Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Legal Ethics
-
January 09, 2025
NJ Firm Accused Of Malpractice Hid Facts, Insurer Says
An insurer has told a New Jersey federal court that a law firm it insured had no coverage for malpractice allegations because it knew its attorney was accused of bilking a man's heirs out of estate assets years before the firm was sued for wrongdoing, but never told the insurer.
-
January 09, 2025
Atty Survives Ex-Young Conaway Coworker's Assault Claim
A Pennsylvania federal judge said Thursday that a former Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP attorney's assault claim against a onetime colleague at the firm is unviable because substantial proof exists to show that the actions in question were done to defend another person.
-
January 09, 2025
Judge Nixes Bid To Depose SEC Counsel In $73M Fraud Case
A New Jersey federal magistrate judge has denied a credit reporting agency's bid to depose four U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys and to compel the production of their witness interview notes in a civil enforcement action over an alleged $73 million fraud, ruling the information sought is protected by the work-product doctrine.
-
January 09, 2025
Top Oversight Dem Seeks Report On Trump Classified Docs
The top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Thursday asked the U.S. Department of Justice for a look at the special counsel report on former President Donald Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents, days after a federal court blocked its publication.
-
January 08, 2025
Consumers Get Class Cert. In Suit Over Law Firm's Robocalls
A West Virginia federal judge has granted class status to consumers who are accusing a plaintiffs' firm of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by blasting them with unsolicited calls seeking their participation in litigation against the federal government over contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
-
January 08, 2025
Atty Wants Sanctions Mention Axed In NFL Merch Case
An attorney representing himself in a lawsuit seeking a court order saying he is allowed to sell unlicensed NFL merchandise took exception with a federal judge's suggestion that the league's merchandising arm may want to move for sanctions.
-
January 08, 2025
Reed Smith Accused Of 'Causing Chaos' In $102M Award Fight
The new owners of reorganized international shipping group Eletson Holdings are continuing their battle with the company's former owners and their counsel at Reed Smith in litigation over a $102 million arbitral award, alleging the BigLaw firm's "obstructionist conduct" is "causing chaos."
-
January 08, 2025
Madigan Denies Extorting Developers For Law Firm Business
Ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan testified Wednesday that he never wanted a Chicago alderman to leverage his chairmanship of a powerful city council committee to steer business to Madigan's law firm, saying he merely asked for introductions to developers and felt "surprise and concern" when the alderman referenced a quid pro quo deal.
-
January 08, 2025
Feds Ask To Release Report On Trump's DC Case, But Not Fla.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to deny Donald Trump's request to block the publication of a report on the now-abandoned federal election-meddling case against the president-elect in D.C. federal court, but said the Justice Department will hold off on releasing a report regarding the classified-documents case in Florida, where two co-defendants remain under indictment.
-
January 08, 2025
Jay-Z Wants Sanctions Against Buzbee In Diddy Rape Suit
Rapper Jay-Z asked Wednesday that Texas attorney Tony Buzbee be sanctioned for filing a lawsuit accusing him and embattled rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs of raping a 13-year-old girl, claiming inconsistencies in the girl's story show Buzbee "knowingly filed a false complaint."
-
January 08, 2025
Fla. Atty Can't Beat Contempt Ruling Over Failed Apology
A Florida state appeals panel on Wednesday agreed that an attorney was in indirect criminal contempt when he failed to post an apology on a consumer reporting website as part of a settlement in his former counsel's suit against him over disparaging and allegedly defamatory comments made on the site.
-
January 08, 2025
Colo. Criminal Atty Censured For Harassing Comments
A Colorado criminal lawyer has been censured for sexual comments he allegedly made to two female student lawyers working for a local prosecutor.
-
January 08, 2025
Judge Laments Atty's $32K Sanctions Saga In Tasty Bias Case
A Pennsylvania judge expressed disappointment Wednesday about the need for a $32,000 sanction against an attorney accused of flouting deadlines in his client's employment discrimination claims against Tasty Baking Co., noting that "it didn't have to be this way."
-
January 08, 2025
Ohio Judge's License Reinstated Days After Retirement News
A former Cleveland judge's license to practice was reinstated Wednesday following a one-year suspension on ethics charges stating he pushed plea deals on defendants, made racially insensitive comments to them and ordered excessive contempt sentences for relatively minor infractions, days after the judge announced his retirement.
-
January 08, 2025
Arbitrator In Virus Coverage Case Wasn't Biased, Panel Says
A New York state appeals panel affirmed a trial court's decision refusing to disqualify a Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP partner as an arbitrator in proceedings between a Zurich unit and the operator of Saks Fifth Avenue over coverage for COVID-19 losses.
-
January 08, 2025
Court Won't Hear Atty's Challenge To Fee Dispute Loss
A Connecticut appeals court has turned away an attorney's challenge to his loss at a trial that pitted him against another lawyer in a dispute over the sharing of settlement funds, finding that Donald M. Brown blew past a deadline to follow a court order.
-
January 08, 2025
Feds Want 2 Years In Prison For Atty In Payroll Tax Fraud
A former Ohio attorney who managed his wife's dental practice should spend at least two years in prison for causing $750,000 in federal tax losses and failing to pay employment taxes, prosecutors urged Wednesday, saying he used the business as a personal piggy bank.
-
January 08, 2025
Feds Again Deny Leaks In NYC Mayor's Corruption Case
Federal prosecutors again rejected the claim that they had leaked classified information about New York City Mayor Eric Adams' corruption case to the press, telling a judge that they were not the source that allowed the New York Times to identify a grand jury witness and that Adams hadn't shown how he was prejudiced by the disclosure.
-
January 08, 2025
Republican AGs Rebuke Proposed ABA Diversity Rule Change
Republican state attorneys general representing 21 states are pushing back against proposed changes to the American Bar Association's diversity and inclusion standards for law schools, cautioning that they run afoul of precedent the U.S. Supreme Court established when it struck down affirmative action in 2023.
-
January 08, 2025
Trump Asks Supreme Court To Stop NY Sentencing
Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to halt proceedings in his New York criminal hush money case, including a sentencing hearing scheduled for Friday, as the president-elect seeks to throw out the charges and the jury's conviction.
-
January 07, 2025
DOJ Watchdog Criticizes Trump Officials For COVID Leaks
The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General has found that senior Justice Department officials under the first Trump administration improperly leaked information about investigations into COVID-19 deaths in states run by Democrats shortly before the 2020 presidential election, according to a report posted Tuesday.
-
January 07, 2025
Feds Say Adams' Bid For Indictment Info Would Hinder Probe
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is not entitled to more details about the charges in his corruption and bribery case, including the identities of alleged co-conspirators, federal prosecutors told a Manhattan federal court Monday, arguing that such information would prejudice the ongoing investigation and potentially lead to witness tampering.
-
January 07, 2025
Ex-Prosecutor Disbarred For Fabricating Harassing Texts
A former Denver prosecutor will be disbarred after a Colorado disciplinary panel found she fabricated text messages in order to falsely accuse a coworker of sexual harassment.
-
January 07, 2025
Judge Sanctions Match For Glitch Ahead Of FTC Ad Trial
A Texas federal judge on Tuesday sanctioned Match Group after the company failed to turn over sensitive emails to the Federal Trade Commission on time in a suit over alleged shady business practices, saying that the mistake was honest, but that the company still had not surrendered the documents in a timely manner.
-
January 07, 2025
Ex-Ill. Speaker Madigan Testifies In His Racketeering Trial
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan took the stand in his own defense Tuesday, testifying that he neither traded his public office for private gain nor demanded or accepted anything valuable in exchange for his official action, adding that he was "very angry" to learn that people who he'd recommended for jobs did little to no work.
Expert Analysis
-
Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?
Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.
-
Wachtell-X Ruling Highlights Trend On Arbitrability Question
A growing body of case law, including a California state court's recent decision in X Corp. v. Wachtell, holds that incorporation of specific arbitral body rules in an arbitration provision may in and of itself constitute clear and unmistakable evidence of delegation of arbitrability to an arbitrator, and thus such clauses should be drafted carefully, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
-
7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond
The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.
-
On The Edge: Lessons In Patent Litigation Financing
A federal judge's recent request that the U.S. Department of Justice look into IP Edge patent litigation, and that counsel be disciplined, serves as a reminder for parties asserting intellectual property rights — and their attorneys — to exercise caution when structuring a litigation financing agreement, say Samuel Habein and James De Vellis at Foley & Lardner.
-
5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024
Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.
-
Opinion
Stronger Attorney Rules Are Needed To Avoid A Jan. 6 Repeat
Given the key role lawyers played in the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, the legal profession must shore up its rules before this year’s presidential election to make clear that lawyers who undermine the rule of law will face severe penalties, including disbarment, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.
-
4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year
As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.
-
What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like
As the legal landscape shifts, it’s become increasingly clear that the BigLaw business model must adapt in four key ways to remain viable, from fostering workplace flexibility to embracing technology, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
-
4 PR Pointers When Your Case Is In The News
Media coverage of new lawsuits exploded last year, demonstrating why defense attorneys should devise a public relations plan that complements their legal strategy, incorporating several objectives to balance ethical obligations and advocacy, say Nathan Burchfiel at Pinkston and Ryan June at Castañeda + Heidelman.
-
Why Fed. Circ. Affirmed Attorney Fee Award In PersonalWeb
A recent Federal Circuit decision to leave a $5.2 million fee award in place in the PersonalWeb patent case underscores district courts' discretion to sanction unreasonable arguments and litigation tactics under the U.S. Code's attorney fee provision, say attorneys at Shearman.
-
Law Firm Strategies For Successfully Navigating 2024 Trends
Though law firms face the dual challenge of external and internal pressures as they enter 2024, firms willing to pivot will be able to stand out by adapting to stakeholder needs and reimagining their infrastructure, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants.
-
The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2023
A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from associate retention strategies to ethical billing practices.
-
Attorneys' Busiest Times Can Be Business Opportunities
Attorneys who resolve to grow their revenue and client base in 2024 should be careful not to abandon their goals when they get too busy with client work, because these periods of zero bandwidth can actually be a catalyst for future growth, says Amy Drysdale at Alchemy Consulting.
-
In The World Of Legal Ethics, 10 Trends To Note From 2023
Lucian Pera at Adams and Reese and Trisha Rich at Holland & Knight identify the top legal ethics trends from 2023 — including issues related to hot documents, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity — that lawyers should be aware of to put their best foot forward.
-
Opinion
Animal Rights Are About Saving Nature, And Our Own Future
The climate crisis makes it clear that animal law — conceived of as an ecocentric approach to protecting the most vulnerable nonhumans who depend on the natural environment — is essential to restoring the Earth and safeguarding the future of humanity, says Carter Dillard at the Fair Start Movement.