Legal Ethics

  • May 23, 2024

    NC Fintech Atty Sues Paymentus For Gender, Age Bias

    A former senior corporate counsel for cloud-based billing company Paymentus Corp. has slapped her former employer with a $100,000 age and gender discrimination suit in North Carolina federal court, saying she was paid less than her male colleagues and eventually fired for complaining, only to be replaced by a much younger male attorney.

  • May 23, 2024

    Wash. Atty Stops Practicing Law After Assaulting Associate

    A family law attorney in Washington state has resigned from practicing law after a series of criminal offenses, including a misdemeanor sexual assault and an attempted hate crime involving a colleague after a work-sponsored event, according to state bar association disciplinary records made public this week.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ex-Kline & Specter Atty Says Privilege Blocks Fight Over Fee

    An ex-Kline & Specter PC attorney urged a Pennsylvania state court to toss the firm's counterclaims in a court battle following his departure to start a solo practice, arguing that attorney-client privilege blocks the firm's bid to collect a fee it claims he owes from a case he began at the firm.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ex-Staffer Of Fulton DA Testifies On Fund Misuse Allegations

    A former program manager under Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told a Georgia state legislative committee Thursday that she was banished to a file room and her work life was made a "hell" after she reported alleged misuse of federal grant funds.

  • May 23, 2024

    Trump Loses 2 NY Criminal Appeals As Trial Winds Down

    Former President Donald Trump on Thursday lost a pair of appellate challenges complaining that both the judge and jury in his ongoing New York criminal hush-money trial are biased, just a few days before closing statements in the historic case.

  • May 23, 2024

    Legal Marketer, Ark. Firm Agree To End Trade Secrets Suit

    A legal marketing business has agreed to dismiss a Georgia federal lawsuit accusing an Arkansas law firm and others of stealing and profiting off its trade secrets, including a database of client leads for mass torts over talcum powder and heartburn medication.

  • May 23, 2024

    Trump Atty Nears Deal To End Colo. Discipline Case

    Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis and Colorado's attorney discipline office said Thursday that they were finalizing a settlement in a disciplinary case over Ellis' false statements about the presidential election in Georgia, though the disciplinary judge cautioned that he is prepared to rule if he does not like the deal.

  • May 23, 2024

    NC High Court Sees No DA Conflict In Cyberstalking Case

    North Carolina's highest court ruled Thursday that a county prosecutor was improperly disqualified from a criminal case in which the alleged victim is a county manager, reasoning that the scenario didn't meet conflict-of-interest parameters established by the court's decades-old precedent.

  • May 23, 2024

    NC Justices Scrap Defamation Suit Against Holtzman Vogel

    Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC is immune from defamation claims stemming from election protests the law firm helped file in 2016, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting what the justices characterized as a "baseless attempt" by voters to "constrict the absolute privilege's protections."

  • May 23, 2024

    Menendez Says Feds Can't Wield Texts About Egyptian Aid

    U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez told a federal court that the government can't support its corruption case with text messages involving military aid to Egypt and a local businessman accused of bribing the senator, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent excluding past legislative acts as admissible evidence.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ex-Judge Pushed False Narrative On Atty Romance, Firm Says

    U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones of Texas, who resigned last year after his secret relationship with a Jackson Walker LLP partner was revealed, attempted to head off rumors about the relationship by asking the firm to file a false, partial disclosure in 2022, the firm alleged.

  • May 23, 2024

    No Prison Time For Ex-State's Atty Mosby, Judge Rules

    Former Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby avoided prison time on Thursday after she was convicted of lying to make early withdrawals from her city retirement account and on a mortgage application for a Florida vacation home.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ga. Fights Disbarred Atty's Reinstatement Bid At 11th Circ.

    Georgia's bar admissions office urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to reject a disbarred Georgia attorney's attempt to regain her law license, arguing that she asserted a hypothetical injury because she didn't have an application to the state's bar at the time she filed the operative complaint.

  • May 23, 2024

    Houston Law Firm Wants To DQ Creditors' Counsel In Ch. 11

    Troubled MMA Law Firm PLLC is seeking to stop another firm from representing its bankruptcy creditors, arguing that MMA's principal had previously spoken with the other firm as a prospective client and had shared confidential information that now could be used against his firm.

  • May 23, 2024

    BakerHostetler Faces Suit Over Murdaugh Case Work

    BakerHostetler and one of its attorneys have been slammed with a lawsuit alleging they instructed an investigative agency to withhold information on the family of Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina attorney serving a life sentence for killing his wife and son, and then refused to pay the agency its related expenses.

  • May 23, 2024

    DC Judge Bars Giuliani From Defaming Ga. Poll Workers

    A D.C. federal judge has entered an injunction barring Rudy Giuliani from repeating lies that two Georgia poll workers meddled with the 2020 presidential election, resolving a second lawsuit the election workers launched after securing a $146 million judgment against the former New York City mayor.

  • May 23, 2024

    J&J Loses Expedited Bid For Beasley Allen Docs In Talc MDL

    Johnson & Johnson has lost its bid in New Jersey federal court to have the Beasley Allen Law Firm quickly produce documents related to what J&J said seems to be an "intentional effort" by the firm to "bias the vote" against a proposed $6.5 billion reorganization plan for its talc subsidiary.

  • May 23, 2024

    Stryker Unit And Seyfarth Attys Hit With $275K Sanctions

    A Colorado federal judge has imposed $275,000 in sanctions jointly and severally on Stryker-owned Howmedica Osteonics Corp., along with Seyfarth Shaw LLP, for witness coaching and discovery violations in a bitter breach-of-contract dispute, amounting to roughly one-eighth of what plaintiff ORP Surgical LLC had sought.

  • May 23, 2024

    Alex Jones Atty Escapes Suspension, For Now

    The Connecticut Appellate Court on Thursday threw out the six-month suspension of Norm Pattis, the lead attorney in Infowars host Alex Jones' Sandy Hook Elementary School defamation trial, ordering new proceedings against the attorney for supervising the transmission of the victims' confidential records to other Jones lawyers.

  • May 22, 2024

    Stubhub, Attys Beat Sanctions Bid For Lost Hyperlinked Docs

    A California federal magistrate judge on Monday rejected a request for sanctions against StubHub and its counsel over problems finding hyperlinked documents in a case brought by consumers seeking refunds for events that were canceled or rescheduled due to COVID-19, saying the court's order requiring their production was "in most cases impossible to comply with."

  • May 22, 2024

    Pryor Cashman Atty Accused Of 'Brazen' Hose Patent Fraud

    An attorney for Pryor Cashman LLP and his client were accused Wednesday in Florida federal court of engaging in a "brazen" scheme to usurp a hose company's rights to a patent portfolio while also defrauding the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • May 22, 2024

    'Appeal To Heaven' Flag Flew At Alito's Vacation Home: Report

    Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday called for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to immediately recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and face censure after The New York Times reported that flags tied to Donald Trump supporters had flown outside two homes owned by the justice in 2021 and again last year.

  • May 22, 2024

    Michael Best Accused Of Malpractice In Startup's Restructure

    Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, one of its partners and one of its former attorneys are accused of mishandling a technology startup's reorganization, jeopardizing tax benefits for its founders, according to a legal malpractice lawsuit filed in Illinois state court.

  • May 22, 2024

    Feds To Extend Plea Offer To Oath Keepers Atty In Jan. 6 Case

    Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they plan to extend a plea offer to an attorney for the far-right Oath Keepers group charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, but the specifics of the offer could depend on the U.S. Supreme Court's stance on a federal statute often used to prosecute alleged Capitol rioters.

  • May 22, 2024

    Inventor To Take $102M IP Malpractice Row To Ga. High Court

    A neurosurgeon pursuing a nearly $102 million legal malpractice case against FisherBroyles LLP and a legal services contractor over a missed patent filing deadline said Wednesday that he is planning to take the dispute to the highest court in the Peach State.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy

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    The New York criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump typifies some of the greatest challenges that lawyers face in crafting persuasive presentations, providing lessons on how to handle bad facts, craft a simple story that withstands attack, and cross-examine with that story in mind, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • 'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea

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    Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • As Arbitrator Bias Claims Rise, Disclosure Standards Evolve

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    The growth in post-award challenges based on arbitrators' alleged conflicts of interest has led to the release of new guidance and new case law on the topic — both supporting the view that professional familiarity alone does not translate to a lack of impartiality, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert

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    As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Series

    Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic

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    Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • The Art Of Asking: Leveraging Your Contacts For Referrals

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    Though attorneys may hesitate to ask for referral recommendations to generate new business, research shows that people want to help others they know, like and trust, so consider who in your network you should approach and how to make the ask, says Rebecca Hnatowski at Edwards Advisory.

  • Series

    Being An Equestrian Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond getting experience thinking on my feet and tackling stressful situations, the skills I've gained from horseback riding have considerable overlap with the skills used to practice law, particularly in terms of team building, continuing education, and making an effort to reset and recharge, says Kerry Irwin at Moore & Van Allen.

  • 4 Ways To Refresh Your Law Firm's Marketing Strategy

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    With many BigLaw firms relying on an increasingly obsolete marketing approach that prioritizes stiff professionalism over authentic connection, adopting a few key communications strategies to better connect with today's clients and prospects can make all the difference, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law.

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