Legal Ethics

  • May 30, 2024

    Mich. Judge Refers Atty To Calif. Bar Over Flint PR Stunt

    A Michigan federal judge overseeing contaminated drinking water litigation in Flint, Michigan, referred a California attorney to that state's bar on Thursday after the lawyer refused to provide more details, or submit to the court's jurisdiction, over her involvement in an alleged smear campaign targeting a lawyer for Flint children.

  • May 30, 2024

    NYU Law Review Beats Bias Claims Over Diversity Efforts

    A New York federal court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from a self-described straight white male, first-year law student at New York University claiming the NYU Law Review is discriminatory.

  • May 30, 2024

    Ballard Spahr Faces Claim It Fired Worker Over Sick Husband

    A former legal assistant at Ballard Spahr LLP claims the firm fired her in retaliation for using the Family and Medical Leave Act to take time away from work to care for her cancer-stricken husband, according to a complaint filed in Pennsylvania federal court.

  • May 30, 2024

    Atty Who Missed Depo Amid Eclipse Trip Slams AAA's Fee Bid

    A lawyer sanctioned for missing a client's deposition in Florida when the attorney was viewing the solar eclipse in Arkansas has slammed the AAA organization's related fees request as "hyperinflated" and cited a popular job-hunting website to back up his argument.

  • May 30, 2024

    Ga. Lawyer Wants Atty Brother Held In Contempt

    One half of a disbanded partnership between two attorney brothers asked a Georgia business judge Thursday to hold his brother in contempt for reportedly refusing to hand over control of their old firm's social media accounts to a court-appointed receiver.

  • May 30, 2024

    Chief Justice Roberts Declines Senate Democrats Meeting

    Chief Justice John Roberts declined the invitation from two top Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the high court's ethics in light of the controversy surrounding the flags flown outside Justice Samuel Alito's homes.

  • May 30, 2024

    Ex-Fox Rothschild Corporate Chief Accuses Firm Of Age Bias

    The former head of Fox Rothschild LLP's corporate department sued the firm for age discrimination Wednesday in New Jersey state court, saying it slashed his pay to below that of a first-year associate and then forced him out after nearly 30 years of employment there.

  • May 30, 2024

    Morgan & Morgan Settles Ex-Paralegal's FMLA Suit

    Morgan & Morgan PA reached a deal with a former paralegal ending her suit accusing the firm of interference and retaliation when she was unlawfully fired, she said, after requesting time off afforded by the Family and Medical Leave Act, the firm told a Florida federal judge Thursday.

  • May 30, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Fights 10-Year Sentence In OneCoin Case

    A former Locke Lord LLP partner urged the Second Circuit Wednesday to ax his 10-year prison sentence and conviction for laundering around $400 million in proceeds from the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, saying the case was contaminated by perjury and errors at the trial court level.

  • May 30, 2024

    Calif. Judge Censured For Mid-Trial Text To Prosecutor

    A Los Angeles judge has received a severe public censure for sending a text message to a prosecutor during a murder retrial in order to influence her decision to call a rebuttal witness, then trying to minimize the ex parte communication by making misleading statements after the fact.

  • May 30, 2024

    What The Trump Verdict Was Like From Inside The Courtroom

    Law360 reporters were providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as a jury found Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records. Here's a blow-by-blow of the historic verdict.

  • May 30, 2024

    Conn. Atty Avoids Default In $1.4M Transfer Scam Suit

    A Connecticut attorney has won the right to defend herself against accusations she knowingly participated in an email transfer scam that stole more than $1.4 million from a New Jersey-based real estate development company last year.

  • May 29, 2024

    Foley & Lardner Sued For Axing Pro-Palestinian Atty's Offer

    A former Foley & Lardner LLP summer associate on Wednesday lodged discrimination claims against the firm for pulling its job offer after she made comments supporting Palestine, alleging that the firm let her go because of her religion and ethnicity, according to the suit lodged in Illinois federal court.

  • May 29, 2024

    Meta's Policy On Threats List 'Sounds Nefarious,' Judge Says

    The California federal judge overseeing claims Meta blacklists certain adult performers questioned the social media giant's practice of keeping its list of dangerous organizations and individuals as a "living document" that changes constantly and isn't archived, saying the policy appears to destroy evidence and "sounds nefarious."

  • May 29, 2024

    Malaysia Plans Suits Over $14.9B Award To Sulu Claimants

    Units of Malaysia's national natural gas company are planning to file litigation in Europe against claimants awarded $14.9 billion and their litigation funder following a high-stakes arbitration with the Southeast Asian country over a 19th-century land deal, according to newly filed documents in New York.

  • May 29, 2024

    Carhartt Heiress Atty Says He Wanted To Pay Back $15M Loan

    A Michigan attorney accused of exploiting his wealthy Carhartt heiress client as trustee testified Wednesday that he intended to repay the roughly $15 million he had loaned himself from her trust, as he took the stand during the second week of a jury trial.

  • May 29, 2024

    NY Jury Eyes Trump Tower 'Conspiracy' As Deliberations Start

    Jurors in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial ended their first day of deliberations Wednesday without a verdict, as the panel appeared to home in on testimony about a key 2015 meeting where the alleged scheme was hatched.

  • May 29, 2024

    9th Circ. Rejects Objections To $23M Monsanto Roundup Deal

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a district court's approval of a $23 million MDL settlement to resolve claims that Monsanto failed to warn buyers of the carcinogens in its Roundup weed killer, finding there was no indication of collusion as argued by Missouri-based objectors.

  • May 29, 2024

    Quinn Emanuel Atty Ducks Sanctions Over Musk Deposition

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP partner Alex Spiro beat an attempt to sanction him for alleged "astonishingly unprofessional" conduct at a deposition while defending billionaire and investor Elon Musk from a defamation suit in Texas state court, but the suit survived a motion to dismiss, according to an order signed Wednesday.

  • May 29, 2024

    Atty Says SEC Waited Too Long To Secure Civil Penalties

    An attorney and her husband have told a Florida federal judge that it's too late for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to reopen its case against them and seek civil penalties over a microcap scheme after almost four years of doing nothing to prosecute the case.

  • May 29, 2024

    Chicago IP Firm Accused Of Botching Fetal Biotech Patent

    A company that makes technology that can detect fetal asphyxia and distress has alleged in Illinois state court that Chicago law firm Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery LLP cost it millions when it registered the company's patents under one of its former employees, who then used its intellectual property to launch a competing company.

  • May 29, 2024

    Law Firm Says Atty Can't Elude Malpractice Claims In RE Case

    Chaitman LLP has urged a New Jersey state court to preserve its malpractice claims against a suspended solo attorney, arguing that discovery so far has shown that the attorney was deeply involved in guiding a case that ended in failure for its clients and exposed Chaitman to its own malpractice suit.

  • May 29, 2024

    Colo. Suspends Ex-Trump Atty For Aiding Ga. Election Lies

    A Colorado disciplinary judge has suspended Jenna Lynn Ellis from practicing law in the state for three years over her guilty plea in a Georgia election interference case, after the former attorney and legal adviser to Donald Trump disavowed her actions in a letter that admitted, "I was wrong."

  • May 29, 2024

    Ga. Attys Face Sanctions Bid Over Racial Profiling, Death Suit

    A Georgia city has urged a federal court to sanction opposing counsel and their client, a mother who sued its police department for allegedly racially profiling and fatally shooting her son, calling the case "an abuse of the judicial process" because counsel and the plaintiff should have known their claims were false.

  • May 29, 2024

    Non-Atty Advice To Debtors Is Unprotected, 2nd Circ. Told

    New York urged the Second Circuit on Wednesday to find that stopping a nonprofit focused on bankruptcy education and the South Bronx pastor it's working with from advising low-income debtors represents a content-neutral regulation on who can practice law that does not violate the First Amendment.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • For Now, Generative AI Is Risky For Class Action Counsel

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    Although a recent survey showed most in-house counsel think that their outside counsel should be using generative artificial intelligence "in some way" in class action work, the technology is more a target for class actions than it is a tool to be used in practice at present, says Matthew Allen at Carlton Fields.

  • When Your Client Insists On Testifying In A Criminal Case

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    Speculation that former President Donald Trump could take the stand in any of the four criminal cases he faces serves as a reminder for counsel to consider their ethical obligations when a client insists on testifying, including the attorney’s duty of candor to the court and the depth of their discussions with clients, says Marissa Kingman at Fox Rothschild.

  • Why Preemption Args Wouldn't Stall Trump Hush-Money Case

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    With former President Donald Trump's New York hush-money criminal trial weeks away, some speculate that he may soon move to stay the case on preemption grounds, but under the Anti-Injunction Act and well-settled case law, that motion would likely be quickly denied, says former New York Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg, now at Anderson Kill.

  • Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC

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    The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts

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    Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.

  • 7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves

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    As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.

  • Series

    Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

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