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Legal Ethics
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June 05, 2024
Atty Retaliation Claim 'Self-Serving Spin,' Major Lindsey Says
Legal recruiter Major Lindsey & Africa has asked a Maryland federal judge to toss an associate's claim that she was retaliated against after suing Troutman Pepper for racial discrimination, arguing that the absence of a contract between the parties dooms her claim, and that she failed to show that the recruiter "acted with a retaliatory motive or intent."
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June 05, 2024
Santa Barbara Gets Bulk Of Pot Farm Raid Suit Tossed
A California federal judge has thrown out the bulk of a cannabis farmer's suit alleging that members of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office illegally raided his farm and destroyed his property, leaving only a judicial deception claim to go forward.
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June 05, 2024
NY Gov. Denies Cop-Shoving Judge New Term
A Buffalo judge censured for brawling with neighbors, shoving a police officer and bragging about his ties to power was denied a second term by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who took the unusual step of rejecting the judge's request for reappointment.
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June 04, 2024
Judiciary Panel Clears 1st MDL Rule, Eyes 'Mouthpiece' Amici
Top rulemaking gatekeepers for the federal judiciary Tuesday capped off seven years of strife in the defense and plaintiffs bars by backing a milestone measure aimed at optimizing multidistrict litigation, and then promptly greenlighted an entirely different war of words over new efforts to ferret out amicus briefs from "paid mouthpieces" masquerading as independent experts.
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June 04, 2024
Trump Wants Gag Orders Terminated In Wake Of Guilty Verdict
Donald Trump asked a New York County judge to terminate gag orders restricting the former president from making out-of-court statements during his criminal trial, arguing that the "restrictions" on his First Amendment rights are no longer warranted now that the trial has come to an end.
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June 04, 2024
Atty's Argentine Uber Debut Fight Lands At Calif. High Court
Barring fraudulent concealment claims under the so-called economic loss doctrine would create "perverse incentives" for people to draw others into contracts and "have their way with them," the California Supreme Court was told Tuesday by counsel for an Argentinian attorney suing Uber on allegations it hid crucial information from him.
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June 04, 2024
Judge Skeptical School Mask Opponent Can Duck Sanctions
A Washington state appellate judge appeared doubtful Monday that $30,000 in sanctions for a man and his attorneys were unwarranted, after a trial court judge found his school board recall petitions were meant to bully board members into flouting a state COVID-19 mask mandate.
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June 04, 2024
Removal Of Poaching Suit Backed By Congress, Atty Argues
A former associate of a Houston personal injury firm accused of stealing client files and recording hours of private conversations told the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday that Congress provides "the luxury of a bright-line rule" that allowed him to remove the firm's state court case against him to federal court after he filed a motion to dismiss.
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June 04, 2024
Chief Justice's Leadership Is Falling Short, Schumer Says
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday criticized U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for what he sees as lackluster efforts to address ethical impropriety among high court members.
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June 04, 2024
J&J Owes $260M To Ore. Talc Mesothelioma Patient, Jury Says
An Oregon state jury has ruled that Johnson & Johnson owes $260 million to a woman who said she developed mesothelioma from breathing in asbestos during daily talcum powder use.
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June 04, 2024
Franchise Co. Faces Sanctions For 'Frivolous' 7th Circ. Appeal
The Seventh Circuit has upheld a district court's order that restaurant franchise company Sun Holdings Inc. must pay insurer American Zurich a roughly $1.1 million arbitration award plus interest and attorney fees in a dispute over a workers' compensation policy, and ordered Sun Holdings to show cause for why further sanctions aren't warranted for a "frivolous appeal."
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June 04, 2024
Northrop Fights Retirees' 9th Circ. Bid For New Judge
Northrop Grumman has asked the Ninth Circuit to keep a proposed ERISA class action in U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II's courtroom, arguing it would be inappropriate to accept the retirees' bid to move the case before a different judge after two appellate court panels overturned Judge Wright's previous dismissals in the matter.
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June 04, 2024
Tax Law Firm Can't Kick Ex-Clients' Class Suit To Arbitration
Former clients of a Florida-based tax law firm who live in Wisconsin can move forward with their proposed class action accusing the firm of malpractice and charging illegal fees, a Wisconsin federal judge ruled Tuesday, rejecting the firm's requests to toss the suit or move it to arbitration.
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June 04, 2024
Netflix Settles Central Park 5 Defamation Case Ahead Of Trial
Netflix has settled a lawsuit alleging one of its docuseries defamed a Manhattan prosecutor who was involved in the Central Park Five case, agreeing Tuesday to donate $1 million to a nonprofit dedicated to preventing wrongful convictions.
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June 04, 2024
Garland Defends DOJ Integrity, Demurs On Justices' Ethics
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday defended the Department of Justice's independence, deflecting questions about ethics scandals at the U.S. Supreme Court and rejecting Donald Trump's "conspiracy theory" that federal prosecutors were the real force behind his recent conviction.
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June 04, 2024
County Says Exec Can't Pin Firing On Lawyer Bashing
A fired county executive's letter calling the county's legal counsel incompetent was sent as part of his official job duties, a Michigan county said Monday, arguing that the comments were not protected speech and can't give rise to a retaliation claim.
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June 04, 2024
Jury Still Deadlocked Over Carhartt Atty's Embezzlement Trial
A Detroit-area jury remained deadlocked Tuesday as it deliberated for the second day on embezzlement charges against a Michigan attorney who is accused of stealing millions from Carhartt heiress Gretchen Valade when he was trustee of her irrevocable trust.
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June 04, 2024
Clinton Says Dismissal Of Trump's RICO Suit Was Warranted
Hillary Clinton and members of the Democratic National Committee urged the Eleventh Circuit not to revive Donald Trump's suit alleging they conspired to push false claims of Russian election interference in 2016, arguing that the dismissal and resulting sanctions for pursuing the frivolous suit should be kept in place.
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June 04, 2024
Liberty Mutual Wants NJ Judge Removed From Accident Case
Liberty Mutual urged a New Jersey federal judge to recuse himself from a construction accident coverage case Monday arguing that he failed to disclose at the beginning of litigation that he holds multiple policies with the insurer dating back to 1980 and was previously investigated over a missing jewelry claim.
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June 04, 2024
Aircraft Engine Co. Aims To Sink Suit Of Its Former Attorney
An aircraft engine manufacturer sued by its former attorney over what she said was a malicious lawsuit against her for leaving to represent plaintiffs suing the company has asked a federal judge to toss her Dragonetti Act case.
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June 04, 2024
Paxton Asks Texas Justices To End Bar's Political 'Lawfare'
The Texas bar's ethics lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton over his challenge to the 2020 presidential election violates the state constitution's separation of powers and is barred by sovereign immunity, Paxton told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, calling the case "politically motivated lawfare" in an announcement.
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June 04, 2024
Mondelez, BCLP Must Face Negligence Claims Over 2023 Breach
An Illinois federal judge has trimmed the majority of claims in proposed data privacy class actions brought by Mondelez workers against their employer and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP stemming from a 2023 data breach, although the company and law firm couldn't shake the cases entirely.
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June 04, 2024
Buchanan Ingersoll Denies Deceit Over Harrisburg Incinerator
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC didn't give Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, bad advice when it set up a debt deal that allowed construction to continue on a controversial incinerator project that sent the state capital into financial distress, an attorney for the firm told the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on Tuesday.
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June 04, 2024
Baldwin Prosecutors Seek Immunity For Armorer's Testimony
New Mexico state prosecutors asked a judge Monday to grant immunity to a convicted "Rust" film armorer in a bid to compel her to take the stand during actor-producer Alec Baldwin's upcoming involuntary manslaughter trial in the on-set shooting death of a cinematographer.
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June 04, 2024
Houston IP Firm Settles Trade Secrets Case With Ex-Law Clerk
Houston-based intellectual property law firm Lloyd & Mousilli PLLC and a former law clerk accused of stealing confidential information while working virtually from California reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the firm in a Texas federal court.
Expert Analysis
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Crypto Coverage After FTX Fall: Accountant And Atty Liability
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.
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Thorny Legal Issues Surround NY Prosecutor's Trump Tell-All
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.
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5 Ways Attorneys Can Use Emotion In Client Pitches
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.
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5 Keys To A Productive Mediation
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Cortney Young at ADR Partners discusses factors that can help to foster success in mediation, including scheduling, preparation, managing client expectations and more.
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Evaluating The Legal Ethics Of A ChatGPT-Authored Motion
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.
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Jan. 6 Panel Transcripts Highlight Attorney Ethics Issues
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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7 Tips To Increase Your Law Firm's DEI Efforts In 2023
Law firms looking to advance their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts should consider implementing new practices and initiatives this year, including some that require nominal additional effort or expense, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Gina Rubel at Furia Rubel.
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Series
Keys To A 9-0 High Court Win: Get Back To Home Base
When I argued for the petitioner in Morgan v. Sundance before the U.S. Supreme Court last year, I made the idea of consistency the cornerstone of my case and built a road map for my argument to ensure I could always return to that home-base theme, says Karla Gilbride at Public Justice.
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Atty-Client Privilege Arguments Give Justices A Moving Target
Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case regarding the scope of the attorney-client privilege appeared to raise more questions about multipurpose counsel communications than they answered, as the parties presented shifting iterations of a predictable, easily applied test for evaluating the communications' purpose, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
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5 Gen X Characteristics That Can Boost Legal Leadership
As Generation X attorneys rise to fill top roles in law firms and corporations left by retiring baby boomers, they should embrace generational characteristics that will allow them to become better legal leaders, says Meredith Kahan at Whiteford Taylor.
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6 Questions For Boutique Firms Considering Mergers
To prepare for discussions with potential merger partners, boutique law firms should first consider the challenges they hope to address with a merger and the qualities they prioritize in possible partner firms, say Howard Cohl and Ron Nye at Major Lindsey.
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Del. Justices' Reversal Of Boardwalk Award May Apply Widely
The Delaware Supreme Court's recent Boardwalk Pipeline v. Bandera Master Fund decision that a general partner wasn't liable for willful misconduct is likely to have wide applicability for noncorporate entities, which courts are unlikely to view as entitled to more protection than Boardwalk's public unit holders, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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5 Tips For Adding Value To Legal Clients' Experience In 2023
Faced with a potential economic downturn this year, attorneys should look to strengthen client relationships now by focusing on key ways to improve the client experience, starting with a check-in call to discuss client needs and priorities for the coming year, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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6 Ways To Avoid Compounding Errors When Practicing Law
For lawyers and law firms, inevitable human error can lead to claims of malpractice or ethical violations, but the key is to avoid exacerbating mistakes by adding communication failures, conflicts of interest or insurance coverage losses, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.
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What Will Keep Legal Talent Professionals Up At Night In 2023
Hybrid work environments, high demand for lateral hires and a potential slowdown of the economy defined 2022 in the always-busy marketplace for legal talent, and as BigLaw looks at the year ahead, there are five major sources of concern for the teams charged with securing and retaining that talent, say advisers at Baretz+Brunelle.