Legal Ethics

  • June 13, 2025

    Wash. High Court Suspends Atty Amid Delays In Bar Probe

    The Washington State Supreme Court has suspended an Evergreen state attorney's legal license, at the state bar association's request, for allegedly stalling disciplinary investigations into her work representing student families in two federal lawsuits against school districts.

  • June 13, 2025

    Ex-Ill. Speaker Madigan Gets 7½ Years For Bribery

    An Illinois federal judge on Friday sentenced former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to seven and a half years in prison and fined him $2.5 million for his conviction on bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud charges, saying his determination that Madigan perjured himself on the stand at trial impacted the stiff penalty.

  • June 13, 2025

    Ga. Judge Makes Final Push To Toss 'Tainted' Ethics Charges

    A Georgia superior court judge who's in the midst of an ethics trial over misconduct allegations urged the state's judicial ethics commission Friday to toss the charges against her, saying that investigators never disclosed their financial backing of one of her electoral opponents.

  • June 13, 2025

    Akerman Seeks To Move Malpractice Suits From Medical Cos.

    Akerman LLP has asked to have two malpractice cases from medical laboratories moved from Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade County, where the firm's related unpaid fees case against Rennova Health Inc. is being litigated.

  • June 13, 2025

    Grassley Budget Bill Calls For More Use Of Injunction Bonds

    Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has released his portion of the budget reconciliation text, which would bolster the use of injunction bonds to raise the stakes for plaintiffs seeking to halt White House initiatives.

  • June 13, 2025

    Ex-Defender Urges 4th Circ. To 'Fortify' Workplace Protections

    A former assistant public defender has doubled down on efforts to revive her sex bias suit against the federal judiciary, telling the Fourth Circuit that siding with the judiciary would further discourage its employees from speaking up or reporting abuse out of fear of retaliation.

  • June 13, 2025

    Jackson Walker, Ex-Judge Facing Class Action Over Romance

    A former bankruptcy judge and Jackson Walker LLP have been hit with another lawsuit over the judge's secret romance with a former firm partner, this time a proposed class action from a group of bondholders of financial company GWG Holdings Inc.

  • June 13, 2025

    7 Willkie Partners Join Cooley Over Trump EO Deal

    Seven partners have left Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, including both managing partners of the firm's San Francisco office, to join Cooley LLP, reportedly over their former employer's decision to strike a deal with the Trump administration related to a potential executive order.

  • June 13, 2025

    Ex-Judges Slam DOJ Bid To Block Them In Wis. Judge Case

    A group of retired judges is urging a Wisconsin federal judge to deny the U.S. Department of Justice's attempt to keep them out of a criminal case against a state judge charged with hindering an arrest by immigration authorities, saying there is "neither factual nor legal support" for their amicus brief to be declined.

  • June 13, 2025

    Communication Lapses Topped Conn. Ethics Issues For Attys

    Connecticut attorneys whose conduct drew attention from state disciplinary authorities over the past year were most often accused of failing to adequately communicate with clients, followed by general allegations of misconduct, a panel of ethics lawyers told a gathering of attorneys in Hartford on Friday.

  • June 13, 2025

    Firms Get $275K Refund After $5M Overbilling Probe

    Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP, Thornton Law Firm LLP and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP will get a total of about $275,000 back after collectively spending more than $5 million on a lengthy investigation into overbilling and other fee improprieties, a Massachusetts federal judge said Friday.

  • June 13, 2025

    NJ Law Firm Accused Of Retaliation Over Maternity Leave

    New Jersey law firm Ragan & Ragan PC is facing a discrimination suit filed by its former collections manager in state court, alleging that the firm and its name partner engaged in a "calculated and malicious campaign of retaliation" against her for taking maternity leave.

  • June 12, 2025

    'I Want Names': YouTube Attys' MDL Redactions Face Scrutiny

    A California federal magistrate judge ordered YouTube on Thursday to provide him with unredacted versions of documents it produced in sprawling multidistrict litigation over claims social media is addictive, and demanded that YouTube identify counsel who made its relevance-redaction determinations, saying. "I want names and I want teams."

  • June 12, 2025

    Turkey Buyers Fight Burford Units' Objection To Cargill Deal

    Direct purchasers of turkey have told the Illinois federal judge handling consolidated turkey price-fixing litigation that he should disregard two litigation funding subsidiaries' untimely attempt to lodge what they called a meritless challenge to a nearly finalized price-fixing settlement with Cargill Inc.

  • June 12, 2025

    Charter Flight Co. Sanctioned In 'Hot Start' Damage Suit

    A Kansas federal judge sanctioned charter flight company Sky Jet M.G. Inc. on Thursday in its suit alleging an aviation repair company improperly overhauled an engine component leading to a "hot start," finding Sky Jet deliberately tried to prevent the repair company from finding out about cockpit recordings of the incident.

  • June 12, 2025

    'Bad Faith': Valve Accused Of Thwarting Arbitration It Sought

    Valve Corp. is blocking consumers from arbitrating antitrust claims against the gaming company by refusing to pay $20 million in arbitration fees, a "bad faith" move that flouts a court order granting Valve's bid to compel arbitration, a game buyer told a Washington federal judge in a motion for sanctions.

  • June 12, 2025

    Judge Hints Signature Is Evidence Staffer Waived Jury Trial

    A New Jersey state court judge appeared skeptical Thursday of a fired Blume Forte Fried Zerres & Molinari staffer's argument that an arbitration agreement she signed as part of the firm's onboarding process is invalid because it was never explained to her, and she has no recollection of signing it.

  • June 12, 2025

    Avenatti Sheds 3 Years After 9th Circ. Orders Resentencing

    A California federal judge on Thursday resentenced disbarred attorney Michael Avenatti to just over 11 years in federal prison for filching millions of dollars from his clients' settlement funds, reducing a 14-year sentence overturned by the Ninth Circuit and leaving Avenatti with about eight years left after time served.

  • June 12, 2025

    Reed Smith Pushes For 2nd Circ. Stay In $102M Award Fight

    Still seeking to represent prebankruptcy owners of international shipping company Eletson Holdings Inc., Reed Smith LLP has asked the Second Circuit to stay a bankruptcy proceeding and a district court action, arguing the reorganized Eletson, now allegedly under common control with a former adversary, has launched a "calculated effort" to seize the company's privileged client information.

  • June 12, 2025

    Mass. Judge, On Stand, Denies Helping Immigrant Evade ICE

    A Massachusetts judge accused of approving a plan to let a man elude immigration officers by letting him leave the court through a back door seven years ago testified Thursday that was not her intent when she granted a request to let him speak with an attorney in a courthouse lockup.

  • June 12, 2025

    Google Fights MDL Plaintiffs' Sanctions Bid Over Lost Chats

    Google is pushing back on a request for sanctions that a slew of advertisers and publishers have brought in their antitrust lawsuit over the company's advertising placement technology, saying the plaintiffs have not shown Google hid evidence amid the "mountains" of electronically stored information it provided.

  • June 11, 2025

    Judge Won't Disqualify Attys In AmeriMark Control Dispute

    A Utah magistrate judge declined to disqualify attorneys from Venable LLP and Parsons Behle & Latimer PC from representing Swiss plaintiffs Capana Swiss Advisors and AmeriMark Automotive in a lawsuit over who controls AmeriMark Group, finding there is no clear conflict of interest and that disqualification would unfairly disrupt the case.

  • June 11, 2025

    Ga. PI Firm Says 'Distasteful' Practices Aren't Court's Concern

    An Atlanta personal injury firm called on the Georgia Court of Appeals Wednesday to squash a proposed class action accusing it of stealing clients from other lawyers through shady solicitation practices, arguing that whether its business model is ethical or not, it isn't grounds for litigation.

  • June 11, 2025

    Ex-Judges Urge High Court To Protect Right To Counsel

    A group of six high-profile retired judges urged the Supreme Court to protect criminal defendants' right to consult with counsel during overnight trial recesses, saying a current "patchwork" of practices in this area is bad for judges as well as defendants.

  • June 11, 2025

    DOJ Says Newsom Can't Ask Court To Halt Guard Deployment

    The Trump administration is telling a California federal judge its decision to federalize the National Guard is unreviewable in court, calling California Gov. Gavin Newsom's effort to stop the takeover "a crass political stunt" in a new filing Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • The Implications Of 2024's AI Rules And Regs For Patent Attys

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    Christina Huang, John Smith and Devin Stein at Faegre Drinker review this year's new rules and regulations on the development and use of artificial intelligence — from the Biden administration, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the American Bar Association and various states — as they apply to patent attorneys.

  • When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

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    As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • What 2024 Trends In Marketing, Comms Hiring Mean For 2025

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    The state of hiring in legal industry marketing, business development and communications over the past 12 months was marked by a number of trends — from changes in the C-suite to lateral move challenges — providing clues for what’s to come in the year ahead, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Series

    Group Running Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The combination of physical fitness and community connection derived from running with a group of business leaders has, among other things, helped me to stay grounded, improve my communication skills, and develop a deeper empathy for clients and colleagues, says Jessica Shpall Rosen at Greenwald Doherty.

  • How White Collar Defense Attys Can Use Summary Witnesses

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    Few criminal defense attorneys have successfully utilized summary witnesses in the past, but several recent success stories show that it can be a worthwhile trial tactic to help juries understand the complex decision-making at issue, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Opinion

    6 Changes I Would Make If I Ran A Law School

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    Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner identifies several key issues plaguing law schools and discusses potential solutions, such as opting out of the rankings game and mandating courses in basic writing skills.

  • Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware

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    Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Top 10 Legal Malpractice Defenses As Claims Tick Up

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    As legal malpractice claims and payouts increase, law firms should remember certain time-tested defenses, such as asserting no duty to nonclients, omissions beyond the scope of engagement or lack of proximate cause, say attorneys at Goulston & Storrs.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out

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    In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Immigration Atty Tips For Avoiding Prosecution Under Trump

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    Under the incoming Trump administration, immigration attorneys may need to protect themselves from prosecution when advising clients who may not qualify for relief sought by choosing their words carefully and keeping other key factors in mind, says Michele Carney at Carney & Marchi.

  • The Malpractice Perils Of Elder Abuse Liability

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    Recent cases show that the circumstances under which an attorney may be sued for financial elder abuse remain unsettled, but practitioners can avoid these malpractice claims altogether by taking proactive steps, like documenting the process of evaluating a client's directives under appropriate standards, says Edward Donohue at Hinshaw & Culbertson.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity

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    Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Plugging Gov't Leaks Is Challenging, But Not A Pipe Dream

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    As shown by ongoing legal battles involving New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Sean “Diddy” Combs, it’s challenging for defendants to obtain relief when they believe the government leaked sensitive information to the media, but defense counsel can take certain steps to mitigate the harm, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • Series

    Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review

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    For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

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