Legal Ethics

  • March 14, 2025

    9th Circ. Axes Dershowitz Sanction, Clarifies 'Of Counsel' Law

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday rejected Alan Dershowitz's arguments that his First Amendment rights shield him from being sanctioned for filing frivolous election-related litigation as "for counsel" representing Republican Arizona candidates, but the panel nevertheless reversed sanctions against Dershowitz since it's the first time the circuit has clarified the law.

  • March 14, 2025

    Meta Digs Into Co.'s Asset Selloff As $5.5M Win Goes Unpaid

    A California federal judge Friday agreed with Meta that a Chinese information company that hasn't paid a $5.5 million default judgment in a cybersquatting case should provide details about the sale of its domain name business just days before she issued an asset freeze.

  • March 14, 2025

    Reed Smith To Fight Removal In $102M Shipping Award Suit

    A New York federal judge has paused his order removing Reed Smith LLP as counsel for the former owners of reorganized international shipping group Eletson Holdings in litigation over a $102 million arbitral award while the BigLaw firm appeals the decision to the Second Circuit.

  • March 14, 2025

    Startup Investor Says Cooley Knew About Fraud Probe

    Attorneys for a dry cleaning delivery startup knew that the founder and sole director of the company had fabricated company documents and was the subject of an active securities fraud investigation in Texas as he solicited money from investors, an ex-board member said Friday in response to the law firm's bid to toss a securities fraud lawsuit.

  • March 14, 2025

    Client Who Sent Money To Fraudster Wins Suit Against Firm

    An optometrist who claims a fraudster infiltrated her lawyer's email system and tricked her into wiring $90,586 to an incorrect account has won a lawsuit against Mancini Provenzano & Futtner LLC after a Connecticut state court judge found the firm was negligent in failing to secure its system.

  • March 14, 2025

    Class Can't Re-Contest Debt Collection, Mich. Law Firm Argues

    A law firm accused of charging unlawfully high post-judgment interest rates on debt collection actions told a Michigan federal court on Thursday that several debtors have already resolved their litigation, precluding them from pressing their federal class action, and debt collection agencies blamed the rates on the law firm.

  • March 14, 2025

    NJ Firms Accused Of Losing $146K In Client Funds In Scam

    Two Garden State law firms are accused in a New Jersey state lawsuit of falling for an email scam that led to the loss of more than $146,000 received in a medical malpractice settlement and meant for a client's special needs trust.

  • March 14, 2025

    Philly Firm Decries Ex-Holland & Knight Atty's Counterclaims

    A tawdry courtroom brawl between Pennsylvania personal injury firm Fritz & Bianculli LLC and former Holland & Knight LLP partner Patrick McCabe continues to boil, as Fritz & Bianculli denies that it is only suing McCabe for leverage in a messy divorce caused by his wife's "salacious" affair with name partner Brian Fritz.

  • March 14, 2025

    Atty Gets 8½ Years For Attempted Embassy Attack

    A Florida attorney who pled guilty to damaging a San Antonio sculpture and unsuccessfully trying to detonate explosives outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 8½ years Friday, after the judge overseeing the case said the defendant's own statements at the hearing likely got him more time.

  • March 14, 2025

    Ex-Greenberg Traurig Atty Ordered To Pay $15.5M To IRS

    A former Greenberg Traurig LLP attorney who was sentenced to prison for helping a musician skirt taxes owes $15.5 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, a New York federal judge ruled.

  • March 13, 2025

    Fla. Attys Disbarred, Suspended For Forgery Accusations

    The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday disbarred a West Palm Beach attorney for making threatening social media posts during litigation, repeatedly failing to file a viable complaint in a toxic tort case, and falsely accusing opposing counsel of forgery, an infraction that also earned his co-counsel a suspension.

  • March 13, 2025

    Judge Hits 'Reset Button' In 3M, DuPont PFAS Cleanup Case

    New Jersey's environmental regulators have tried to force EIDP and DuPont Chemours to begin remediation efforts on "forever chemical" contamination at a former facility in Salem County — which is at the center of ongoing litigation — a move that seemingly undermined a federal judge's authority and put in jeopardy a looming May trial date.

  • March 13, 2025

    Smartmatic Wants MyPillow CEO Held In Contempt

    MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell hasn't paid the sanctions he owes to Smartmatic for filing "frivolous claims" against the voting systems company, Smartmatic told a D.C. federal judge in an effort to hold him in civil contempt.

  • March 13, 2025

    Sandy Hook Families Oppose Revived Infowars Sale Bid

    Families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have urged a Texas bankruptcy judge to block an Alex Jones-affiliated company's revived bid to buy his Infowars platform, saying it will cause delays in the more than three-year-old related bankruptcy cases.

  • March 13, 2025

    Law Firm Helped Fintech CEO Undercut $1.7B Deal, Suit Says

    A fintech startup that went belly up after a $1.7 billion deal to take it public fell apart told a Texas federal court that Chapman and Cutler LLP helped the startup's CEO stab it in the back, saying in a Thursday complaint the firm breached its fiduciary duties.

  • March 13, 2025

    Md. Judges Told Not To Advise Bar Members On Trump EOs

    Maryland state judges who participate in bar association events intended to review and provide legal analysis of presidential executive orders could be seen as practicing law or engaging in partisan political activity and should avoid such activities, the state Judicial Ethics Committee says.

  • March 13, 2025

    Chaitman Wants NJ Malpractice Suit Axed For Delays

    Chaitman LLP has asked a New Jersey state judge to dismiss a long-pending legal malpractice action stemming from real estate litigation, arguing its former clients who brought the suit have repeatedly failed to produce expert witnesses for depositions, "severely prejudicing the defendants."

  • March 13, 2025

    After Court Loss, DA Willis To Turn Over Trump Probe Docs

    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has told a Georgia state court that she will respond to the subpoenas from a state Senate committee investigating whether her personal relationship with a special prosecutor amounted to misconduct in her prosecution of President Donald Trump in an election interference case after previously losing her bid to quash the subpoenas.

  • March 13, 2025

    5th Circ. Sides With NLRB On Reconsidered Exxon Ruling

    The National Labor Relations Board didn't overstep by wiping out and rethinking a decision involving an Exxon Mobil unit after learning a member had a stake in the company, the Fifth Circuit said, enforcing the board's ruling that the company sabotaged negotiations with a union.

  • March 13, 2025

    Solicitor General Pick, 2 More DOJ Noms Go To Full Senate

    The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted out of committee the nomination of President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Dean John Sauer, to be solicitor general and two other nominees for major U.S. Department of Justice roles, all along party lines.

  • March 13, 2025

    ​​​​​​​Alex Jones' Sandy Hook Atty Suspended Over Info Release

    Former Alex Jones attorney Norm Pattis will be suspended from practicing law for two weeks, a Connecticut judge has ruled, capping a three-year ethics saga that started when Pattis asked an associate to send Sandy Hook families' medical records to the Infowars host's Texas bankruptcy lawyer.

  • March 12, 2025

    7th Circ. Revives Suit By Law Professor Disciplined Over Exam

    The Seventh Circuit on Wednesday revived a retaliation claim from a University of a law school professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago who was disciplined for including a redacted racist slur on an exam, saying the professor has plausibly alleged that his academic speech is protected by the First Amendment.

  • March 12, 2025

    Panel Decries Judge's Watergate Remarks, Axes $2M Verdict

    A Florida appeals court on Wednesday vacated a $2 million verdict in a slip-and-fall suit against Walmart, saying the trial court's comments that allegedly missing video evidence was akin to Nixon's actions in the Watergate scandal signaled his preconceived notion that the company improperly destroyed evidence.

  • March 12, 2025

    Ex-Atty Gets 3 Years In Prison For Using Fake IDs To Get Jobs

    A former attorney has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to using false identification in order to obtain jobs at multiple law firms in Florida, California and elsewhere following his disbarment in Ohio, according to federal prosecutors.

  • March 12, 2025

    COVID Test Device Maker Settles Fed. Circ. Feuds With Rival

    A company that makes saliva collection devices used for COVID-19 tests says it will drop out of Federal Circuit appeals fights with Longhorn Vaccines & Diagnostics stemming from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceling 183 of Longhorn's patent claims as a punishment for "egregious abuse of the PTAB process."

Expert Analysis

  • Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

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    Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.

  • Public Corruption Enforcement In 2024 Has Clues For 2025

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    If 2024 activity is any indication, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely continue to rein in expansive prosecutorial theories of fraud in the year to come, but it’s harder to predict what the new administration will mean for public corruption prosecutions in 2025, says Cathy Fleming at Offit Kurman.

  • Series

    Playing Rugby Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experience playing rugby, including a near-fatal accident, has influenced my legal practice on a professional, organizational and personal level by showing me the importance of maintaining empathy, fostering team empowerment and embracing the art of preparation, says James Gillenwater at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Opinion

    No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del.

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    A recent study claimed that litigation funders have “fled” Delaware federal court due to a standing order requiring disclosure of third-party financing, but responsible funders have no problem litigating in this jurisdiction, and many other factors could explain the decline in filings, say Will Freeman and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Key Ethical Issues For Gov't Attys Moving To Private Practice

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    Transitioning from government service to private practice presents complex ethical challenges for attorneys, including navigating conflicts of interest, confidential information rules and post-employment restrictions, say attorneys at HWG.

  • 7 Ways 2nd Trump Administration May Affect Partner Hiring

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    President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House will likely have a number of downstream effects on partner hiring in the legal industry, from accelerated hiring timelines to increased vetting of prospective employees, say recruiters at Macrae.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Custodian Selection

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    Several recent rulings make clear that the proportionality of additional proposed custodians will depend on whether the custodians have unique relevant documents, and producing parties should consider whether information already in the record will show that they have relevant documents that otherwise might not be produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.

  • 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.

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