Legal Ethics
-
November 13, 2018
Dems Up Ante As Fla. Recount Litigation Piles Up
With Florida's 67 counties hurrying to recount the votes in the races for U.S. senator, governor and agriculture commissioner, related litigation kept mounting Tuesday as Democrats sought extended deadlines and challenged rules for determining voter intent in two new suits.
-
November 13, 2018
Mom Of 'Frack Master' Sanctioned $10K Over Receiver Suit
The mother of self-described "frack master" Christopher Faulkner will pay a $10,000 sanction after misrepresenting a state lawsuit she filed against a court-appointed receiver that already resulted in a contempt finding against her, a Texas federal judge said Tuesday.
-
November 13, 2018
Settlement Ends Porn Email Revenge Suit Against Ex-Pa. AG
One current and one former Pennsylvania state investigator have agreed to accept a $75,000 settlement to end claims that Kathleen Kane, the state's convicted ex-attorney general, retaliated against them by publicly linking them to a scandal over pornographic and other lewd material swapped over government email accounts.
-
November 13, 2018
Justices Turn Away LabMD's Appeal In Tiversa Fraud Row
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down an appeal from LabMD Inc., which had taken issue with the Eleventh Circuit blocking the company from implicating a Pepper Hamilton LLP lawyer for fraud in an underlying cybersecurity case because he wasn’t listed on the docket.
-
November 13, 2018
Law Students Urged To Shun Kirkland Over Arbitration Pacts
More than two dozen Harvard Law School students are asking their peers to boycott Kirkland & Ellis LLP over the international law firm’s use of mandatory arbitration agreements, and on Tuesday the group promised to expand the movement to other firms and law schools in the near future.
-
November 13, 2018
Law Firm Says Staffer's Prior Employment Doesn't Warrant DQ
A Texas law firm defended its involvement Monday in an insurer client's coverage dispute with a seed company, saying one of the firm’s support staff had indeed previously worked for the seed company but left long before the grounds for a coverage dispute were even known.
-
November 13, 2018
Man Acquitted Of Conspiring On Bribery With Texas Lawmaker
A man accused of conspiring with a now-convicted former Democratic Texas state senator to bribe a county official to secure a medical services contract at a prison has been cleared of wrongdoing by a federal jury.
-
November 13, 2018
4th Circ. Tosses Maryland Atty's Reprimand As Unsupported
A Fourth Circuit panel has thrown out a reciprocal discipline order for a Maryland lawyer, saying the district court in Baltimore that issued the reprimand failed to explain itself.
-
November 13, 2018
No Bridgegate Role, 3rd Circ. Pick Says Of Work For Christie
Lowenstein Sandler LLP partner Paul Matey, President Donald Trump’s choice for a Third Circuit vacancy, faced a grilling from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday over his time serving as an attorney for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
-
November 13, 2018
Maryland Challenges Acting AG Whitaker's Appointment
The state of Maryland on Tuesday challenged both the legality and the constitutionality of acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker's controversial appointment in Maryland federal court, seeking to declare his mandate void in the state's lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act.
-
November 9, 2018
9th Circ. Ends Oft-Heated Trade Secrets Suit Against Ex-CEO
A Ninth Circuit panel on Friday affirmed a district judge’s decision to toss an artificial intelligence startup’s contentiously fought trade secrets case against its former CEO that escalated to an attorney spilling — or perhaps throwing — an iced coffee, saying the judge didn’t abuse his discretion.
-
November 9, 2018
Who Has Standing To Challenge Whitaker DOJ Appointment?
Democratic senators have questioned the legality of President Donald Trump's appointment of a Mueller critic to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but it may take someone directly affected by what new acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker does on immigration or other policy issues to challenge his appointment.
-
November 9, 2018
Ex-Liddle Partner Looks To Exit Equal Pay Suit
A former partner at Liddle & Robinson LLP has told a New York federal court that he should be cut from another former partner’s $23 million equal pay suit against the firm, arguing that she has not made a valid case against him and that her claims would be time-barred even if she had.
-
November 9, 2018
Vantage Pushes Back On Petrobras Expert In $622M Battle
Vantage Deepwater Co. continues to push a Texas federal court to strike the declaration of an expert Petrobras relied on to support its bid to vacate a $622 million award, claiming the testimony is unreliable and that a second declaration does not remedy the issues.
-
November 9, 2018
Atty Confessed To NJ Killing In Suitcase Note, Docs Say
A New York City attorney accused of fatally shooting the mother of his daughter in their New Jersey home last month allegedly confessed in a note left in a suitcase when he dropped off the child with his brother before fleeing to Cuba, according to prosecutors and court documents.
-
November 9, 2018
Attys Accused Of Scamming Artist Out Of Life Story Rights
A New Jersey janitor turned successful artist has sued two partners of a north New Jersey law firm, claiming they manipulated him into signing over the rights to his life story to them for $10 after a Hollywood movie producer indicated he was interested in adapting it.
-
November 9, 2018
State AGs Call On Whitaker To Recuse Himself From Probe
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, along with 18 other state attorneys general, sent a letter Thursday to acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker asking him to recuse himself from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
-
November 9, 2018
Metal Band Drummer Loses DQ Appeal Targeting Guitarist Atty
The former drummer for glam metal rockers Ratt can’t stop the music on the ex-lead guitarist’s relationship with his current lawyer, a California appeals court said Thursday.
-
November 9, 2018
Atty Taken Off Ill. Rolls In '09 Still Practicing, Regulator Says
An attorney who lost his authority to practice in Illinois in 2009 has continued to represent clients in real estate matters ever since, the state’s attorney conduct regulator has said.
-
November 9, 2018
As Pirates Settle, Net Installer Last Defendant In Foul-Ball Suit
The Pittsburgh Pirates reached a settlement with a woman injured by a foul ball at PNC Park in 2015, attorneys said Friday, but a jury trial under a new judge in state court scheduled to get underway Wednesday will determine the liability of the company that installed the allegedly defective safety netting behind home plate.
Expert Analysis
-
It’s Time For Law Firms To Start Talking About Gen Z
Since the oldest members of Generation Z aren’t even finished with law school yet, law firm management is in a unique position to prepare for their entrance into the legal workforce, says Eliza Stoker of Major Lindsey & Africa.
-
Q&A
Back To School: Yale's Linda Greenhouse Talks Journalism
In this series featuring law school luminaries, Yale Law School lecturer and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Linda Greenhouse discusses her coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court, the conservatives' long game and trends in journalism.
-
Opinion
Celebrate Veterans By Improving Their Access To Justice
Attorneys should think beyond the Veterans Day parades and use their time and talents to help the many veterans facing urgent legal issues, says Linda Klein of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.
-
Opinion
Time To Reclaim Wellness For All Lawyers
The decision last month by Baker McKenzie’s global chairman to step down due to exhaustion indicates that the legal profession needs to mount a broader wellness effort to address long hours, high stress, frequent travel and the daily demands of practice, says Leesa Klepper, director of Thrivewell Coaching.
-
Protecting Law Firm Talent At Both Ends
By 2030, it is possible that 75 percent of lawyers practicing in the U.S. will be millennials. A broadened focus on retention and advancement of all young lawyers is therefore a logical step forward but it fails to address another major retention issue that law firms should explore, says Susan Smith Blakely of LegalPerspectives LLC.
-
Q&A
Wendy Olson Talks Twin Falls, Tribes, Private Practice
Former U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho Wendy Olson discusses her decades of experience prosecuting white collar crimes and civil rights violations, her work and challenges as U.S. attorney, and her move to private practice.
-
Series
Judging A Book: Brown Reviews 'Dangerous Leaders'
Anthony Thompson’s "Dangerous Leaders: How and Why Lawyers Must Be Taught to Lead" explores the conflict many lawyers face when charged with the responsibility of leadership. The book is an excellent read for all lawyers, says U.S. District Chief Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown of the Eastern District of Louisiana.
-
Breaking The Rules: 3 Ways To 'Lead' A Direct Examination
Trial lawyers are frequently taught that they should appear invisible during direct examination — that their job is merely to prompt the witness to start speaking. But the most powerful direct examinations are the ones in which the examiner, not the witness, is controlling the pace, say attorneys with Kobre & Kim LLP.
-
How Employers Can Address Secret Workplace Recordings
Secret recordings allegedly made by President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen and former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman provide a useful vehicle for reviewing the ethics and legality of surreptitious taping, and may be instructive for employers concerned about limiting such recording in the workplace, says Jackie Ford of Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP.
-
Need Litigation Finance? Don't Skip These 5 Steps
The process of applying for litigation financing isn’t difficult, but few do it right the first time. Following five steps in your application process will help make sure litigation funders are convinced of the value of your company's legal claims, says Molly Pease of Curiam Capital LLC.