founder Gary LeClair from jumping ship in time to potentially dodge massive tax bills tied to the firm's collapse, the Fourth Circuit ruled Friday.

  • February 07, 2025

    NJ Supreme Court Snapshot: Paterson Police, Immigrant Pay

    The New Jersey attorney general's takeover of the embattled Paterson police department and a dispute over how undocumented migrants are treated under the state's wage law are among the matters the Garden State high court recently agreed to tackle.

  • February 07, 2025

    Goldstein's Pro Se Filing Irks Feds Amid Murky Atty Situation

    Prosecutors have asked a Maryland federal judge to strike a pro se motion from Tom Goldstein in his tax evasion case, saying the U.S. Supreme Court attorney and SCOTUSblog publisher shouldn't be allowed to personally make arguments to the court when he is represented by several experienced lawyers.

  • February 07, 2025

    Judge In Ga. 2020 Election Fraud Case To Retire

    Chief Judge Timothy Batten Sr. of the Northern District of Georgia, who presided over one of the many lawsuits alleging fraud in the 2020 presidential election, has informed the president he will retire May 23.

  • February 07, 2025

    Fla. Ethics Watchdog: Judge Should Testify If Subpoenaed

    A Florida judge should testify if subpoenaed by a former intern challenging the denial of her admission or reinstatement to the state bar, according to a new ethics opinion issued by the state's judicial watchdog.

  • February 06, 2025

    USPTO Suspends Atty For Mishandled China IP Applications

    A Seattle attorney faces suspension from handling cases before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after allowing a China-based intellectual property company to file new trademark applications without first reviewing the documents, including allowing the IP service provider to sign the lawyer's name to documents.

  • February 06, 2025

    Chaitman Offers $900,000 To Settle Mal Claim In RE Case

    Chaitman LLP and its principal, Helen Davis Chaitman, have offered $900,000 to settle a malpractice lawsuit stemming from real estate litigation, according to a filing in New Jersey Superior Court.

  • February 06, 2025

    Judge Questions Firm's Candor In Apple, Amazon Docs Row

    A Washington federal judge said on Thursday there was "troubling shifting" around Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP's explanation of texts and emails with a client who disappeared from a proposed class action targeting Amazon and Apple, while also saying it might not matter because the firm found substitute plaintiffs.

  • February 06, 2025

    Colo. Panel Upholds State Attys' Immunity In Defamation Row

    A Colorado appeals panel on Thursday upheld the dismissal of a state economist's defamation claims against two government lawyers, finding that nothing in the state's government immunity statute carves out an exception for lawyers and that professional misconduct does not automatically cancel lawyers' immunity.

Expert Analysis

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • For Now, Generative AI Is Risky For Class Action Counsel

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    Although a recent survey showed most in-house counsel think that their outside counsel should be using generative artificial intelligence "in some way" in class action work, the technology is more a target for class actions than it is a tool to be used in practice at present, says Matthew Allen at Carlton Fields.

  • When Your Client Insists On Testifying In A Criminal Case

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    Speculation that former President Donald Trump could take the stand in any of the four criminal cases he faces serves as a reminder for counsel to consider their ethical obligations when a client insists on testifying, including the attorney’s duty of candor to the court and the depth of their discussions with clients, says Marissa Kingman at Fox Rothschild.

  • Why Preemption Args Wouldn't Stall Trump Hush-Money Case

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    With former President Donald Trump's New York hush-money criminal trial weeks away, some speculate that he may soon move to stay the case on preemption grounds, but under the Anti-Injunction Act and well-settled case law, that motion would likely be quickly denied, says former New York Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg, now at Anderson Kill.

  • Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC

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    The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts

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    Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.

  • 7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves

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    As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.

  • Series

    Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

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