Legal Ethics

  • June 18, 2024

    Ga. Judge Won't Recuse Over Closed-Door Chat In YSL Case

    A Georgia state judge on Tuesday denied a motion to disqualify himself from continuing to preside over Atlanta rapper Young Thug's racketeering trial, calling the bid "insufficient" and rejecting the rapper's claim that the judge had "joined the prosecutors' team" by unethically having a closed-door conversation with prosecutors and a witness.

  • June 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Rules On 'Heated' Discovery Row In LSU Bias Case

    The Fifth Circuit has undone a ruling that a former assistant athletic director for the Lousiana State University football team had plausibly shown university officials may have violated public records law in connection with a Title IX investigation.

  • June 18, 2024

    Fla. Judge Admits To Ethics Charges In Mishandling DQ Bid

    A Miami-Dade County state court judge has admitted to violating the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct while overseeing proceedings, saying that he made improper commentary in orders of recusal that he granted in two separate criminal cases, Florida Supreme Court records show.

  • June 18, 2024

    J&J Fights Law Firm's Bid To Nix Subpoenas In Talc Brawl

    Information about the Beasley Allen Law Firm's litigation funding and settlement communications is relevant and necessary to resolving long-running multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder products and so should be turned over, the pharmaceutical giant has told a New Jersey federal court.

  • June 18, 2024

    Connecticut Atty Spared Disbarment After Tax Crimes

    A Connecticut federal judge has indefinitely suspended an attorney convicted of filing false tax returns and failing to pay taxes while spending millions on himself, agreeing with both the attorney and the local federal grievance committee that a punishment less severe than disbarment was warranted.

  • June 18, 2024

    DC Bar Counsel Moves To Suspend Hunter Biden's Law License

    Attorney disciplinary authorities in the nation's capital have moved to suspend Hunter Biden's license to practice law there after he was convicted of three federal gun charges last week.

  • June 18, 2024

    Ga. County Solicitor General Charged With Stealing Public Cash

    A Georgia state grand jury on Tuesday issued a 24-count indictment against Hall County Solicitor General Stephanie Woodard that accuses her of using taxpayer dollars for her personal benefit for four years.

  • June 18, 2024

    Ariz. County Says New Kari Lake Vote Claims Merit Sanctions

    Maricopa County officials are slamming former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's bid to unravel a Ninth Circuit decision affirming the toss of her lawsuit over Arizona's voting machines, contending that the "fatally flawed" effort warrants sanctions.

  • June 18, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says No Gov't Misconduct In Campaign Money Case

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday reversed a ruling from a Connecticut federal judge that found prosecutors violated their evidence disclosure obligations in a campaign finance case against a former state senator and his treasurer.

  • June 18, 2024

    McElroy Deutsch Says Exec Embezzled Money For Home

    McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP has doubled down on its bid for a constructive trust on the home of two former executives accused of stealing from the firm.

  • June 18, 2024

    NJ Justices Seek To Oust Judge Accused Of Touching Clerk

    The New Jersey Supreme Court wants to remove from the bench a municipal judge accused of spending a boozy afternoon with a clerk at his Jersey Shore home, where he allegedly touched her leg.

  • June 18, 2024

    Mich. AG To Pursue Deadlocked Charges In Carhartt Atty Case

    Prosecutors will continue pursuing embezzlement charges against a Michigan attorney accused of stealing from his client, a former leader of the Carhartt workwear company, after a Wayne County jury couldn't reach a decision on those claims but acquitted the attorney on other charges.

  • June 18, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Vax Mandate Case Amid Judge DQ Bid

    In a nonprecedential opinion, the Ninth Circuit has refused to restore a COVID vaccine mandate suit brought by federal workers and contractors who also sought to disqualify a judge they believed was conflicted, finding the workers lacked standing because they named officials who cannot reinstate them rather than their employers.

  • June 18, 2024

    NY High Court Denies Trump's Gag Order Appeal

    New York state's highest court on Tuesday denied Donald Trump's rapid appeal of the gag order that limited his speech during his criminal hush money trial, finding it did not raise serious constitutional issues.

  • June 17, 2024

    Microsoft Renews Sanctions Bid Against Texas IP Law Firm

    Microsoft asked a Texas federal court Friday to order Ramey LLP to pay its $100,000 attorneys' fees tab for "vexatiously" pursuing infringement litigation against it, even when the patent plaintiffs firm's now-former client CTD Networks LLC called for it to end.

  • June 17, 2024

    NJ Firm Defends Lien On Ex-Client's Patents After Unpaid Bills

    A major New Jersey law firm said it has a "common law" right to place a lien on its former client's patents without telling it, after the "failed" biopharmaceutical startup fired the firm and stopped paying its outstanding legal bills.

  • June 17, 2024

    McConnell Denounces Judicial Nominee For District Of Ore.

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor on Monday to criticize Magistrate Judge Mustafa Taher Kasubhai, a nominee for a district court judgeship in the District of Oregon whose confirmation vote is teed up for Tuesday. 

  • June 17, 2024

    Feds Say Bannon Must Go To Prison During Appeals

    The U.S. government on Monday urged the D.C. Circuit to reject Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon's bid to stave off his four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress, arguing that Bannon cannot show that the full D.C. Circuit or U.S. Supreme Court would take up his case.

  • June 17, 2024

    LA City Atty Accused Of Retaliating Against Criminal Chief

    The former criminal chief of the Los Angeles city attorney's office is seeking more than $1 million over claims she faced a "barrage of retaliation" and was unfairly placed on leave after reporting the city attorney's alleged excessive on-the-job alcohol consumption, her refusal to prosecute certain companies and other purported misconduct.

  • June 17, 2024

    NYC Bar Blasts Judges' Columbia Boycott Letter

    The New York City Bar Association on Monday questioned the impartiality of 13 federal judges who issued a letter last month publicly refusing to hire students from Columbia Law School as clerks because of campus political protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

  • June 17, 2024

    Attys Accused Of Judge Shopping Must Turn Over Q&A Doc

    Attorneys accused of a coordinated effort to "judge shop" amid federal suits challenging an Alabama law banning certain medical procedures for transgender youth must supply a document the court believes displays the attorneys' preparations for a panel hearing in which one of the attorneys allegedly committed perjury.

  • June 17, 2024

    Ga. Judge Shuts Down Bond Bid From Convicted Fla. Atty

    A Georgia federal judge has denied a Florida attorney's request to remain free on bond while she appeals her conviction and more than six-year prison sentence for fraudulently obtaining federal pandemic-relief loans meant for businesses, calling her request "the latest chapter in her attempt to dodge the consequences of her malevolence."

  • June 17, 2024

    Baldwin Prosecutors Push For 'Rust' Armorer's Testimony

    New Mexico state prosecutors are seeking to force a convicted armorer to testify during "Rust" actor-producer Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter trial, telling a judge the "world is watching" how the court decides a potentially pivotal legal dispute in the high-profile case.

  • June 17, 2024

    Clients Say McGrath Kavinoky 'Bullied' Them Into Abuse Deal

    California firm McGrath Kavinoky LLP, which inked more than $374 million in settlements for women who say they were sexually abused by a UCLA Health gynecologist, misled its clients and "bullied" them into accepting far smaller amounts than they were promised, according to a lawsuit in state court by two ex-clients.

  • June 17, 2024

    Texas Bar Proposes Limits On Services From In-House Attys

    The State Bar of Texas said in-house lawyers working for companies owned by nonattorneys are barred from providing legal services to the businesses' customers unless the work meets specific criteria because otherwise, the companies run afoul of rules forbidding the unauthorized practice of law, according to a proposed ethics opinion.

Expert Analysis

  • Nimitz Patent Fight Offers Peek Behind NPE Liability Curtain

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    Nimitz's patent assertion campaign against BuzzFeed and others inadvertently provides unprecedented insight into how nonpracticing entities shield themselves from penalties of bad faith litigation, reminding litigants to consider pressing for disclosure of entities that control a litigation but aren't the named plaintiff, says Aakash Patel at Flaster Greenberg.

  • Atty Conflict Discussions In Idaho Murder Case And Beyond

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    A public defender's representation of the accused University of Idaho murderer after prior representation of a victim's parent doesn't constitute a violation of conflict of interest rules, but the case prompts ethical questions about navigating client conflicts in small-town criminal defense and big-city corporate law alike, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Charles Loeser at HWG.

  • Opinion

    Dobbs Leak Highlights Need For High Court Ethics Code

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    While a recent investigation failed to identify who leaked the U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the situation underscores the need for the justices to bind themselves to the same ethics rules that constrain other federal judges, says Scott Gerber at Ohio Northern University.

  • Why The Original 'Rocket Docket' Will Likely Resume Its Pace

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    Though the Eastern District of Virginia, for decades the fastest federal trial court in the country, experienced significant pandemic-related slowdowns, several factors unique to the district suggest that it will soon return to its speedy pace, say Dabney Carr and Robert Angle at Troutman Pepper.

  • Crypto Coverage After FTX Fall: Crime And Custody Coverage

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    Cryptocurrency firm FTX's recent implosion provides a case study for potential crypto exposure under traditional insurance policies, and suggests carriers should ask some basic underwriting questions, including whether a company engages in transactions involving cryptocurrencies or holds digital assets in custody, says Anjali Das at Wilson Elser.

  • The Discipline George Santos Would Face If He Were A Lawyer

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    Rep. George Santos, who has become a national punchline for his alleged lies, hasn't faced many consequences yet, but if he were a lawyer, even his nonwork behavior would be regulated by the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and violations in the past have led to sanctions and even disbarment, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.

  • Why FERC's Proposed Duty Of Candor Rule Is Problematic

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    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is considering adopting a new regulation that would prohibit the submission of any inaccurate or false information when communicating with the agency, which would raise significant due process and First Amendment concerns, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • A Litigation Move That Could Conserve Discovery Resources

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    Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben proposes the preliminary legal opinion procedure — seeking a court's opinion on a disputed legal standard at the outset, rather than the close, of discovery — as a useful resource-preservation tool for legally complex, discovery-intensive litigation.

  • Litigators Should Approach AI Tools With Caution

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    Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT hold potential to streamline various aspects of the litigation process, resulting in improved efficiency and outcomes, but should be carefully double-checked for confidentiality, plagiarism and accuracy concerns, say Zachary Foster and Melanie Kalmanson at Quarles & Brady.

  • Crypto Coverage After FTX Fall: Accountant And Atty Liability

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    The recent fall of cryptocurrency firm FTX highlights complexities regarding accounting and tax reporting for digital assets, and reveals lawyers’ potential liability exposure when providing services to crypto firms — as a result, insurers may face unintended vulnerabilities related to this nebulous landscape, say Anjali Das and Farzana Ahmed at Wilson Elser.

  • Thorny Legal Issues Surround NY Prosecutor's Trump Tell-All

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    As the Manhattan district attorney's office empanels a grand jury in its ongoing Donald Trump investigation, it is seeking to pause publication of a book by former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz that focuses on Trump's indictment — an unusual situation that raises issues of prejudice, contractual responsibility and legal ethics, says John Harris at Frankfurt Kurnit.

  • 5 Ways Attorneys Can Use Emotion In Client Pitches

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    Lawyers are skilled at using their high emotional intelligence to build rapport with clients, so when planning your next pitch, consider how you can create some emotional peaks, personal connections and moments of magic that might help you stick in prospective clients' minds and seal the deal, says consultant Diana Kander.

  • 5 Keys To A Productive Mediation

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Cortney Young at ADR Partners discusses factors that can help to foster success in mediation, including scheduling, preparation, managing client expectations and more.

  • Evaluating The Legal Ethics Of A ChatGPT-Authored Motion

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    Aimee Furness and Sam Mallick at Haynes Boone asked ChatGPT to draft a motion to dismiss, and then scrutinized the resulting work product in light of attorneys' ethical and professional responsibility obligations.

  • Jan. 6 Panel Transcripts Highlight Attorney Ethics Issues

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    Recently released transcripts of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to the U.S. House Jan. 6 committee demonstrate that there is always a lurking conflict when someone other than the client is paying the fee, and that disclosure must therefore be painstaking and extensive, says Steven Lubet at Northwestern University.

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