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Legal Ethics
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August 26, 2024
Conn. Judge Hints Split Fee Collection Case May Be Too Late
A Connecticut judge on Monday said he was leaning toward dismissing a case seeking to access an alleged fee split in a $25,000 personal injury case, hinting that the Law Office of Justin C. Freeman LLC likely waited too long to file its lawsuit before dissolving.
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August 26, 2024
Substitute Atty Must Get Access To Discovery, NJ Panel Says
The attorney representing the estate of a murdered New Jersey mobster-turned-informant must be given access to confidential discovery information that was provided to a previous attorney on the case, the state Appellate Division ruled today.
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August 26, 2024
Racial Gaps In Mich. Judicial Discipline Process, Audit Finds
Black judges in Michigan are more likely to be subject to a full misconduct investigation and receive "significantly" more grievances than their white counterparts, according to a preliminary audit from the National Center for State Courts.
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August 26, 2024
Cadwalader Fears Unsealing Financial Info May Harm Firm
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP has argued in North Carolina Business Court that unsealing financial details related to a November 2022 data breach and its insurance policy with a Lloyd's of London syndicate would put the firm at further risk from competitors and bad actors.
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August 26, 2024
Texas Cases To Watch In Last Half Of 2024
Courts across the state are poised to make decisions in several high-stakes cases over the next several months, including ruling on whether Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton can be deposed in a long-running employment retaliation suit and whether a challenge to Texas' floating Rio Grande barrier must be tried before a jury.
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August 26, 2024
Insurer Wants Out Of Pa. Wig Widow's $4.5M Benefit Dispute
Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. asked a Pennsylvania state court to let it bow out of a dispute between a Pittsburgh wig and healthcare magnate's widow and his family partnership, arguing Monday that the court, not the insurer, had to choose between competing claims for a $4.5 million policy payout.
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August 26, 2024
Ex-Branscomb Atty Must Comply With Arbitration Award
A Texas appellate court said that a former attorney with Branscomb PC must abide by an arbitration award issued in his dispute over his termination from the firm, writing that if he had an issue with the award, he should have raised it with the arbitrator.
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August 26, 2024
New Jersey Cases Attorneys Are Watching In 2024
Jersey City is fighting the Garden State's cannabis legalization law and argues it conflicts with federal gun control legislation, while the bankrupt former chief financial officer of McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP is facing civil claims he defrauded the firm and paid himself millions in unauthorized salary.
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August 23, 2024
Del. Chief Judge Tells IP Biz Owner To Show Up, Pay $53K
Delaware's top federal judge Friday ordered a Texas-based patent litigation business owner to appear before him to address what he called a "potential fraud on the court" and "misconduct" by the firm's counsel, adding she'll have to pay $53,000 in accrued sanctions for refusing to show up in-person since last year.
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August 23, 2024
Girardi Says High Court Holding Should Gut His Fraud Case
Tom Girardi has urged a California federal judge to toss the majority of the wire fraud charges he is facing ahead of closing arguments in his trial, saying a 1960 U.S. Supreme Court case demonstrates he was charged for nothing more than receiving legally required wire transfers.
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August 23, 2024
Former Snyder Aide Says No Immunity For Flint Prosecutors
A top aide to former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder who had faced criminal charges for the Flint water crisis is fighting Michigan prosecutors' attempts to dodge a lawsuit claiming that they violated his due process rights.
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August 23, 2024
NC Justice Dept. Atty's Promotion Bias Suit Cleared For Trial
The North Carolina Department of Justice will face an attorney's race and sex discrimination claims at trial after a federal judge rejected the agency's bid for summary judgment, finding that a dispute remains about whether there was a legitimate reason for not promoting her.
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August 23, 2024
Wash. Justices Affirm Convicted Ex-State Auditor Disbarment
The Washington Supreme Court affirmed a recommendation to disbar convicted former state auditor Troy X. Kelley after he was imprisoned on felony theft charges, finding that Kelley's crimes justified the disbarment sanction.
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August 23, 2024
Ex-Reed Smith Atty Wants Pay Data In Bias Suit Against Firm
A former Reed Smith LLP attorney suing the firm for gender discrimination has told a New Jersey state court that the firm must turn over pay data for nonequity partners stretching back years for her to make her case.
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August 23, 2024
Client Wants Atty's Wife Held In Contempt In Malpractice Case
A couple awarded a $1.2 million default malpractice judgment against their former lawyer have asked a Colorado state judge to hold the attorney's wife in contempt after she said in a deposition she failed to check whether she and her husband had joint bank accounts or to bring documents, as required by a subpoena.
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August 23, 2024
Young Thug Atty Says Contempt Charge Must Be Overturned
An attorney representing Atlanta rapper Young Thug urged the Georgia Supreme Court on Thursday to reverse the 20-day jail sentence and contempt of court conviction he received after refusing to divulge how he learned about a closed-door meeting between prosecutors, a witness and the original judge presiding over the rapper's racketeering trial.
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August 23, 2024
JPMorgan's $26K Atty Fee Award Overturned By Conn. Panel
A Connecticut appeals court on Friday reversed JPMorgan's nearly $26,000 attorney fee-shift and cost award in a case involving a $250,000 promissory note, holding a trial judge improperly awarded the recovery because the bank waited "more than one year" to seek it after scoring summary judgment.
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August 23, 2024
Mich. Atty Guilty Of Murdering Client Faces Disbarment
The Michigan Supreme Court's prosecutorial arm on Friday urged the state's attorney watchdog to disbar a lawyer who was sentenced to spend life in prison for conspiring to kill his wealthy client to gain access to the client's trust, saying the attorney's conduct was "heinous and reprehensible."
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August 23, 2024
Former NY Atty Gets Prison For Theft Of $800K From Clients
A disbarred New York real estate attorney has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution for stealing over $800,000 from three former clients by taking their money from his escrow account.
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August 23, 2024
ABA Guides Lawyers On Avoiding Criminal Transactions
Just over a year after the American Bar Association formalized long-standing due diligence rules for attorneys' interactions with clients, an ABA committee on Friday released its first ethics opinion providing guidance on interpreting the rules amendment.
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August 23, 2024
Georgia Cases To Watch In The Last Half Of 2024
The prosecutions of former President Donald Trump and his election interference case codefendants, along with Atlanta rapper Young Thug's bid to have the judge overseeing his racketeering trial removed from the case, will take center stage in Georgia's courts as we enter the second half of 2024.
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August 23, 2024
Attys Fight Over Fee Award In Conservative Group's IRS Win
A prominent conservative lawyer says like-minded election integrity group True the Vote owes his firm over $500,000 in attorney fees for a suit against the Internal Revenue Service that was settled years ago, telling a D.C. federal judge Friday that it's time for TTV to pay up.
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August 23, 2024
NJ Panel Backs Dismissal Of Whistleblower Suit
A former New Jersey assistant prosecutor did not provide a clear enough link between complaints he filed against his boss and an alleged retaliatory disciplinary action, a New Jersey appellate panel ruled Friday when it dismissed his whistleblower suit.
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August 23, 2024
Client Says Negligence Led To NJ Firm's Ransomware Attack
A client of The Wacks Law Group LLC hit the New Jersey firm with a proposed class action claiming that its negligence in properly securing its data storage led to the theft of hundreds of clients' personal information in a March cyberattack.
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August 23, 2024
Ohio Judge Dinged For Public Posts About Guardianship Spat
The Ohio Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded a probate court judge for allowing staff to make inaccurate comments to the press about a guardianship case and for posting comments about the case on the court's Facebook page, including accusing a man of elder abuse without evidence.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Roundup
After Chevron
In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.
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Opinion
Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem
The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.