Legal Ethics

  • February 27, 2025

    Judge Axes NYC Loan Row, Sanctions Firm For Depositions

    A New York federal judge has dismissed a commercial real estate lender's claims against two guarantors for a 2022 loan it made, ripping the lender and its ex-counsel, Fox Rothschild LLP, for deposition no-shows.

  • February 27, 2025

    Food Startup Owes $575K In TM Fight With Jaden Smith's Co.

    A disagreement over how food startup Eat Just capitalized on the word "Just" in branding will cost it over half a million dollars after a California federal court decided its conduct went against the company's agreement with the Just Water brand started by celebrity Jaden Smith and his actor dad, Will Smith.

  • February 27, 2025

    Texas Attorney Says He Can Contact Party While Pro Se

    An attorney barred from practicing law for five years has told the Texas Supreme Court that he was allowed to contact members of the Texas Bar's disciplinary wing instead of their counsel because he was pro se, asking the court to toss his punishment.

  • February 27, 2025

    Sierra Leone Accuses Jenner & Block Of Fraudulent Overbilling

    Facing an $8 million fee suit pending in D.C. federal court, the Republic of Sierra Leone on Thursday brought counterclaims accusing its former counsel from Jenner & Block LLP of fraudulently overbilling for work the firm did on its behalf between 2019 and 2022.

  • February 27, 2025

    Ex-Trump Atty Powell's Mich. Misconduct Hearing Set For May

    The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board on Thursday announced the date for a misconduct hearing for Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and other attorneys who were allegedly involved in a legal challenge to Michigan's 2020 presidential election results and supporting Donald Trump's election fraud theories.

  • February 27, 2025

    No Sanctions For Atty As TM's Incontestability Status Axed

    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has declined to refer Great Concepts LLC or its former attorney for potential discipline for submitting a filing with false information for incontestability of its mark in 2010, saying too much time has passed.

  • February 27, 2025

    Judge Limits Atty Expert Witnesses In Legal Malpractice Trial

    An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday barred attorneys who aren't expert witnesses from giving testimony about what they would have done differently from Quinn Johnston Henderson & Pretorius Chtd. in an upcoming trial on claims the firm's botched defense caused their client "enormous loss."

  • February 27, 2025

    Conn. Supreme Court Snapshot: Water Rates, Judicial Attacks

    An Eversource unit's request to offset inflation and $42 million in new infrastructure projects through rate hikes will top the Connecticut Supreme Court's March docket, with the justices examining another in a list of challenges to state regulators' attempts to keep a lid on customer costs.

  • February 27, 2025

    Starbucks, Patent Exec Reach Deal In Atty Defamation Case

    A patent-licensing company executive and Starbucks Corp. on Thursday settled a defamation suit over statements made by an attorney for Starbucks just days after the plaintiffs fired back on the company's attempt to exit the suit.

  • February 27, 2025

    Insurer's Bid To Dodge $1.4M Bank Scam Suit Premature

    An insurer cannot yet escape an attorney's demand for coverage in an alleged scheme to steal $1.4 million from a New Jersey development company, a Connecticut federal judge ruled, saying the carrier didn't follow court procedures before it moved to end the case.

  • February 27, 2025

    Paralegal Accuses Morris Manning Of Race, Disability Bias

    A former paralegal in the Atlanta office of Morris Manning & Martin LLP hit her old firm with a lawsuit this week alleging that the firm fired her last year to avoid having to pay her while she was out on extended medical leave.

  • February 27, 2025

    Ga. Plant Denies Alleged Atty Bribe, Claims Letter Was Fake

    The finance director of a now-shuttered Georgia manufacturing plant did not pen a letter offering to bribe counsel representing a brother and sister in a federal discrimination lawsuit, according to a Thursday response to a sanctions bid that points the finger for the allegedly fraudulent missive at unidentified disgruntled former employees.

  • February 27, 2025

    Trump Urges Ga. Justices To Leave Election Charges Nixed

    President Donald Trump has urged the Georgia Supreme Court to uphold a state appellate decision that affirmed the dismissal of six counts in the state's election interference case.

  • February 27, 2025

    Whistleblowers Fired By Paxton Propose $6.75M Settlement

    Four of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's former top deputies-turned-whistleblowers are asking for more than $6.75 million from his office to settle claims they were unlawfully fired for reporting Paxton's possible abuses of office to the FBI in 2020.

  • February 27, 2025

    Polsinelli Blocked From Repping BCBS Settlement Opt-Outs

    An Alabama federal judge has disqualified Polsinelli PC from representing hospitals that opt out of a landmark $2.8 billion Blue Cross Blue Shield antitrust settlement, even as other firms are licking their lips at the prospect of a multibillion-dollar bonanza of opt-out litigation.

  • February 27, 2025

    How Adams' Latest Move Might Checkmate The DOJ

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams' push to permanently dismiss his federal corruption case is a clever legal strategy that appears to have backed the government into a corner, experts say.

  • February 27, 2025

    Fried Frank Rips RICO Sanctions Bid As Intimidation Tactic

    Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP and its client Tristar Products Inc. are pushing back on a motion for sanctions for bringing an anti-racketeering lawsuit against Telebrands Corp., arguing the bid is a "clear effort to intimidate" the plaintiffs and to impose additional cost and burden on them.

  • February 27, 2025

    NJ Republicans Look To Oust AG After Failed RICO Case

    Republican leaders in the New Jersey Assembly moved Thursday to impeach Attorney General Matthew Platkin, accusing him of overstepping his authority, including by pursuing his now-dismissed racketeering indictment against political power broker George E. Norcross III and his allies. 

  • February 27, 2025

    Texas Atty Seeks Woman's Employment Docs In Sex Tape Case

    A Houston attorney accused of filming a sexual encounter with a woman and sharing it without her consent has asked a Texas state court for permission to subpoena the woman's employment records to help him defend against her suit.

  • February 27, 2025

    McCarter & English Wants $3.8M, Ex-Client Wants New Trial

    Scarcely a month after the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that McCarter & English LLP is not entitled to $3.6 million in punitive damages from a federal fee feud with ex-client Jarrow Formulas Inc., the firm has requested a nearly $3.8 million judgment against the supplement company, while Jarrow has requested reimbursement and a new trial.

  • February 27, 2025

    Colo. Justice Warns Attys Not To Dodge Tough Questions

    A Colorado Supreme Court justice told lawyers Wednesday not to pivot after being asked a question during oral arguments, saying justices can sense a lawyer is avoiding a topic and will go after it with a "great, invisible hook."

  • February 26, 2025

    Apple Comms Director's Texts Reveal Criticisms Of Judge

    An Apple communications director's text messages came to light Wednesday on the last day of a high-stakes hearing into whether Apple complied with a 2021 antitrust injunction, revealing the director had criticized the judge extensively when the hearing began in May.

  • February 26, 2025

    Legal Groups Call Out Trump's 'Outrageous' Covington Attack

    Defense attorney groups on Wednesday expressed concern over President Donald Trump's retaliation against Covington & Burling LLP attorneys for representing former special counsel Jack Smith, asking the wider legal community to join their members in condemning the president's "outrageous action."

  • February 26, 2025

    Walmart Injury Suit Wrongly Axed For Fraud, Panel Says

    A Florida state appeals court on Wednesday revived a suit seeking to hold Walmart liable for injuries suffered by a woman who allegedly ate contaminated chicken from the store, saying possible lies the woman told during a deposition didn't warrant dismissal.

  • February 26, 2025

    Calif. AG's Hiring Of Lieff Cabraser In Climate Suit Challenged

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta improperly hired Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP to assist with the state's climate deception suit against fossil fuel companies when attorneys in his office were capable of handling the litigation, the union representing the public lawyers contended in a newly filed state court complaint.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    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.

  • Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys

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    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.

  • Revisiting The Crime-Fraud Exception After Key Trump Cases

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    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.

  • Series

    Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    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.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    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.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    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.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    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.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    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.

  • Opinion

    More Guidance Needed On Appellate Amicus Recusals

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    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.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    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.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    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.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    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.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

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