Legal Ethics

  • January 29, 2025

    Attys Apologize To Del. Judge For Unclear Discovery Bid

    Attorneys from Heyman Enerio Gattuso & Hirzel, Wachtel Lipton Rosen & Katz, and White & Case have apologized to Delaware's chief U.S. district judge for not "clearly" communicating necessary information in a discovery bid related to their defense of corporate clients amid a Shell Chemical LP antitrust proceeding in the Netherlands.

  • January 29, 2025

    KPMG's US Law Firm Plan Still Under Review By Ariz. Justices

    Accounting giant KPMG's bid to own a U.S. law firm remains unresolved after the Arizona Supreme Court held a scheduled meeting on the matter.

  • January 29, 2025

    Lowenstein Sandler Hit With Malpractice Suit From Dispensary

    A cannabis dispensary facing a lawsuit from Lowenstein Sandler LLP for unpaid legal fees has fired back with a malpractice suit against the firm, alleging its attorneys helped the dispensary's former CEO in an attempted hostile takeover of the company.

  • January 29, 2025

    Calif. Panel OKs Ax Of HR Worker's Bias Suit Against Proskauer

    A California appeals court on Tuesday affirmed the dismissal of a human resources employee's discrimination and wrongful termination suit against her former employer and its outside counsel Proskauer Rose LLP and multiple attorneys, finding that the lower court didn't err in striking a belated amended complaint and refusing to let her re-file.

  • January 29, 2025

    Buzbee Client Drops Assault, Malpractice Suit

    A woman has moved to drop a lawsuit in New York state court alleging Texas personal injury lawyer Tony Buzbee — known lately for representing women who have accused Sean "Diddy" Combs and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter of sexual misconduct — assaulted her and mishandled her divorce case.

  • January 29, 2025

    Trump Taps Sullivan & Cromwell For NY Hush Money Appeal

    President Donald Trump tapped a new legal team to handle the appeal of his hush money conviction, filing a notice on the New York state court docket Wednesday signed by a team of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP attorneys.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.

  • Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys

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    Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.

  • Opinion

    Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code

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    As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan

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    Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.

  • State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape

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    Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.

  • 8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney

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    A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process

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    In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Series

    Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.

  • Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys

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    Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.

  • Revisiting The Crime-Fraud Exception After Key Trump Cases

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    Evidence issues in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and classified documents cases involving former President Donald Trump offer an opportunity to restudy elements and implications of the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine, noting the courts' careful scrutiny of these matters, say Robert Hoff and Paul Tuchmann at Wiggin and Dana.

  • Series

    Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

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