Legal Ethics

  • October 28, 2025

    Ga. Defamation Case Against Atty Hinges On Doctor's Status

    The Georgia Court of Appeals asked a trial court Tuesday to determine whether an orthopedic surgeon in the Peach State is a public figure or private person, a question at the center of whether the physician can pursue a defamation suit against a defense attorney.

  • October 28, 2025

    Jackson Walker Atty Romance Deal Blasted As 'Collusion'

    A proposed settlement between Jackson Walker LLP and defunct life insurance bond seller GWG Holdings Inc. over a former Jackson Walker partner's secret romance with an ex-bankruptcy judge should be rejected because the deal "smacks of collusion," according to a recent objection.

  • October 28, 2025

    Mass. Bar Reprimands Ex-US Atty Rollins Over Leak, Texts

    A divided panel of state bar regulators voted to publicly reprimand former Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins for leaking confidential material about an investigation to a reporter and then trying to deflect suspicion in a deceptive message to subordinates, a lawyer for Rollins confirmed Tuesday.

  • October 28, 2025

    Trump Appeals 'Unprecedented' NY Criminal Conviction

    President Donald Trump appealed his New York criminal conviction for falsifying business records, arguing the charges were defective, the jury was improperly instructed, the judge was biased and that he was immune from prosecution.

  • October 27, 2025

    Tom Hayes Slaps UBS With $400M Malicious Prosecution Suit

    Former UBS trader Tom Hayes has filed a $400 million suit against his old employer, claiming the company "maliciously" framed him as the "evil mastermind" behind the company's Libor scandal despite the fact that he was explicitly directed to try to influence Libor submissions while at UBS.

  • October 27, 2025

    Minn. Court Blocks Immediate Appeal In Pork Price-Fixing Suit

    A Minnesota federal court refused Monday to allow immediate appeals for its summary judgment ruling in multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing in the pork industry, saying certain pork producers and a benchmarking company have not properly articulated a controlling question of law.

  • October 27, 2025

    Girardi Keese Trustees Sue Over $3.2M Settlement Transfers

    Bankruptcy trustees for disgraced California attorney Tom Girardi's defunct law firm and New York attorney Joseph DiNardo have filed suit to recover more than $3.1 million they allege should have been paid to a gas explosion settlement victim, but instead went to help finance food and beverage businesses.

  • October 27, 2025

    Judge OKs $2.4M PeopleFacts Background Checks Deal

    A Michigan federal judge Monday approved a $2.4 million settlement that PeopleFacts reached with a class of job-seekers whose criminal history was disclosed to potential employers, after those prospective workers had accused the background check company of making such disclosures without providing necessary notice.

  • October 27, 2025

    PayPal Accused Of Hiding Evidence In Charity Donation Suit

    PayPal has been accused of abusing confidentiality rules by mislabeling documents as secret to unjustly shield its business practices from scrutiny amid a lengthening discovery dispute in a user's federal suit over the platform's charitable distributions.

  • October 27, 2025

    Former Mintz Client Files Negligence Suit Over Patent Work

    A former Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC client has hit the firm with a professional negligence suit in Texas federal court, saying the firm's allegedly "shoddy, substandard" legal work led to one of the company's patents being almost completely wiped out.

  • October 27, 2025

    Who Watches The Watchers? Conn. Justices Mull Court Bias

    A Connecticut Supreme Court justice said Monday that if the state's human rights watchdog cannot address claims of racial discrimination in attorney licensing, then there is "no oversight" when bias infects the process.

  • October 27, 2025

    NJ Town Atty Escapes Ethics Case Over Racial Remark

    The New Jersey Supreme Court dismissed an ethics charge against a municipal attorney over a controversial remark in 2021 referencing the U.S. Constitution's "three-fifths compromise," a clause in the original document that counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for purposes of taxation and congressional representation.

  • October 27, 2025

    Ga. Panel Urged Not To 'Bend Over Backwards' For Judge

    Georgia ethics prosecutors told a state judicial watchdog on Monday to press ahead with removal of a probate judge from the bench over allegations of yearslong case delays, urging a hearing panel not to "bend over backwards" to keep him in office under something akin to judicial probation.

  • October 27, 2025

    Ga. State Judge Wrongly Jailed Woman, Suit Alleges

    An Alabama woman has claimed that a Georgia state judge violated her constitutional rights by improperly jailing her when she was a witness in the judge's courtroom, a move that came as a state commission is seeking the judge's removal from the bench over that and other alleged misconduct.

  • October 27, 2025

    Timeshare Co.'s Fee Dispute Sent Back To Fla. State Court

    A Florida federal judge sent a timeshare company's complaint disputing legal fees back to state court, finding that a law firm didn't show that the amount it seeks meets the $75,000 threshold to keep the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. 

  • October 27, 2025

    Gold Star Mother Seeks Early Win In NJ Malpractice Case

    The mother of a deceased Army service member moved for a default this week in New Jersey federal court against a law firm she has accused of mishandling her case against the Army after she was the victim of a fraud.

  • October 27, 2025

    R. Kelly's Prison Leak Suit Tossed Again For Missed Deadlines

    R&B artist R. Kelly, 58, who is serving a 31-year sentence for sexually exploiting children and other crimes, saw his Illinois federal suit alleging prison officers leaked his private information to journalists and others dismissed due to his lawyers' "glaring" failure to meet deadlines.

  • October 27, 2025

    Retention Races For Pa. Justices Turn Into $8M Political Clash

    Pennsylvania voters hoping for a quiet off-year election following last year's contentious presidential race have found themselves being targeted by millions of dollars worth of ads this fall over whether to give three Democratic members of the state's Supreme Court fresh 10-year terms on the bench.

  • October 24, 2025

    Judiciary Panel Eyes Rules For Class Cert., Litigation Funding

    Federal judiciary advisers set the stage Friday for new and far-reaching rules involving two sets of highly contentious topics: long-simmering demands for greater transparency in third-party litigation funding and calls for closer scrutiny of class action issues, including payouts to class counsel, certification standards and financial perks for plaintiffs.

  • October 24, 2025

    Gordon Rees 'Profoundly Embarrassed' By Atty's AI Mistakes

    Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLC has apologized to an Alabama bankruptcy court for a filing submitted by one of its lawyers that contained mistakes it blamed on artificial intelligence, saying it's "profoundly embarrassed" by the incident and will accept whatever sanctions end up being issued.

  • October 24, 2025

    Meta To Face Sanctions Bid Over Alleged Atty-Advice Fraud

    Plaintiffs told the California federal judge presiding over social media-addiction multidistrict litigation that Meta should be sanctioned after a D.C. court found Meta likely engaged in "crime, fraud, and/or misconduct" when, on the advice of counsel, it modified its research into Facebook's effects on teens' mental health to limit its liability.

  • October 24, 2025

    DC Circ. Wonders If Prosecutor's Bias Suit Was Killed Early

    The D.C. Circuit may revive the discrimination claims of an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington who says she was given more work than her white male colleagues, not because the panel took much stock in her claims, but because the lower court improperly quashed them.

  • October 24, 2025

    Man Wins New Rape Trial After Misguided Self-Representation

    A man convicted of raping a woman after offering her a ride home in 2018 has won the right to a new trial, arguing that he wasn't made aware of the pitfalls of representing himself and, specifically, the role of standby counsel, a Connecticut appeals court said in an opinion posted Friday.

  • October 24, 2025

    NJ Panel Tosses Sprawling Legal Malpractice, Fraud Suit

    A New Jersey state appellate court has backed the permanent dismissal of a developer's legal malpractice and fraud suit against Cooper Levenson April Niedelman & Wagenheim PA and other parties, ruling that the state's entire controversy doctrine, which requires litigants to put all their relevant allegations in a single suit, bars his claims.

  • October 24, 2025

    Feds Want Goldstein To Disclose 'Blame Everyone' Defense

    The federal government Friday urged a Maryland federal judge to give SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein a December deadline to disclose whether he intends to assert at trial that he failed to file tax returns due to legal advice, saying it expects him to "blame everyone other than himself."

Expert Analysis

  • The Metamorphosis Of The Major Questions Doctrine

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    The so-called major questions doctrine arose as a counterweight to Chevron deference over the past few decades, but invocations of the doctrine have persisted in the year since Chevron was overturned, suggesting it still has a role to play in reining in agency overreach, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator

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    Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

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    Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

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    As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • Opinion

    State Bars Must Probe Misconduct Claims, Even If It's The AG

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    The Florida Bar’s recent refusal to look into misconduct allegations against Attorney General Pam Bondi is dangerous for the rule of law, and other lawyer disciplinary bodies must be prepared to investigate credible claims of ethical lapses against any lawyer, no matter their position, say attorneys James Kobak and Albert Feuer.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

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