Legal Ethics

  • November 20, 2025

    Ex-Kline & Specter Atty's Video Hinted At Violence, Court Told

    Kline & Specter PC co-founder Shanin Specter said Thursday he was concerned for his safety after allegedly appearing in the background of a social media video in which former firm attorney Thomas Bosworth — whose departure from Kline & Specter sparked a contentious legal battle — purportedly mused about the return of duels as a means of resolving conflicts.

  • November 20, 2025

    Priest Privilege Can't Cloak Info In NY Child Sex Abuse Case

    A man who alleged he was sexually abused as a child by a Catholic priest in Brooklyn should have full access to the cleric's psychological treatment reports that were forwarded from a facility to his supervising bishop, a New York state appeals court has affirmed, denying clergy-penitent or doctor-patient privilege.

  • November 20, 2025

    Senate Passes Bill To Protect State Judges From Threats

    The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to beef up security for state and local judges.

  • November 20, 2025

    Ramey Ordered To Pay $95K For Sharing Netflix Info

    A California federal judge has ordered patent firm Ramey LLP and its founder to pay Netflix $95,000 in attorney fees for violating a court protective order by sharing confidential documents with a third-party litigation funder.

  • November 20, 2025

    Dell Says Atty's Pregnancy Bias Suit Belongs In Arbitration

    A former in-house attorney for Dell can't pursue a lawsuit alleging that the company fired her because she chose to work remotely to accommodate her high-risk pregnancy, the technology company told a Massachusetts federal judge, arguing she is bound by an arbitration agreement.

  • November 20, 2025

    Becker Secures $100K Deal In Fla. Town's Suit Over FBI Sting

    The Miami Lakes Town Council has signed off on a $100,000 settlement with Becker & Poliakoff PC to resolve the municipality's lawsuit over a former firm lobbyist's role in an FBI sting operation that led to the arrest of the town's later-acquitted mayor.

  • November 20, 2025

    NJ Panel Expands Scope Of Ex-Reed Smith Atty's Bias Claims

    A New Jersey appellate panel on Thursday ruled that a former Reed Smith LLP attorney is entitled to pursue more damages and obtain expanded wage data in her gender discrimination suit against the firm, saying a trial court incorrectly applied certain statutes when it limited the damages and data she could seek.

  • November 20, 2025

    Claims Firms Barred From Misleading Plaintiffs In Pharma MDL

    On the same day that a Philadelphia federal judge approved $58 million in settlements as part of an ongoing generic-drug price-fixing multidistrict litigation, she also ordered several claims recovery firms to correct allegedly false and misleading ads used to attract potential clients seeking to make claims on the settlements.

  • November 20, 2025

    Ex-Ill. Speaker Madigan Disbarred After Bribery Conviction

    The Illinois Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday disbarring former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who consented to the disbarment after he was convicted earlier this year on charges claiming he used his official position to steer business to his now-defunct personal law firm.

  • November 20, 2025

    Unlockd Is Latest Google Foe To Seek Judge's Recusal

    Unlockd Media has become at least the second Google antitrust foe to seek the recusal of U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. over his close relationship with Google's vice president for litigation and discovery.

  • November 20, 2025

    Ex-SDNY Chief Rejects Claim Of Broken FTX Plea Promise

    Former interim Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon told a federal judge Thursday that she never promised crypto lobbyist Michelle Bond any kind of no-prosecute deal as the government negotiated a guilty plea with Bond's husband, former FTX executive Ryan Salame.

  • November 19, 2025

    Charlie Javice's Redo Bid Says Clerks Had Davis Polk Conflict

    Charlie Javice, who faces a seven-year sentence for conning JPMorgan Chase & Co. into buying her college financial aid startup Frank, asked a Manhattan federal judge Wednesday for a new trial, arguing that two clerks who worked on the trial had accepted jobs with the bank's firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

  • November 19, 2025

    PacifiCorp To Pay $150M To 1,400 Survivors Of 2020 Wildfires

    PacifiCorp announced Wednesday that it has reached a $150 million settlement with more than 1,400 plaintiffs who blame the Berkshire Hathaway-owned utility's equipment for sparking deadly Labor Day 2020 wildfires in Oregon.

  • November 19, 2025

    Sinclair Sanctioned For Failing To Preserve Texts In Ads MDL

    An Illinois federal judge sanctioned Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. on Tuesday over the company's failure to preserve text message data from more than 50 company-issued cellphones for discovery in multidistrict litigation targeting an allegedly illegal advertising price-fixing scheme.

  • November 19, 2025

    The House's Plan B For Repealing Provision On DOJ Lawsuits

    If the Senate does not take up a bill to repeal a provision in the government funding package allowing senators investigated by former special counsel Jack Smith to sue for damages, a Republican House member is already making contingency plans.

  • November 19, 2025

    Latham DQ'd From Sleep Apnea Device Co.'s Patent Fight

    A Delaware federal court has disqualified Latham & Watkins LLP from representing the creator of a sleep apnea implant in its patent dispute after the firm served as counsel to the rival's underwriters, saying the "appearance of impropriety is glaring."

  • November 19, 2025

    Alaska Senator Pushes For Better Vetting After Judge Scandal

    Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said on Wednesday that after a federal judge in his state resigned in disgrace last year, he decided he had to revamp his selection process for judicial nominees.

  • November 19, 2025

    Troutman Owes $3.7M In Atty Fees After $1M Malpractice Loss

    Troutman Pepper Locke LLP must pay $3.7 million in attorney fees to a healthcare tech company that won on malpractice claims against the firm in 2024 after six years of litigation and an eight-day bench trial, a New Jersey state judge has ordered.

  • November 19, 2025

    Georgia Atty Told To Arbitrate Wage Claims Against Ex-Firm

    An Atlanta attorney was ordered to arbitrate her retaliation and harassment claims against her former firm after a Georgia federal judge determined that the employment agreement between the two sides requires any disputes to be settled in that way.

  • November 19, 2025

    Paxton Deputies Seek To Block Subpoenas In Harassment Suit

    Two high-ranking attorneys in the Texas Office of the Attorney General this week blasted deposition subpoenas they got from a pair of former OAG lawyers facing a sexual harassment suit as the "epitome" of abusive discovery.

  • November 19, 2025

    Disbarred Pa. Atty Gets 15 Mos. For Forging Judge's Signature

    A disbarred central Pennsylvania attorney has been sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to forging a federal judge's signature on phony court orders he showed to a client as proof he'd won money for his client in a case that was never filed.

  • November 19, 2025

    Halligan Says Grand Jury Never Saw Final Comey Indictment

    U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan acknowledged Wednesday that the full grand jury in the James Comey case never saw or voted on the final version of the indictment that was handed up to the court in the case. An attorney for Comey said the clarification was grounds for dismissal.

  • November 18, 2025

    Reed Smith Can't Represent Eletson By 'Repeated Incantation'

    A New York federal judge on Tuesday rejected Reed Smith LLP's latest effort to intervene on behalf of the purported former owners of international shipping company Eletson Holdings in Eletson's $102 million breach-of-contract litigation with rival Levona, saying the firm can't represent the holding company post-bankruptcy "by repeated incantation."

  • November 18, 2025

    Plaintiffs Seek Meta Research Docs On Youth Users

    Plaintiffs urged a Los Angeles judge to compel Meta to produce unredacted internal documents that they say show its attorneys changed company research about the effects of social media on the young, citing a recent order by a Washington, D.C., judge in related litigation.

  • November 18, 2025

    Court Says Keeping Tribe's Suit Alive Respects Federal Law

    An Oklahoma city can't dodge a jurisdictional challenge by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a federal judge determined Tuesday, saying, "The boundary between state authority and tribal sovereignty in Indian Country was marked long before the dispute arose, and nothing in the record suggests Congress has moved it."

Expert Analysis

  • Analyzing AI's Evolving Role In Class Action Claims Admin

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    Artificial intelligence is becoming a strategic asset in the hands of skilled litigators, reshaping everything from class certification strategy to claims analysis — and now, the nuts and bolts of settlement administration, with synthetic fraud, algorithmic review and ethical tension emerging as central concerns, says Dominique Fite at CPT Group.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Mastering Time Management

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    Law students typically have weeks or months to prepare for any given deadline, but the unpredictability of practicing in the real world means that lawyers must become time-management pros, ready to adapt to scheduling conflicts and unexpected assignments at any given moment, says David Thomas at Honigman.

  • How Hyperlinks Are Changing E-Discovery Responsibilities

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    A recent e-discovery dispute over hyperlinked data in Hubbard v. Crow shows how courts have increasingly broadened the definition of control to account for cloud-based evidence, and why organizations must rethink preservation practices to avoid spoliation risks, says Bree Murphy at Exterro.

  • Series

    Writing Musicals Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experiences with writing musicals and practicing law have shown that the building blocks for both endeavors are one and the same, because drama is necessary for the law to exist, says Addison O’Donnell at LOIS Law.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From Va. AUSA To Mid-Law

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    Returning to the firm where I began my career after seven years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia has been complex, nuanced and rewarding, and I’ve learned that the pursuit of justice remains the constant, even as the mindset and client change, says Kristin Johnson at Woods Rogers.

  • 7 Document Review Concepts New Attorneys Need To Know

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    For new associates joining firms this fall, stepping into the world of e-discovery can feel like learning a new language, but understanding a handful of fundamentals — from coding layouts to metadata — can help attorneys become fluent in document review, says Ann Motl at Bowman and Brooke.

  • Agentic AI Puts A New Twist On Attorney Ethics Obligations

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    As lawyers increasingly use autonomous artificial intelligence agents, disciplinary authorities must decide whether attorney responsibility for an AI-caused legal ethics violation is personal or supervisory, and firms must enact strong policies regarding agentic AI use and supervision, says Grace Wynn at HWG.

  • Series

    Being A Professional Wrestler Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Pursuing my childhood dream of being a professional wrestler has taught me important legal career lessons about communication, adaptability, oral advocacy and professionalism, says Christopher Freiberg at Midwest Disability.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Adapting To The Age Of AI

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    Though law school may not have specifically taught us how to use generative artificial intelligence to help with our daily legal tasks, it did provide us the mental building blocks necessary for adapting to this new technology — and the judgment to discern what shouldn’t be automated, says Pamela Dorian at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Ch. 11 Ruling Voiding $2M Litigation Funding Sends A Warning

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    A recent Texas bankruptcy court decision that a postconfirmation litigation trust has no obligations to repay a completely drawn down $2 million litigation funding agreement serves as a warning for estate administrators and funders to properly disclose the intended financing, say attorneys at Kleinberg Kaplan.

  • Demystifying The Civil Procedure Rules Amendment Process

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    Every year, an advisory committee receives dozens of proposals to amend the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, most of which are never adopted — but a few pointers can help maximize the likelihood that an amendment will be adopted, says Josh Gardner at DLA Piper.

  • Parenting Skills That Can Help Lawyers Thrive Professionally

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    As kids head back to school, the time is ripe for lawyers who are parents to consider how they can incorporate their parenting skills to build a deep, meaningful and sustainable legal practice, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Teaching Trial Advocacy Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    Teaching trial advocacy skills to other lawyers makes us better litigators because it makes us question our default methods, connect to young attorneys with new perspectives and focus on the needs of the real people at the heart of every trial, say Reuben Guttman, Veronica Finkelstein and Joleen Youngers.

  • Navigating Conflicts Of Interest In H-1B Worker Terminations

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    Given a current uptick in removal proceedings and shortened lawful grace periods for terminated H-1B workers, immigration attorneys should take specific steps in order to effectively manage dual representation and safeguard the interests of both employers and employees, says Cyrus Mehta at Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From Texas AUSA To BigLaw

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    As I learned when I transitioned from an assistant U.S. attorney to a BigLaw partner, the move from government to private practice is not without its hurdles, but it offers immense potential for growth and the opportunity to use highly transferable skills developed in public service, says Jeffery Vaden at Bracewell.

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