Legal Ethics

  • November 14, 2025

    NJ Law Firm Blume Forte Wins Bid To Arbitrate Bias Claims

    A former staffer at Blume Forte Fried Zerres & Molinari PC had her disability discrimination suit against the firm sent to arbitration this week, with a New Jersey state court judge ruling she could not avoid an arbitration agreement because she did not recall signing it.

  • November 14, 2025

    Buchalter Won't Be Sanctioned For 'Hallucinated' AI Citations

    An Oregon federal judge has decided not to sanction Buchalter PC and other counsel representing an environmental nonprofit in a trademark infringement dispute for submitting "hallucinated" case citations generated by an artificial intelligence tool, saying he is satisfied with "remedial actions" already done or to be taken.

  • November 14, 2025

    Prosecutorial Watchdog Takes Helm In Trump Election Case

    The Georgia election interference charges against President Donald Trump and others will continue after the head of the state's prosecutorial oversight agency said Friday that for now, he'll take over the case from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after multiple outside prosecutors turned down the job.

  • November 13, 2025

    Jenner & Block Resolves $8M Fee Fight With Sierra Leone

    Jenner & Block LLP and its former client Sierra Leone have resolved their fight over unpaid legal fees and allegedly fraudulent overbilling in the nation's underlying dispute with its iron ore mining concessionaire Gerald International Ltd., according to a minute order issued Thursday in D.C. federal court.

  • November 13, 2025

    Pipe Maker Names 2nd Firm In Asbestos RICO Suit

    A Los Angeles pipe manufacturer has added Massachusetts-based Sokolove Law to its civil racketeering lawsuit in Illinois federal court accusing Simmons Hanly Conroy LLP and others of orchestrating a scheme to fill the law firms' coffers by bringing baseless asbestos claims, alleging the Sokolove firm acted to find the cases.

  • November 13, 2025

    Anthropic Judge Rips Opt-Out Law Firm As 'Quick Buck' Ploy

    A California federal judge on Thursday blasted Arizona law firm ClaimsHero Holdings LLC for encouraging authors to opt out of Anthropic PBC's $1.5 billion deal to end copyright infringement claims, saying it looks like the firm is "trying to trick people" for a "quick buck."

  • November 13, 2025

    Ex-Judge Worries Top Court Will Be 'Timid' In Checking Trump

    A Massachusetts federal judge who recently resigned to more openly speak out against the Trump administration told Law360 on Thursday he is concerned the U.S. Supreme Court will be unwilling to provide a constitutional check on presidential overreach.

  • November 13, 2025

    Detroit Judge Faces Ethics Complaint For Cuffing Dozing Teen

    Michigan's judicial watchdog filed misconduct charges Thursday against a Detroit judge who had a teenage girl visiting his courtroom on a field trip detained and handcuffed, and then staged a mock trial in front of her classmates. 

  • November 13, 2025

    Rumble Cites Judge's Longtime Friendship With Google VP

    Rumble asked a California federal judge to consider recusal should the Ninth Circuit revive its antitrust lawsuit against Google, citing a yearslong friendship with Google's top in-house litigation chief that involved the judge officiating at her wedding and their ongoing participation in a fantasy football league.

  • November 13, 2025

    Fla. Judge Cites Free Speech In Death Row Ethics Fight

    A state appellate judge is asking the Florida Supreme Court to dismiss her ethics charges over a series of text messages she exchanged with a state attorney discussing postconviction litigation in a death penalty case, saying the communications are protected under the First Amendment.

  • November 13, 2025

    Coalition Rips Trump Deputy AG's Claim Of 'War' With Judges

    A group of former federal judges on Thursday condemned what they called "inflammatory remarks" last week by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche detailing the U.S. Department of Justice's "war" with "rogue activist" judges.

  • November 13, 2025

    Ex-Seton Hall Prez Accused Of Filing Confidential Clerk Info

    Seton Hall University's former president has been hit with a court order that could result in sanctions for posting confidential information about an opposing litigant's daughter to a public docket in sprawling litigation with the university in New Jersey state court.

  • November 13, 2025

    NY Judge Declines Sanctions For Citation Errors — Again

    For the second time in as many months, a Manhattan federal judge has stopped short of sanctioning an attorney for including false case citations in a filing, warning the lawyer in an order that he had better not allow errors again.

  • November 13, 2025

    FTC Fails To Block Doctors' Testimony In $945M Merger Case

    A D.C. federal judge refused Thursday to bar a pair of outside doctors and consultants from vouching for Edwards Lifesciences Corp.'s planned JenaValve Technology Inc. acquisition, preferring to let the Federal Trade Commission contest their testimony in cross-examination and saying from the bench that he'll "make some popcorn."

  • November 13, 2025

    Judge Halts Jackson Walker Secret Romance Settlements

    A Texas federal judge has paused a number of settlements between Jackson Walker LLP and former clients, criticizing the firm for trying to undermine the U.S. Trustee's investigation into alleged malpractice stemming from a secret romance between a former partner and a bankruptcy judge.

  • November 13, 2025

    Del. US Atty Tapped For Acting Role After Interim Term Expires

    Delaware's former interim U.S. attorney has been appointed acting U.S. attorney after the district court declined to keep her as the top federal prosecutor in the First State when her term expired.

  • November 13, 2025

    Judge Casts Doubt On Legitimacy Of Halligan's Appointment

    A federal judge in Virginia said Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi couldn't have reviewed the full transcript of the grand jury proceedings that netted an indictment of James Comey before ratifying the charges against the former FBI director because the U.S. Department of Justice didn't have them at the time.

  • November 13, 2025

    Claims Firms Accused Of Misleading Plaintiffs In Pharma MDL

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has been asked to slow down aggressive marketing campaigns from claims recovery firms that are accused of using false and misleading advertising to attract plaintiffs in a multidistrict litigation action against pharmaceutical companies.

  • November 13, 2025

    Ga. Gov. Taps New Prosecutor After Prior's Feud With Judge

    Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has tapped a Milledgeville attorney to take over a nearby solicitor general's post, after the prior prosecutor quit amid a Facebook feud with a state court judge and dueling allegations of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct.

  • November 13, 2025

    NY Gov't Ethics Watchdog Called To Testify Against AG James

    The federal government subpoenaed the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government on Wednesday to testify in its case against New York Attorney General Letitia A. James.

  • November 13, 2025

    Efforts To DQ Judge In Venezuelan Debt Case Come Up Short

    A federal judge on Thursday denied efforts to unseat him and the court-appointed special master overseeing the sale of Citgo's parent company to satisfy billions of dollars in Venezuelan debt, ruling that the motions are both procedurally defective and unmeritorious.

  • November 13, 2025

    Tesla Fatal Crash Trial Delayed Over Discovery Disputes

    A Florida state judge granted a request Thursday to push back the trial date of a suit against Tesla over a fatal crash and said he would be appointing a magistrate judge to handle the discovery disputes delaying the case.

  • November 12, 2025

    Reed Smith Facilitated Jet Repossession Ploy, Suit Claims

    Reed Smith LLP and two of its attorneys are facing claims of improperly facilitating an attempted repossession of an aviation company's plane, purportedly representing the company's lender while actually working for an alternative investment firm angling to seize the plane.

  • November 12, 2025

    SEC Atty Broke Shutdown Protocol With Subpoena, Suit Says

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is facing a lawsuit in Texas federal court claiming it violated its own shutdown protocols when its Fort Worth office sought the financial records of a woman whose husband is currently under SEC investigation.

  • November 12, 2025

    Valve Suggests AI Created Quotes, Cases In Patent 'Troll' Feud

    Video game company Valve Corp. has told a Washington federal court that a patent licensing company's filings seeking to exclude Valve's experts contained quotes and case citations that were nonexistent, suggesting the filings may have been made using artificial intelligence.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

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    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

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    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

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    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • Trader Joe's Ruling Highlights Trademark Infringement Trends

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Trader Joe's Co. v. Trader Joe's United explores the legal boundaries between a union's right to advocate for workers and the protection of a brand's intellectual property, and illustrates a growing trend of courts disfavoring early dismissal of trademark infringement claims in the context of expressive speech, say attorneys at Mitchell Silberberg.

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Arbitrator's Conviction Upheld

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    The Supreme Court of Spain recently upheld the criminal conviction of arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa for grave disobedience to judicial authority, rejecting the proposition that an arbitrator's independence can prevail over a court order retroactively disabling the very judicial act conferring arbitral jurisdiction, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • In NY, Long COVID (Tolling) Still Applies

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    A series of pandemic-era executive orders in New York tolling state statutes of limitations for 228 days mean that many causes of action that appear time-barred on their face may continue to apply, including in federal practice, for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • Opinion

    High Court, Not A Single Justice, Should Decide On Recusal

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    As public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court continues to decline, the court should adopt a collegial framework in which all justices decide questions of recusal together — a reform that respects both judicial independence and due process for litigants, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • Reel Justice: 'One Battle After Another' And The Limits Of Zeal

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    The political thriller “One Battle After Another,” following a former revolutionary who became a recluse, offers a potent metaphor for attorneys on diligence and the ethical boundaries of zealous advocacy, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

  • Series

    Traveling Solo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Traveling by myself has taught me to assess risk, understand tone and stay calm in high-pressure situations, which are not only useful life skills, but the foundation of how I support my clients, says Lacey Gutierrez at Group Five Legal.

  • 6th Circ. FirstEnergy Ruling Protects Key Legal Privileges

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    The Sixth Circuit’s recent grant of mandamus relief in In re: First Energy Corp. confirms that the attorney-client privilege and work-product protections apply to internal investigation materials, ultimately advancing the public interest, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Client Service

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    Law school teaches you how to interpret the law, but it doesn't teach you some of the key ways to keeping clients satisfied, lessons that I've learned in the most unexpected of places: a book on how to be a butler, says Gregory Ramos at Armstrong Teasdale.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: 3 Tips On Finding The Right Job

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    After 23 years as a state and federal prosecutor, when I contemplated moving to a law firm, practicing solo or going in-house, I found there's a critical first step — deep self-reflection on what you truly want to do and where your strengths lie, says Rachael Jones at McKool Smith.

  • Series

    Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Painting trains me to see both the fine detail and the whole composition at once, enabling me to identify friction points while keeping sight of a client's bigger vision, but the most significant lesson I've brought to my legal work has been the value of originality, says Jana Gouchev at Gouchev Law.

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