Legal Ethics

  • January 27, 2025

    Buzbee Seeks Sanctions In Ex-Client's Fraud Suit

    Amid his high-profile battles with music moguls Sean "Diddy" Combs and Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, Houston personal injury lawyer Tony Buzbee is seeking sanctions against the lawyers pursuing a separate fraud suit against him, saying they brought up unrelated accusations to harass Buzbee and damage his reputation.

  • January 27, 2025

    Fla. Judge Accused Of Bias In Energy Drink Co. Ch. 11

    A Florida federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the Chapter 11 case of the company that makes Bang energy drinks was sued by its founder, who alleged the judge was biased throughout the proceedings and made several rulings that financially harmed him and the company.

  • January 27, 2025

    SCOTUSblog Publisher Pleads Not Guilty To Tax Crimes

    U.S. Supreme Court advocate and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein pled not guilty in Maryland federal court on Monday to charges that he schemed to evade taxes and used funds from his boutique law firm to cover gambling debts.

  • January 27, 2025

    Widow Says Century Homebuilders' Atty Conspired To Move Assets

    The widow of Sergio Pino, the late founder and CEO of Century Homebuilders Group LLC, has sued Century Homebuilders' attorney, accusing him of setting up fraudulent transfers of the company's assets during the Pinos' contentious divorce to keep her from getting her half of the company.

  • January 27, 2025

    Fla. Judge Won't Recuse Over 'Adverse Ruling' In CBD Row

    A Florida federal magistrate judge has refused to step down from a case where she recommended sanctioning an attorney representing a franchisee in a contract dispute with CBD American Shaman LLC, saying adverse rulings are not grounds for recusal.

  • January 27, 2025

    NJ Prosecutors Shielded From Contractors' Claims, Court Told

    Ocean County, New Jersey, prosecutors urged a Garden State federal judge to toss a suit alleging they illegally targeted two contractors who were indicted for stealing customer funds over a business rivalry, arguing their prosecutorial acts are shielded from civil liability.

  • January 27, 2025

    Judge Tosses Bias Suit Over Deadlines, AI-Generated Filings

    A D.C. federal judge has dismissed the remaining age-discrimination claim in a lawsuit filed by former D.C. Department of Public Works employees after the remaining plaintiff failed to comply with discovery deadlines and submitted filings with inaccurate citations, further raising concerns about the use of AI-generated content.

  • January 27, 2025

    Oklahoma Tribes Want In On DOJ's Jurisdiction Lawsuits

    Three Native American tribes want to back the Department of Justice in its challenges to two Oklahoma district attorneys in an effort to stop them from prosecuting tribal citizens for crimes committed in Indian Country, arguing that the ongoing threat interferes with tribes' rights to enforce their own laws.

  • January 27, 2025

    Feds Want 10 Yrs. For Atty Over Attempted Embassy Bombing

    Federal prosecutors are seeking a 10-year prison sentence for a former Florida defense attorney who pled guilty to blowing up a sculpture in Texas and trying to bomb the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., citing the extreme harm he was trying to inflict.

  • January 24, 2025

    Syngenta, Chevron Headed For October Paraquat Bellwether

    An Illinois federal judge has set an October date for Syngenta and Chevron's first trial in a multidistrict litigation alleging that the pesticide paraquat causes Parkinson's disease, after the previous dismissal of trial-selected plaintiffs and the disqualification of an expert.

  • January 24, 2025

    Feds' Madigan Theory 'Doesn't Line Up,' His Atty Tells Jury

    Counsel for former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan told an Illinois federal jury Friday that prosecutors attempting to convict him of racketeering have painted an "incomplete and misleading" picture of a crooked politician at trial, but have failed to meet their burden to prove he ever acted with corrupt intent or engaged in a "this for that" exchange for his official action.

  • January 24, 2025

    Chiles Brings Fight For Bronze Medal To Swiss Supreme Court

    U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles is fighting to overturn a ruling stripping her of her Olympic bronze medal, arguing in her latest briefing to a Swiss court that prominent arbitrator Hamid Gharavi had a "blatant conflict of interest" and should not have been involved in the case.

  • January 24, 2025

    NJ Judge Rejects Bid For New Trial In Red Roof Inn Deal

    A New Jersey state judge has rejected a bid for a new trial over a deal gone wrong to purchase a Red Roof Inn, ruling two witnesses who asserted their Fifth Amendment rights outside of the jury's presence had no bearing on the jury's verdict.

  • January 24, 2025

    Dow Argues Tech Firm's IP Suit Over Software Is Time-Barred

    The Dow Chemical Co. has urged an Ohio federal judge to rule in its favor in a dispute over proprietary polyethylene manufacturing software, arguing that ControlSoft Inc.'s suit ignores their more than 20-year business relationship and that the technology firm waited too long to bring trade secrets and copyright infringement claims.

  • January 24, 2025

    Blank Rome Attys Fight Lawyer's Bid For New Trial

    A team of Blank Rome LLP attorneys accused another attorney in Pennsylvania federal court of "seeking another bite at the apple" by moving for a new trial after a jury rejected her malicious litigation claims against the team and an aviation company.

  • January 24, 2025

    Feud Heats Up Over Estate Of Wife Killed By Ex-BigLaw Atty

    The godson of a Georgia woman killed by her husband, former Fisher Phillips partner Claud "Tex" McIver, has said her cousins shouldn't get proceeds from a settlement of an underlying wrongful death suit, calling them "strangers" to her and claiming "the redistributive windfall" they're asking for "has no place in Georgia law."

  • January 24, 2025

    Ex-Seton Hall President Says Moving Suit Was Right Call

    Seton Hall University's former president urged a New Jersey state judge on Thursday to stand by her decision to move his whistleblower suit against the school from Essex County to Hudson County in the face of a reconsideration bid from the university and an attorney at the center of the dispute.

  • January 24, 2025

    Baldoni Rebuts Atty Ethics Claims In 'It Ends With Us' Fight

    A lawyer representing Justin Baldoni has told a New York federal judge that statements his counsel has made to the press regarding the actor and director's thorny litigation with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds over the film "It Ends With Us" didn't violate ethical rules or prejudice proceedings.

  • January 24, 2025

    Judge To Inspect Winston & Strawn Docs In Malpractice Row

    A Texas state judge said Friday that he plans to personally review more than 100 Winston & Strawn LLP documents to determine whether the firm must turn them over to Houston-based energy companies in connection with their $175 million malpractice suit.

  • January 24, 2025

    Sierra Leone Must Face Jenner & Block's $8M Fee Suit

    A District of Columbia federal judge denied Sierra Leone's bid to escape a lawsuit alleging it owes Jenner & Block LLP $8 million in fees, saying the nation's arguments that it is immune from the litigation is belied by a contract term that specifically gave U.S. courts jurisdiction over disputes.

  • January 23, 2025

    Buzbee Says Jay-Z Is Who Should Be Sanctioned In Diddy Suit

    Texas attorney Tony Buzbee tore into rapper Jay-Z's request that Buzbee be sanctioned for filing a suit accusing Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs of raping a 13-year-old, arguing that Jay-Z is merely trying to intimidate the accuser and that if anyone should be sanctioned, it's Jay-Z.

  • January 23, 2025

    Atty Hit With TCPA Class Action Over Camp Lejeune Calls

    A North Carolina plaintiffs firm was hit with a proposed class action accusing it of making unsolicited calls to a number on the National Do Not Call Registry in an effort to secure a client in the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune toxic drinking water case — at least the fourth firm to face similar claims.

  • January 23, 2025

    Netflix, Litigation Funder Fight Over Docs In Subpoena Row

    Intellectual property strategy service AiPi LLC says it has been abiding by an order to produce documents relating to patent litigation against Netflix, while the streaming giant says "AiPi's attempt to appear reasonable is contrivance."

  • January 23, 2025

    AI Chatbot Co. CEO, Atty Spouse Indicted On $60M Fraud

    Federal prosecutors in California arrested the former CEO of an artificial intelligence company Thursday alongside his lawyer wife, accusing the duo of a $60 million fraud scheme in which they allegedly lied to investors about the company's financial state and diverted funds to pay for their wedding.

  • January 23, 2025

    Madigan's Law Firm Profits Drove Corrupt Acts, Jury Told

    Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's ownership interest in his Chicago law firm and his entitlement to 50% of its profits was behind his efforts to extort property tax business from developers who needed approvals from state and local government for their projects, prosecutors told an Illinois federal jury Thursday.

Expert Analysis

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers certification cases touching on classwide evidence of injury from debt collection practices, defining coupon settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act, proper approaches for evaluating attorney fee awards in class action settlements, and more.

  • Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where

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    During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Crypto Gatekeepers May Be The Next Front Of Enforcement

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    Lawyers and other professionals who advise cryptocurrency companies should beware regulators' increasing focus on gatekeeper accountability, and should take several measures to fulfill their ethical and legal obligations, including implementing a robust vetting mechanism when representing crypto clients, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Xinchen Li at Selendy Gay.

  • Series

    Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.

  • Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing

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    Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Opinion

    The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address

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    A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union

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    As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

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    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • 5 Defense Lessons From Prosecutors' Recent Evidence Flubs

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    The recent dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter charges, and the filing of an ethics complaint against a former D.C. prosecutor, both provide takeaways for white collar defense counsel who suspect that prosecutors may be withholding or misrepresenting evidence, say Anden Chow at MoloLamken and Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Series

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • Unpacking Executive Privilege, Contempt In Recent Cases

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    The U.S. House of Representatives’ recent move to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress is the latest example in a growing trend of executive privilege disputes, and serves as a warning to private citizens and corporate leaders who are in communication with the president, says Kristina Moore at Womble Bond.

  • 3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture

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    Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

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    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

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