Legal Ethics

  • May 04, 2026

    Atty Seeks Docs To Back Ogletree DQ Bid In Bias Suit

    A Georgia attorney on Monday asked a federal judge to allow discovery related to her bid to have Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC disqualified from defending ADT LLC against discrimination claims while concurrently defending Microsoft Corp. in the attorney's own pregnancy bias suit.

  • May 04, 2026

    Fla. Judge Urges Rethink Of Refusal To Toss Ethics Charges

    A Florida appellate judge is pushing a judicial panel to reconsider its denial of her motion to dismiss ethics charges that she attempted to influence lower-court proceedings for an incarcerated man formerly on death row, arguing that the panel's chair does have the ability to consider her constitutional issues.

  • May 04, 2026

    Bondi Spurs Ethics Doubts By Using DOJ Official As Counsel

    Harmeet Dhillon, an official with the U.S. Department of Justice, is representing former Attorney General Pam Bondi in proceedings before the House oversight committee, which Democrats on the panel say raises ethical quandaries.

  • May 01, 2026

    Don't 'Throw' Young Attys Under Bus, Judge Warns Musk Atty

    The California federal judge presiding over Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion criticized Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff on Friday for eliciting "waste of time" trial testimony into Musk's $97.4 billion acquisition bid, warning Toberoff he "shouldn't throw young lawyers under the bus" by not quickly acknowledging his role.

  • May 01, 2026

    Winery's Ex-Lawyer Has No Rights To Wine Brand, Judge Says

    A California federal judge has entered judgment in a battle between a Napa Valley winery and an attorney who had worked with it, ruling that the attorney had no rights to the trademark on the high-end RBS wine brand.

  • May 01, 2026

    Insurer Sanctioned For 'Willful' Discovery Defiance

    A Washington federal court on Friday said it would hold an auto insurer liable for bad faith, negligent claim handling, and violations of the state's Consumer Protection Act and Insurance Fair Conduct Act after the carrier willfully violated prior production orders in a dispute over underinsured motorist benefits.

  • May 01, 2026

    California High Court Rejects Dunn's Bid To Nix Suspension

    The California Supreme Court has declined to review a California State Bar decision to impose a one-year stayed suspension on former State Bar executive Joseph Dunn.

  • May 01, 2026

    Mich. Judge Faces Warrant After Crashing Into Bus, DUI Arrest

    A Michigan judge accused of drunken driving after crashing into a bus last month is facing criminal charges after a county prosecutor's office on Friday referred a criminal warrant request to the state's Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council for transfer outside the county where the judge presides.

  • May 01, 2026

    Whistleblower Says DOJ Rushed SPLC Indictment

    A whistleblower has come forward to say a top U.S. Department of Justice official ordered prosecutors in Alabama to "rush" the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center despite concerns about the viability of the case, according to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee.

  • May 01, 2026

    Texas Panel Finds No Shield For Paralegal From Stalking Suit

    A Texas appeals court has refused to throw out a suit from an attorney alleging a paralegal stalked, harassed and threatened her, finding that the paralegal's statements and communications aren't shielded by the Texas Citizens Participation Act.

  • May 01, 2026

    'No Easy Task': Atty Seeks Fees For Ending Practice Limit Law

    A New Jersey attorney and his law firm told a state judge on Friday that they should be awarded counsel fees after they successfully challenged the constitutionality of a state law provision that penalizes attorneys who specialize in debt adjustment for representing debtors.

  • May 01, 2026

    Judge Wants DOJ Answers On Timeline Of Fulton Ballot Raid

    A Georgia federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to disclose more details about the timeline leading up to its January raid seizing ballots from Fulton County as he continues to weigh whether to force the government to return the hundreds of boxes of election materials.

  • April 30, 2026

    OpenAI Judge Pauses Trial To Probe Musk Attys On $97B Bid

    A California federal jury trial over Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion paused on a precarious note Thursday after Musk's legal team failed to object to a document during Musk's cross-examination, and inadvertently opened the door to wide-ranging and potentially damaging evidence into Musk's $97.4 billion acquisition proposal.

  • April 30, 2026

    Mass. AG, Auditor Brace For High-Stakes Constitutional Clash

    A closely watched separation-of-powers test is playing out in Massachusetts, where the Bay State auditor will argue to the state's top court in a hearing next week that the attorney general is stonewalling her from conducting a voter-approved audit of the state legislature.

  • April 30, 2026

    Texas Panel Reopens Malpractice Suit Over 'Death Penalty'

    A Texas appeals court on Thursday revived a couple's legal malpractice suit accusing their former personal injury attorney of letting their car accident claims die, finding the trial court wrongly used a death penalty discovery sanction to exclude all the couple's evidence before trial.

  • April 30, 2026

    Texas Court Rules Atty Can't Dodge Billionaire's Fraud Claims

    A Texas appeals court kept intact a suit brought by the billionaire co-founder of Rackspace Technology Inc. alleging his former attorney aided his wife in a "contentious" divorce, saying Thursday that the attorney can't use the state's anti-SLAPP law to evade the suit.

  • April 30, 2026

    Ga. Panel Scraps Sanctions Over Special Master's Unpaid Bill

    A Georgia appellate panel threw out Thursday a contempt order entered against plaintiffs suing a host of chemical companies for toxic tort claims after they failed to pay a special master's legal fees, ruling that a trial court wrongly disregarded their protests that they couldn't afford his services.

  • April 30, 2026

    Jones Day Beats Sanctions Bid In $2M Fee Dispute

    An Illinois state judge has ruled that Jones Day can pursue punitive damages on several of its claims in a lawsuit alleging a former client made a series of unlawful transactions to avoid paying over $2 million in legal fees, and also denied sanctions sought by the ex-client against the firm.

  • April 30, 2026

    Cannabis Dispute Ends With Plaintiff Co. Facing $1.34M Default

    A California state court snuffed out a Los Angeles cannabis company's fraud lawsuit against its investors and landlords, which were accused of stealing $40 million and wrecking its cannabis license, opening the door for the ex-business partners to score a $1.34 million default judgment.

  • April 30, 2026

    'Christian Witch' Says Jenner & Block Must Face Vax Bias Suit

    A former Jenner & Block LLP employee told an Illinois federal judge that she didn't need to disclose that she's a "Christian witch" in order to seek an exemption to the law firm's COVID-19 vaccine requirement, urging the court to reject her ex-employer's bid to toss the case.

  • April 30, 2026

    Ex-Shareholders, Reed Smith Seek End To Eletson Suit

    Former shareholders of Eletson Holdings on Thursday joined with their ex-Eletson counsel at Reed Smith to ask a New York bankruptcy judge to dismiss a suit claiming they had schemed to seize control of Eletson assets in defiance of the company's Chapter 11 plan.

  • April 30, 2026

    Netflix's 'Tiger King' Funeral Clip Was Fair Use, 10th Circ. Says

    The Tenth Circuit on Thursday said Netflix Inc. made fair use of a minutelong funeral clip in its popular "Tiger King" docuseries, holding in a precedential opinion that the streaming platform's use of the footage was "significantly transformative," departing from its earlier ruling that reached the opposite conclusion.

  • April 30, 2026

    Ex-Husch Blackwell Partner Urges Discovery In ERISA Dispute

    A former Husch Blackwell LLP partner has urged a Missouri federal court to ignore the firm's request for summary judgment in a dispute over employee retirement benefits, arguing discovery should proceed in the proposed class action.

  • April 30, 2026

    Ga. Lawyer Says Fraud Coverage Ruling Misread State Law

    A Georgia attorney on Wednesday urged a federal judge to undo a recent ruling declaring his professional liability insurer doesn't owe him coverage in an underlying lawsuit alleging the lawyer schemed with a client to enrich themselves, arguing the court erred by finding his alleged conduct didn't fall under the policy.

  • April 30, 2026

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Corporate Raid, MV Realty Settlement

    A major case settled in the North Carolina Business Court in April as new lawsuits emerged, including a complaint by health information technology company IQVIA Holdings Inc. accusing its former top brass of orchestrating a corporate raid and defecting to a competitor. In case you missed this story and others, here are the highlights.

Expert Analysis

  • When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

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    Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

  • Series

    Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Texas, One Year In

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    A year after the Texas Business Court's first decision, it's clear that Texas didn't just copy Delaware and instead built something uniquely its own, combining specialization with constitutional accountability and creating a model that looks forward without losing touch with the state's democratic and statutory roots, says Chris Bankler at Jackson Walker.

  • 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.

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