Legal Ethics

  • January 29, 2025

    Dechert Seeks Clawback From Ex-Atty After $132K Pay Error

    A former Dechert senior project attorney is accused of failing to report a $132,250 billing error and refusing to return the funds, according to a suit the firm brought against her in New York state court.

  • January 28, 2025

    Erika Girardi Didn't Know About Fraud, Appeals Court Says

    A California appellate court Tuesday refused to disturb a lower court's finding that reality television star Erika Girardi wasn't aware that her former husband and his firm might have misappropriated settlement funds owed to co-counsel, agreeing that the "undisputed facts" back the lower court's ruling.

  • January 28, 2025

    Proud Boys Atty Beats Researcher's IP Claim In Mixed Verdict

    A Washington, D.C., federal jury Tuesday cleared an attorney who defended a Proud Boy accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol of infringing a Texas-based researcher's copyright, but found that the attorney owes the researcher $77,000 for skipping out on his bill.

  • January 28, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs Class Attys' $8M In Fees In Joint Juice Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld an $8 million fee award to plaintiffs who prevailed in a false advertising suit against food company Premier Nutrition Corp. over its Joint Juice supplement, finding the lower court didn't abuse its discretion in awarding fees for work plaintiffs' attorneys performed while a related case was pending.

  • January 28, 2025

    Lobbying Is Not A Crime, Madigan Co-Defendant Tells Jury

    An attorney for an ex-lobbyist standing trial on public corruption charges alongside former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan told jurors on Tuesday the government failed to establish that his client conspired to trade the ex-speaker's support for do-nothing jobs, saying all that really happened was "lobbying and politics."

  • January 28, 2025

    Baker Botts Atty Says Inventor's Defamation Claims Are False

    A Baker Botts LLP partner hit back Tuesday against a patent-licensing company executive's claims that she made defamatory statements about him related to infringement litigation over a patent for a mobile restaurant ordering app with personalized suggestions.

  • January 28, 2025

    Amid Big Bets, Tom Goldstein Argued 'Poker Is Not Gambling'

    A federal indictment's jarring portrayal of pioneering U.S. Supreme Court advocate Tom Goldstein as an "ultrahigh-stakes" gambler who dodged taxes has left the legal community virtually speechless. But Goldstein's status as a serious poker player was not a secret, and in past court cases, he proclaimed the card game "fundamentally dissimilar" from conventional gambling, even while preparing to wager millions on matches.

  • January 28, 2025

    Pa. Bank Regulator Claims Co. Hid Affiliation, Misused Privilege

    A Texas debt-settlement company should be sanctioned for failing to disclose its alleged affiliation with another debt consolidator and for invoking attorney-client privilege when pressed about how its general counsel complied with a subpoena, Pennsylvania's banking regulator told a state court Tuesday.

  • January 28, 2025

    Law Firm Accused Of Botching NYC Construction Lawsuit

    An HVAC subcontractor and one of its investors claim that attorneys at a New York law firm cost them a $700,000 judgment at trial by failing to call any witnesses or produce any documents to rebut claims from a general contractor that they diverted funds, according to a lawsuit in New Jersey state court.

  • January 28, 2025

    Watchdog Wants Conn. Atty Suspended For Escrow Theft

    Connecticut's Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel is calling for an attorney with a history of court reprimands and grievances to face a license suspension, after she was found liable for statutory theft of client funds.

  • January 28, 2025

    Miami Developer Has To Pay Fees Owed To Carlton Fields

    A Miami developer suing the Carlton Fields law firm can't dodge bills for legal work the firm performed for him, as a Florida state judge on Tuesday granted the firm a win on its counterclaim seeking payment of outstanding legal fees.

  • January 28, 2025

    Morgan & Morgan Keeps Win To Arbitrate Malpractice Claims

    A Georgia federal judge on Tuesday declined to reconsider a ruling granting Morgan & Morgan PA's bid to compel arbitration in a former client's legal malpractice case or to send the dispute back to state court.

  • January 28, 2025

    Mich. Steakhouse Drops $2M Negligence Suit Against Atty

    A Michigan steakhouse has dropped its malpractice suit against its former attorney after claiming the lawyer made mistakes in franchise agreements that cost it more than $2 million, according to a stipulated order Tuesday.

  • January 28, 2025

    Colo. Atty Hits DC-Area Law Firm With Bias Suit Over Firing

    A Colorado attorney has sued the Washington, D.C.-area firm Volkov Law Group, alleging it discriminated against her based on age and gender when she was "abruptly and unlawfully fired" in October 2023 at the age of 56, and accusing the firm of wrongfully withholding wages.

  • January 28, 2025

    Berry Appleman, Ex-Tech Lead Resolve Disability Bias Suit

    Berry Appleman & Leiden struck a deal to end a former software tech lead's suit claiming the global immigration firm fired him because side effects from new medication caused him to ask for a reprieve from his demanding workload, according to a filing in Texas federal court.

  • January 27, 2025

    Proud Boys Atty Calls Researcher Copyright Claim A 'Ruse'

    A Texas-based researcher laid out her case against an attorney she accuses of violating her copyright and skipping out on his bill, claiming that her firm foundered after the lawyer, who was defending a Proud Boy accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol, didn't tell her he couldn't pay.

  • January 27, 2025

    Feds' Madigan Informant Is A 'Malignant Tumor,' Jury Told

    An attorney for ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan took aim Monday at the former Chicago alderman called as the government's star witness in Madigan's criminal racketeering trial, calling him "a malignant tumor at the heart of this case" and urging jurors not to trust his testimony as they prepare to deliberate on his client's fate.

  • January 27, 2025

    Judge Orders Litigation Funder To Give Docs To Netflix

    A Virginia federal judge said AiPi LLC, an intellectual property strategy service, has to hand over certain documents that Netflix Inc. requested relating to patent litigation claims against the streaming giant.

  • January 27, 2025

    Ga. Appeals Panel Revives Malpractice Suit Against Law Firm

    The Georgia Court of Appeals partly reinstated a malpractice suit accusing a Georgia law firm and one of its former attorneys of failing to show up at a client's bench trial that ended with a $100,000 judgment against the client.

  • January 27, 2025

    Tesla Too Late To DQ Judge In Crash Suit, Court Told

    A woman suing Tesla Inc. over a crash that resulted in the amputation of her legs is urging a California federal court not to disqualify the judge assigned to her product liability case, saying the automaker has no excuse for waiting nearly a year and a half, until just before trial, to call for his disqualification.

  • January 27, 2025

    Arrested Atty Can't Sue Sheriff's Office Either, Pa. Judge Says

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday dismissed the last of a group of Allegheny County government officials and entities named as defendants in a lawsuit filed by two brothers who claimed they were unlawfully detained when they failed to meet discovery deadlines in a separate case.

  • January 27, 2025

    Buzbee Seeks Sanctions In Ex-Client's Fraud Suit

    Amid his high-profile battles with music moguls Sean "Diddy" Combs and Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, Houston personal injury lawyer Tony Buzbee is seeking sanctions against the lawyers pursuing a separate fraud suit against him, saying they brought up unrelated accusations to harass Buzbee and damage his reputation.

  • January 27, 2025

    Fla. Judge Accused Of Bias In Energy Drink Co. Ch. 11

    A Florida federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the Chapter 11 case of the company that makes Bang energy drinks was sued by its founder, who alleged the judge was biased throughout the proceedings and made several rulings that financially harmed him and the company.

  • January 27, 2025

    SCOTUSblog Publisher Pleads Not Guilty To Tax Crimes

    U.S. Supreme Court advocate and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein pled not guilty in Maryland federal court on Monday to charges that he schemed to evade taxes and used funds from his boutique law firm to cover gambling debts.

  • January 27, 2025

    Widow Says Century Homebuilders' Atty Conspired To Move Assets

    The widow of Sergio Pino, the late founder and CEO of Century Homebuilders Group LLC, has sued Century Homebuilders' attorney, accusing him of setting up fraudulent transfers of the company's assets during the Pinos' contentious divorce to keep her from getting her half of the company.

Expert Analysis

  • Lawyers Must Be Careful When Using Listservs

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    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.

  • A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

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    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.

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

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    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.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    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.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    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.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    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.

  • Opinion

    A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue

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    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.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    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.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    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.

  • After Chevron

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 37 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    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.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: June Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers two recent decisions from the Third and Tenth Circuits, and identifies practice tips around class action settlements and standing in securities litigation.

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