Legal Ethics

  • August 20, 2026

    Colo. Lawyer Says Arbitration Bars Homebuilder's Theft Suit

    A lawyer told a Colorado federal judge Tuesday that the lawsuit from a homebuilding company accusing him of stealing tens of thousands of the company's files when he went to work for an adversarial law firm must be dismissed because the company already lost on identical claims in arbitration proceedings.

  • August 20, 2026

    NC Justices Asked To Limit Bar's Reach Over Former Judges

    A former state court judge has asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to review a Court of Appeals' ruling allowing the state bar to discipline ex-jurists, characterizing the decision as an "attack on an independent judiciary" and calling for the justices to resolve a question of statutory authority they left unanswered a decade ago.

  • August 20, 2026

    Texas Judge Avoids Recusal In Jerry Jones Sex Assault Case

    A Texas state court judge has rejected a recusal motion filed by a woman who is accusing Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of sexual assault, finding that the woman failed to produce evidence showing that the judge overseeing the case breached any ethics rules.

  • August 20, 2026

    CREXi Drops 9th Circ. Challenge To Quinn Emanuel DQ

    Property listing company Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. has moved to dismiss its own Ninth Circuit mandamus petition, which challenged a lower court's disqualification of CREXi's counsel, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, from a legal battle against rival CoStar.

  • August 20, 2026

    Fidelity Says Deal Doesn't Bar $920K Atty Malpractice Claim

    Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. is fighting a Connecticut attorney's bid for summary judgment in a malpractice case over a $2.5 million mortgage refinancing loan, saying neither the statute of limitations nor a prior settlement to which the insurer is not a party bar the suit.

  • August 20, 2026

    Camp Mystic Fights Families' Bids To Remand Flooding Suits

    Camp Mystic is urging a Texas federal court to reject bids to return wrongful death lawsuits over flooding fatalities there last summer to state court, saying federal law is clear that personal injury and wrongful death claims should be decided in the same forum as the camp's pending Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

  • August 20, 2026

    Disbarred Atty Can't Keep Alive Suit Against NJ Ethics Officials

    The Third Circuit has refused to revive a disbarred attorney's suit against two New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics lawyers, finding a district judge who recused herself from the case did not enter any substantive orders after granting the motion to recuse.

  • August 20, 2026

    Mich. Panel Rejects $2.5M Malpractice Suit Over Bank Debt

    An attorney failed to show a law firm and two lawyers derailed his efforts to settle a PNC Bank debt and caused him to ultimately pay more than $2.5 million, a Michigan appellate court has ruled, upholding the dismissal of his malpractice suit. 

  • August 20, 2026

    Eastman Among 16 Calif. Attys Disbarred In Q2 2026

    The State Bar of California removed the licenses of 16 attorneys between April and June of this year over a broad spectrum of ethical breaches ranging from the high-profile case of John Eastman attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, to a lawyer found to be in possession of child sex abuse images.

  • August 19, 2026

    Davis Wright Vets Scolded: Don't Tell Foes 'How To Run Firm'

    Davis Wright Tremaine LLP veterans have failed to dodge six-figure sanctions in a prominent discovery donnybrook, and a California magistrate judge added invective to the financial injury, lambasting "troubling" omissions in case citations and heavy-handed "nitpicking" akin to commandeering an adversary's law firm.

  • August 19, 2026

    Convicted Ex-Atty Deserves Redemption, Pardoned Client Says

    A former Connecticut attorney under suspension for the past decade over his role in a $3 million stock pump-and-dump scheme deserves reinstatement and redemption, a client of his pardon consulting firm told a state bar admissions committee on Wednesday.

  • August 19, 2026

    Calif. Award Vacated After Arbitrator Attends Law Firm Event

    A California state judge has vacated an arbitration award issued to two real estate buyers in a breach of contract dispute with an investor, ruling that the JAMS arbitrator failed to disclose her participation in a public event sponsored by the law firm representing the buyers.

  • August 19, 2026

    Pro-Business Foundation Backs J&J's Stelara Antitrust Win

    Insurer CareFirst's bid to revive an antitrust lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson over its acquisition of patents affecting competitors would throw cold water over drug company mergers, burden government regulators and strip the issue of intent out of antitrust enforcement, according to an amicus brief filed by the Washington Legal Foundation.

  • August 19, 2026

    Polsinelli Can't Rep Doctor In 'Bad Faith' IP Suits, Cos. Say

    Two medical device companies suing Polsinelli PC and its longtime client, a patent-holding doctor, for allegedly pursuing "bad faith" infringement claims asked federal courts in Tennessee and Mississippi to disqualify the firm from defending the doctor in the lawsuits, citing their "diverging interests and liabilities."

  • August 19, 2026

    Sinema Says Brief Signal Chat Can't Anchor NC Affair Suit

    A single exchange on the encrypted messaging app Signal became the focal point of former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's testimony on Wednesday as she sought to convince a North Carolina federal judge that she cannot be hauled into court in the Tar Heel state over an affair — which she declined to characterize as a "passionate" romance — she had with her married security guard.

  • August 19, 2026

    Ex-US Attys Protest Trump's Swift Firing Of Rogoff In Seattle

    Thirty former U.S. attorneys backed Roger Rogoff's bid for reinstatement as Seattle's top federal prosecutor after President Donald Trump fired him on the heels of his court-ordered appointment, arguing Tuesday that Trump is trying to "sidestep the Senate's advice-and-consent role and sideline the judiciary" by letting unappointed individuals play such roles.

  • August 19, 2026

    Jackson Walker Says US Trustee Can't Claw Back Legal Fees

    Jackson Walker said this week that the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog is beyond the bounds of its authority in a yearslong effort to force the firm to return millions of dollars in legal fees over an undisclosed relationship between a former partner and a Texas bankruptcy judge.

  • August 19, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Rejects Patent Marking Immunity For NPEs

    Nonpracticing entities hoping for presuit damages can't get out of Patent Act requirements to mark products with patent information just because licensees don't believe their products infringe, the Federal Circuit held Wednesday.

  • August 19, 2026

    DOJ Urges Court Not To Dismiss Suit Against DC Bar

    The U.S. Department of Justice is urging a federal judge not to toss its lawsuit against Washington, D.C., attorney disciplinary authorities, saying the court "needs to halt defendants' flagrantly unconstitutional overreach into the president's executive power."

  • August 19, 2026

    Atty, Son Charged In Probe Of Alleged Penn State Drug Ring

    An equity partner based in Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck PLLC's Pittsburgh office has been charged with tampering with evidence and obstructing an investigation in connection with an alleged cocaine ring at Penn State University that allegedly involved his son, according to news reports.

  • August 19, 2026

    Over 120 Ex-Judges Demand Probe Of DHS GC's 'Worst' Posts

    A pair of nonprofits along with a bipartisan group of 128 former state and federal judges have asked the Florida Bar to investigate the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for a recent series of social media posts attacking sitting judges.

  • August 19, 2026

    Texas Judge Flags 'Alarming' Number Of Bogus Citations

    A federal judge presiding over an Austin, Texas, immigration case is warning of possible future sanctions after an attorney included an "alarming" number of "hallucinated" case citations in support of a habeas corpus petition.  

  • August 19, 2026

    3rd Circ. Won't Revive Philly Atty's Conspiracy Suit

    A suspended Pennsylvania attorney's attempt to expose an alleged conspiracy against him by Philadelphia public officials and private corporations has been stymied, with the Third Circuit upholding the dismissal of his complaint against dozens of defendants.

  • August 19, 2026

    Feds Accuse Comey Of Trying To 'Shortcircuit' '86 47' Case

    Former FBI Director James Comey is seeking to end the case over an allegedly threatening photo of seashells he posted online before the government has had a chance to present the full context for its case, prosecutors argued this week.

  • August 19, 2026

    Ex-Client Takes Aim At Wilson Elser's 'Duplicative' Experts

    A former Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP client suing the firm for malpractice asked a New Jersey state court this week to limit the firm to just one expert witness rather than the two it has proposed.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Teaching Logic Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Teaching middle and high school students the skills to untangle complicated arguments and identify faulty reasoning has made me reacquaint myself with the defined structure of thought, reminding me why logic should remain foundational in the practice of law, says Tom Barrow at Woods Rogers.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Resilience

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    Resilience is a skill acquired through daily practices that focus on learning from missteps, recovering quickly without internalizing defeat and moving forward with intention, says Nicholas Meza at Quarles & Brady.

  • NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

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    Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Dispatches From Utah's Newest Court

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    While a robust body of law hasn't yet developed since the Utah Business and Chancery Court's founding in October 2024, the number of cases filed there has recently picked up, and its existence illustrates Utah's desire to be top of mind for businesses across the country, says Evan Strassberg at Michael Best.

  • 4 Quick Emotional Resets For Lawyers With Conflict Fatigue

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    Though the emotional wear and tear of legal work can trap attorneys in conflict fatigue — leaving them unable to shake off tense interactions or return to a calm baseline — simple therapeutic techniques for resetting the nervous system can help break the cycle, says Chantel Cohen at CWC Coaching & Therapy.

  • Series

    Playing Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    An instinct to turn pain into purpose meant frequent trips to the tennis court, where learning to move ahead one point at a time was a lesson that also applied to the steep learning curve of patent prosecution law, says Daniel Henry at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Judicial Use Informs Guardrails

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    U.S. Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell at the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado discusses why having a sense of how generative AI tools behave, where they add value, where they introduce risk and how they are reshaping the practice of law is key for today's judges.

  • Presidential Pardon Brokering Can Create Risks For Attys

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    The emergence of an apparent “pardon shopping” marketplace, in which attorneys treat presidential pardons as a market product, may invite investigative scrutiny of counsel and potential criminal charges grounded in bribery, wire fraud and other statutes, says David Klasing at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: 5 Tips From Ex-SEC Unit Chief

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    My move to private practice has reaffirmed my belief in the value of adaptability, collaboration and strategic thinking — qualities that are essential not only for successful client outcomes, but also for sustained professional satisfaction, says Dabney O’Riordan at Fried Frank.

  • Prisoners' Access To Health Info Should Have No Bars

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    To safeguard against unnecessary deaths in custody, courts and policymakers should clarify that incarcerated individuals’ constitutional right to medical care also includes access to sufficient information about their medical conditions, lifting current restrictions that can lead to crucial information being withheld, says Jaehyun Oh at Jacob Fuchsberg Law.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: How To Start A Law Firm

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    Launching and sustaining a law firm requires skills most law schools don't teach, but every lawyer should understand a few core principles that can make the leap calculated rather than reckless, says Sam Katz at Athlaw.

  • Series

    Hosting Exchange Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Opening my home to foreign exchange students makes me a better lawyer not just because prioritizing visiting high schoolers forces me to hone my organization and time management skills but also because sharing the study-abroad experience with newcomers and locals reconnects me to my community, says Alison Lippa at Nicolaides Fink.

  • How A 1947 Tugboat Ruling May Shape Work Product In AI Era

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    Rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence test work-product principles first articulated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s nearly 80-year-old Hickman v. Taylor decision, as courts and ethics bodies confront whether disclosure of attorneys’ AI prompts and outputs would reveal their thought processes, say Larry Silver and Sasha Burton at Langsam Stevens.

  • Navigating Privilege Law Patchwork In Dual-Purpose Comms

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    Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to resolve a circuit split in In re: Grand Jury, federal courts remain split as to when attorney-client privilege applies to dual-purpose legal and business communications, and understanding the fragmented landscape is essential for managing risks, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Considerations In Building Guardrails For AI Use In Arbitration

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    A recent California federal court case involving allegations of artificial intelligence ghostwriting an arbitration award, prior analogous practice on tribunal delegation, and emerging generative AI recommendations all support building a forward-looking framework for arbitration rules to minimize the risk of AI-based challenges, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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