Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Legal Ethics
-
November 14, 2024
Chipmaker's 'Bounty' Lawsuit Was 'Nonsensical,' Court Told
A pair of litigation businesses want a California federal court to punish a Taiwanese chipmaker for responding to a patent lawsuit with "frivolous," "meritless" and "nonsensical" antitrust allegations surrounding use of a "bounty" to encourage litigation.
-
November 14, 2024
Pierson Ferdinand Atty Accused Of Helping Defraud Client
The co-owner of an esports gaming platform has accused a Pierson Ferdinand attorney in Philadelphia, his firm and several other BigLaw shops where he has worked in recent years of assisting his former partner in a scheme to funnel millions of dollars out of the company they formed into new entities controlled by the ex-partner.
-
November 14, 2024
Giuliani Attys Signal Impasse In Bid To Exit Collection Cases
Attorneys representing disgraced ex-lawyer Rudy Giuliani asked a New York federal court to allow them to withdraw from representing him in a pair of cases from former Georgia poll workers seeking to collect a $148 million defamation award against him, indicating they are at odds with the onetime New York City mayor.
-
November 14, 2024
Conn. Atty Must Pay $282K Default In Estate's Home Sale Suit
A Connecticut attorney must pay a $282,000 default judgment for distributing real estate proceeds to at least one "unknown party" and writing a bad check to a trust beneficiary after a $1.2 million home sale, a state trial court judge has ruled.
-
November 14, 2024
Ex-Jones Day Attys Say Firm Can't Hide Family Leave Memo
Two married ex-associates suing Jones Day over its allegedly discriminatory family leave policy want the firm to hand over a memo from 1994, which they claim could be key to the bitterly contested case.
-
November 14, 2024
NJ Law Firm Faces Depo Sanctions Bid In Crypto Scam Suit
A plaintiff has alleged New Jersey law firm McCarthy & Soriero LLC enabled a defendant to repeatedly cancel his deposition at the last minute for an undocumented health reason in her federal suit alleging she was the victim of a nearly $200,000 cryptocurrency fraud.
-
November 14, 2024
Judiciary Chair Calls For Release Of Gaetz Ethics Report
A day after President-elect Donald Trump announced former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz as his pick for attorney general, questions linger on whether the potentially damaging House Ethics Committee report on his alleged sexual misconduct will see the light of day now that he resigned.
-
November 14, 2024
Texas Bar Eyes Ban On Lawyers Partnering With Non-Attys
A proposed ethics opinion from the State Bar of Texas says lawyers practicing in the Lone Star State cannot partner with law firms offering legal services in other jurisdictions if the partnership includes a non-lawyer, even if such arrangements are permitted in the jurisdiction where the law firm is based.
-
November 14, 2024
Attys Want To Drop Baby's Dad As Client In Conn. Death Suit
The father of the victim at the center of a product liability lawsuit against Target Corp. and a baby lounger manufacturer has stopped communicating with counsel and apparently wants nothing more to do with the case, his attorneys told a Connecticut federal judge in seeking to drop him as a client.
-
November 14, 2024
Texas Judge Recuses Himself From Microsoft Patent Case
Chief U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas has recused himself, without stating a reason, from a patent infringement case that German company ParTec AG has lodged against Microsoft over the tech giant's artificial intelligence supercomputer.
-
November 14, 2024
Ex-Kline & Specter Atty Says Firm Tried To Stop Departure
Philadelphia-based personal injury firm Kline & Specter PC and its namesake partners have been hit with another lawsuit filed by a former associate alleging mistreatment at the firm.
-
November 14, 2024
Settlement Reached In Ga. Data Breach Class Action
The companies behind high-interest loan products TitleMax, TitleBucks and InstaLoan have reached a tentative settlement with customers who alleged the companies failed to protect their personal information, leading to a data breach that affected an estimated 4.8 million people.
-
November 13, 2024
Judge Cites 'Deterrence' In Attys' Tax Scheme Prison Sentence
Two St. Louis tax attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent's pleas for leniency were largely ignored Wednesday by a federal judge sentencing them for their role in a multimillion-dollar tax avoidance scheme, with the judge declaring that the need for public deterrence was too great to let them off the hook without prison time.
-
November 13, 2024
Panel Says Ex-Atty's ADA Claim Doesn't Apply To Her Lawyers
A Tenth Circuit panel on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a disbarred Colorado attorney's Americans With Disabilities Act claim against her former defense lawyers, according to an unpublished decision that said the law only applies to public entities.
-
November 13, 2024
Menendez Prosecutors Admit Evidence Gaffe But Deny Harm
Prosecutors in former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's corruption case told a federal judge Wednesday they accidentally violated a court order when they gave jurors nine exhibits containing information that should have been redacted, but said the error played no part in the guilty verdict.
-
November 13, 2024
Firms Seek To Ax 'Retaliatory' Suit Over Arbitration Demands
Two plaintiffs law firms urged a D.C. federal court to toss a suit from two casino-style gaming websites that accuse the firms of filing meritless arbitrations against them, telling a judge during a hearing Wednesday that the litigation is retaliatory and has no ties to Washington, D.C.
-
November 13, 2024
Former Fla. Law Prof Turns To 11th Circ. For Reinstatement
A former tenured professor at Florida A&M University College of Law has asked the Eleventh Circuit to be reinstated, arguing that the university wrongly terminated her in retaliation for suing it under the federal Equal Pay Act.
-
November 13, 2024
Exploration Co. Opposes Atty DQ Bid In Fla. Shipwreck Suit
An exploration company being sued by an ocean salvage operation in a dispute involving a sunken Spanish galleon is pushing back on a bid to have its would-be attorney disqualified, claiming procedural rules haven't been followed and that there is no conflict warranting the lawyer's exclusion.
-
November 13, 2024
Bradley Arant Aims To Toss Malpractice Arbitration Claims
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP and a firm attorney urged a California federal judge to toss a San Diego-based business consulting firm's lawsuit contending the law firm botched an arbitration proceeding with tribal entities, saying the court lacks personal jurisdiction and is an improper venue as the arbitration and legal work largely took place outside the state.
-
November 13, 2024
Paralegal Says She's Owed For Work On Stuart Scott Estate
A former paralegal at the disbanded Hartford, Connecticut-based firm Rome McGuigan PC claims in a recently filed suit that she is owed $50,000 for work she performed while the firm represented the estate of legendary ESPN anchor Stuart Scott.
-
November 13, 2024
Connecticut Atty Frees AAA From Firm Break-Up Spat
Connecticut attorney Andrew P. Garza has removed the American Arbitration Association as a defendant from a lawsuit seeking to block his former 50-50 partner Ryan C. McKeen from arbitrating a dispute about their law firm's breakup, according to a withdrawal notice filed Tuesday in state court.
-
November 13, 2024
What's Next For Court Reform In This New Political Climate?
Advocates are not holding out hope for bills that would firm up a code of ethics for the U.S. Supreme Court, impose term limits on justices or give judiciary employees antidiscrimination job protections, saying Republican control of the federal government will likely stall any progress that's been made with court reform efforts.
-
November 13, 2024
Fla. Judge Tosses Law Firm Investor's Derivative Suit
A Florida judge dismissed a derivative lawsuit Wednesday against a law firm brought by an investor claiming two partners orchestrated a litigation funding fraud, saying the investor needs to flesh out allegations about a contractual requirement to hold a vote with firm members before bringing suit.
-
November 13, 2024
Jackson Walker Must Supply Docs In Judge-Atty Affair Probe
The Texas federal court overseeing a U.S. Trustee's Office probe of a former Jackson Walker LLP partner's undisclosed relationship with a then-bankruptcy judge has given the firm until Friday to turn over its communications with public relations firms and pages from its attorney sourcebook.
-
November 13, 2024
Trump Taps DOJ Critic Matt Gaetz For Attorney General
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated Rep. Matt Gaetz to be the next U.S. attorney general, seeking to elevate a close political ally to lead a Justice Department that the Florida lawmaker has sharply criticized and that last year declined to charge him in a sex-trafficking investigation.
Expert Analysis
-
Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
-
Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
-
What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
-
For Now, Generative AI Is Risky For Class Action Counsel
Although a recent survey showed most in-house counsel think that their outside counsel should be using generative artificial intelligence "in some way" in class action work, the technology is more a target for class actions than it is a tool to be used in practice at present, says Matthew Allen at Carlton Fields.
-
When Your Client Insists On Testifying In A Criminal Case
Speculation that former President Donald Trump could take the stand in any of the four criminal cases he faces serves as a reminder for counsel to consider their ethical obligations when a client insists on testifying, including the attorney’s duty of candor to the court and the depth of their discussions with clients, says Marissa Kingman at Fox Rothschild.
-
Why Preemption Args Wouldn't Stall Trump Hush-Money Case
With former President Donald Trump's New York hush-money criminal trial weeks away, some speculate that he may soon move to stay the case on preemption grounds, but under the Anti-Injunction Act and well-settled case law, that motion would likely be quickly denied, says former New York Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg, now at Anderson Kill.
-
Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
-
Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
-
Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
-
How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
-
7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
-
Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
-
6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
-
A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise
After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.
-
Series
Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.