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Legal Ethics
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May 14, 2024
Convicted Fraudster Says Exchanges With Atty Are Privileged
A convicted fraudster who had his sentence commuted by then-President Donald Trump — now charged with launching another scam shortly after leaving prison — is embroiled in a fight with New Jersey federal prosecutors over his attempt to assert attorney-client privilege for communications with an Israeli attorney who allegedly participated in the scheme.
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May 14, 2024
BigLaw Attys Fight Sanctions Over Alleged Judge Shopping
Attorneys from Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP, Cooley LLP, Lightfoot Franklin & White LLC and prominent LGBTQ rights organizations did not engage in judge shopping when walking away from cases challenging an Alabama law banning certain medical procedures for transgender youth, the lawyers have told an Alabama federal court.
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May 14, 2024
Ga. Justices Wary Of Gov't Listening To Atty-Client Calls
The Georgia Supreme Court seemed inclined during oral arguments Tuesday to find that a man convicted of assault had his Sixth Amendment rights violated because a detective and a prosecutor listened to his jailhouse phone calls with his attorney.
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May 14, 2024
Jackson Walker Wants Out Of Texas Judge Romance Suit
Law firm Jackson Walker told a Texas federal court it wants out of a lawsuit accusing it of harming a tug boat company whose case was pending before a bankruptcy judge engaged in a romantic relationship with a firm attorney.
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May 14, 2024
Judge Nixes In-House Atty's $7.5M Suit Against Client's Estate
A Connecticut federal judge has determined the $7.5 million vexatious litigation claims a onetime in-house counsel filed against the estate of a former client were served weeks too late, ending a nearly seven-year-old case.
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May 14, 2024
Coverage Recap: Day 13 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial
Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Tuesday, day 13 of the trial.
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May 14, 2024
Feds Say Bannon Must Start Prison Term After Losing Appeal
Prosecutors asked a District of Columbia federal judge Tuesday to order Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon to begin his four-month prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena, now that the D.C. Circuit has rejected his appeal.
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May 14, 2024
Insurer Files Another Suit Over Firm's Malpractice Coverage
After dropping a complaint in Washington federal court seeking a declaration that it does not have to indemnify Harris Sliwoski LLP for potential malpractice liability related to a $31 million judgment, Evanston Insurance Co. filed a similar action in New York on Tuesday.
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May 13, 2024
Tesla Threatened To Fire Holland & Knight, Law Prof Says
Tesla tried to bully a law professor out of filing an amicus brief in investors' suit over Elon Musk's $56 billion compensation plan, in part by threatening to fire the company's longtime outside counsel at Holland & Knight LLP if the professor submitted his brief, according to a filing Monday in Delaware.
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May 13, 2024
Challenger Says Ga. Justice Is 'Working The Refs'
Georgia Supreme Court candidate John Barrow accused his incumbent opponent on Monday of "working the refs" and capitalizing on the prospect that Barrow could face discipline for running on a platform that is stridently in favor of abortion rights in his bid for a seat on the state's highest court.
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May 13, 2024
Dunn Says Calif. Bar Shouldn't Have Brought Ethics Charges
Ousted California State Bar executive Joseph Dunn has moved to dismiss his ethics case over alleged lies regarding expenditures for a trip to Mongolia, arguing the charges should have never been brought as a prior investigation regarding the expenditures closed in 2014 and found no grounds to take disciplinary actions against him.
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May 13, 2024
50 Cent, GC Accused Of Federal Wiretap Violations
A liquor business consultant has told a New York state court that Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and the rapper's general counsel violated federal and New Jersey wiretap statutes, after the court dismissed an earlier counterclaim lodged under the Illinois Eavesdropping Act.
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May 13, 2024
Eletson Creditors Seek Over $1M Cut In Reed Smith Fees
Unsecured creditors of shipping company Eletson Holdings have asked a New York bankruptcy judge to cut more than $1 million from the fees being sought by Eletson counsel Reed Smith LLP, saying the firm overstaffed the case and wasted money on needless and meritless fights.
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May 13, 2024
NC Agency Atty Guilty Of Permitting 'Coercive' Custody Deals
The former attorney for a North Carolina county's social services department was convicted of obstruction of justice in connection with the agency forcing parents to sign "coercive" child custody agreements that put children into abusive homes and violated constitutional rights, Attorney General Josh Stein announced Monday.
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May 13, 2024
Flint Judge Threatens Sanctions After Water Firm's PR Stunt
The Michigan federal judge overseeing Flint, Michigan, water crisis cases excoriated a water engineering firm and its PR agency for apparently running a smear campaign targeting a lawyer for Flint children, saying Monday she will sanction the firm if it doesn't turn over documents about the campaign by next week.
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May 13, 2024
Boston Federal Judge To Be Witness In City Harassment Case
A former Boston city employee will be allowed to call a senior federal judge to testify about a conversation the two had months before she reported being sexually harassed by a former city health director, a state court has ruled.
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May 13, 2024
Diaz Reus Attys Dodge Sanctions Over Last-Minute Dismissal Bid
Citing a lack of good cause for sanctions, a south Florida federal judge determined Monday that shareholders in a Venezuela-linked bank cannot penalize Miami-based Diaz Reus & Targ LLP lawyers over allegations they delayed an expected October 2023 trial in a suit alleging the bank's directors breached their fiduciary duty.
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May 13, 2024
McCarter & English Aims To Sink Biotech Malpractice Suit
McCarter & English LLP has asked a New Jersey state judge to toss a legal malpractice suit filed by a former biopharmaceutical client who claims the firm is responsible for the company's financial struggles.
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May 13, 2024
Airline Mogul Says FBI Won't Give Docs In North Carolina Suit
Airline tycoon Farhad Azima has asked a Texas federal court to force the FBI's Houston office to comply with a subpoena for documents related to its criminal investigation of the businessman, writing that the bureau has stonewalled his "basic discovery rights" in connection with a federal lawsuit against a Dechert LLP-hired private investigator.
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May 13, 2024
Fla. Law Firms Get Settlement Share Dispute Revived
Two Florida law firms may have another shot at collecting some of the settlement proceeds in a former client's construction dispute after a Florida state appeals court reversed a lower court's dismissal of the firms' claims for improper venue.
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May 13, 2024
Suspended Pa. Atty Gives Up License After Fraud Conviction
A Pennsylvania lawyer has given up his law license after being sentenced to serve more than two years in prison and pay more than $260,000 in restitution for tax evasion, wire fraud and mail fraud.
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May 13, 2024
Chevron Says $268K Fine For Fake News Clips Must Stand
Chevron on Friday urged the Ninth Circuit to summarily toss a Seattle attorney's appeal challenging an order that he pay $268,000 for filing a fake newspaper article as a court exhibit, saying the attorney is raising arguments that have already been rejected.
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May 13, 2024
NJ Town Can Shield Atty's ID In Municipal Prosecution Case
The New Jersey state appeals court tackled a novel legal issue Monday in affirming that the Borough of Mantoloking does not need to turn over the identity of an attorney who provided collegial legal advice in the form of an email to a town prosecutor in a contentious traffic infraction case.
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May 13, 2024
Fla. Bar Wants Referrals On Judicial Election Conduct Banned
The Florida Supreme Court will now consider a rule change that would make it clear that Florida Bar officials will not consider ethics complaints by judges with respect to claims of violations of rules or laws relating to judicial elections.
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May 13, 2024
Jackson Walker Seeks Sanctions Over Judge Romance Suit
Jackson Walker LLP asked a Texas federal court Monday to sanction lawyers and their "disgruntled millionaire" client for leveling racketeering allegations in a lawsuit over a former bankruptcy judge's romantic relationship with a former firm lawyer, saying the claims are "frivolous" and "conclusory."
Expert Analysis
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4 Ways To Reboot Your Firm's Stalled Diversity Program
Law firms that have failed to see real progress despite years of diversity initiatives can move forward by committing to tackle four often-taboo obstacles that hinder diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, says Steph Maher at Jaffe.
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DOJ's Google Sanctions Motion Shows Risks Of Auto-Deletion
The U.S. Department of Justice recently hit Google with a sanctions motion over its alleged failure to preserve relevant instant-messaging communications, a predicament that should be a wake-up call for counsel concerning the danger associated with automatic-deletion features and how it's been handled by the courts, say Oscar Shine and Emma Ashe at Selendy Gay.
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What To Expect From A Litigation Finance Industry Recession
There's little data on how litigation finance would fare in a recession, but a look at stakeholders' incentives suggests corporate demand for litigation finance would increase in a recessionary environment, while the number of funders could shrink, says Matthew Oxman at LexShares.
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Opinion
SEC Needs To Support Crypto Gatekeepers
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has a significant responsibility to create and maintain a regulatory environment governing the crypto industry, but currently, crypto businesses — and their lawyers — often are punished for seeking to comply, says retired Wilson Sonsini partner Rob Rosenblum.
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Trump Docs Investigation Has Lessons For White Collar Attys
Several of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys have found themselves in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigatory crosshairs, thus illustrating the risks criminal investigations can pose to both clients and attorneys — but lawyers can employ several best practices to help mitigate these risks, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.
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Justices Leave Questions Open On Dual-Purpose Atty Advice
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury on grounds that certiorari was improvidently granted leaves unresolved a circuit split over the proper test for deciding when attorney-client privilege protects a lawyer's advice that has multiple purposes, say Susan Combs and Richard Kiely at Holland & Hart.
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Steps Lawyers Can Take Following Involuntary Terminations
Though lawyers can struggle to recover from involuntary terminations, it's critical that they be able to step back, review any feedback given and look for opportunities for growth, say Jessica Hernandez at JLH Coaching & Consulting and Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub.
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High Court Ax Of Atty-Client Privilege Case Deepens Split
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury as improvidently granted maintains a three-way circuit split on the application of attorney-client privilege to multipurpose communications, although the justices have at least shown a desire to address it, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
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3 Job Satisfaction Questions For Partners Considering Moves
The post-pandemic rise in legal turnover may cause partners to ask themselves what they really want from their workplace, how they plan to grow their practice and when it's time to make a move, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.
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4 Exercises To Quickly Build Trust On Legal Teams
High-performance legal teams can intentionally build trust through a rigorous approach, including open-ended conversations and personality assessments, to help attorneys bond fast, even if they are new to the firm or group, says Ben Sachs at the University of Virginia School of Law.
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Navigating Compensation Of Special Counsel In Bankruptcy
With professional liability litigation and disputes over attorney fees on the rise, nonbankruptcy lawyers must know how to determine if a client or opposing party is in bankruptcy, when to make such determinations, and what to do once they have that information, says Danielle Mashburn-Myrick at Phelps Dunbar.
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8 Steps To Improve The Perception Of In-House Legal Counsel
With the pandemic paving the way for a reputational shift in favor of in-house corporate legal teams, there are proactive steps that legal departments can take to fully rebrand themselves as strong allies and generators of value, says Allison Rosner at Major Lindsey.
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Procedure Rule 7.1 Can Simplify Litigators' Diversity Analysis
A recent amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 will help trial courts determine whether the parties to a case are diverse, and may also allow litigators to more quickly determine whether they can remove certain cases to federal court, says Steve Shapiro at Schnader Harrison.
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Nimitz Patent Fight Offers Peek Behind NPE Liability Curtain
Nimitz's patent assertion campaign against BuzzFeed and others inadvertently provides unprecedented insight into how nonpracticing entities shield themselves from penalties of bad faith litigation, reminding litigants to consider pressing for disclosure of entities that control a litigation but aren't the named plaintiff, says Aakash Patel at Flaster Greenberg.
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Atty Conflict Discussions In Idaho Murder Case And Beyond
A public defender's representation of the accused University of Idaho murderer after prior representation of a victim's parent doesn't constitute a violation of conflict of interest rules, but the case prompts ethical questions about navigating client conflicts in small-town criminal defense and big-city corporate law alike, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Charles Loeser at HWG.