Legal Ethics

  • April 16, 2026

    NJ US Atty's Office Turmoil Doesn't Nix Conviction, Judge Rules

    A federal judge on Thursday rejected a New Jersey criminal defendant's attempt to dismiss his conviction and disqualify the state's top federal prosecutor, holding that the appointment of the current U.S. attorney complies with federal law and that any earlier defects in leadership do not warrant dismissal.

  • April 16, 2026

    NJ Justices To Weigh Municipal Counsel Conflict Of Interest

    The New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed to review a state ethics opinion that bars attorneys from simultaneously serving as corporation counsel to a municipality and general counsel to a regional fire and rescue agency that the municipality helps fund, setting an expedited briefing schedule.

  • April 16, 2026

    Calif. Lawyer Sues Over State Bar Investigations

    A California trial lawyer claimed in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that he has been unfairly investigated by the state bar since 2019, alleging the office "illegally prioritizes revenue-generation over protection of the public."

  • April 16, 2026

    Dems Call On Watchdog To Probe DOJ Antitrust Work

    A group of Democratic federal lawmakers this week called on the U.S. Department of Justice's acting inspector general to investigate the possibility that lobbying has led to misconduct in the department's antitrust work, including the DOJ's recent surprise settlement with event ticketing giant Live Nation.

  • April 16, 2026

    Ind. Judge Tells Parties AI Can't Replace Attorney Oversight

    A federal magistrate judge in Indiana told parties in an employment suit against Walmart that artificial intelligence "can be a useful discovery tool" but "is not a substitute for attorneys and litigants exercising independent judgment and oversight in the discovery process."

  • April 16, 2026

    Expert Needed To Gauge Fault For Cyberattack, Panel Told

    Connecticut law firm Mancini Provenzano & Futtner LLC told a state appellate panel Thursday that a lower court should not have awarded a former client more than $90,000 on a negligence claim arising from a cyberattack without hearing first from an expert on the firm's legal duties.

  • April 16, 2026

    Cigar Lounge Manager Sanctioned In Embezzlement Case

    North Carolina's business court has sanctioned and entered a default judgment against a cigar lounge manager who was accused of misappropriating funds and locking his business partners out of the establishment.

  • April 15, 2026

    John Eastman Disbarred Over Bid To Overturn 2020 Election

    California's highest court on Wednesday ordered the disbarment of California attorney John Charles Eastman, who a state bar court found had helped plan and promote President Donald Trump's strategy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

  • April 15, 2026

    GM Not Privy To Ex-Chrysler Exec's Spousal Talks, Panel Told

    A former Fiat Chrysler labor executive convicted for his role in a union bribery scheme could risk incriminating himself if he gives General Motors privileged information, including communications with his wife, as part of the latter automaker's civil lawsuit over alleged corruption, his attorney argued before a Michigan appeals court Wednesday.

  • April 15, 2026

    Cinemoi Trustee Moves To Seize $43M Film Library In Ch. 7

    The Chapter 7 trustee for bankrupt television network Cinemoi North America on Wednesday asked a California bankruptcy judge to hold the company in contempt for allegedly refusing to turn over a hard drive containing a film library valued at about $43.4 million. 

  • April 15, 2026

    Winston & Strawn Must Face $1.7B GloriFi Malpractice Suit

    A Chapter 7 malpractice suit brought by the trustee of fintech company GloriFi asserting $1.7 billion in damages from a failed initial public offering mostly survived a motion to dismiss late Tuesday, with a Texas bankruptcy judge saying the trustee sufficiently pled breach claims against law firm Winston & Strawn.

  • April 15, 2026

    Jones Day DQ'd From Vanderbilt Case Over Pre-Ch. 11 Work

    A New York bankruptcy judge disqualified law firm Jones Day from representing talc producer Vanderbilt Minerals in its Chapter 11 case Wednesday, saying the firm's prior work for the larger Vanderbilt corporate family raises questions about its disinterestedness.

  • April 15, 2026

    Judge Won't Move 'Maya' Case For Retrial

    A Florida judge on Wednesday denied a hospital's request to move a retrial of Netflix documentary subject Maya Kowalski's claims against the hospital from Sarasota to St. Petersburg, citing the difficulty and expense of moving the 8-year-old case to a new circuit and judge.

  • April 15, 2026

    Historical Groups Fight To Save White House Records

    Historians are asking a D.C. federal judge for an injunction that would force the Trump White House to preserve official records after administration attorneys declared the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional.

  • April 15, 2026

    Sotomayor Apologizes For 'Hurtful' Comments About Kavanaugh

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor publicly apologized Wednesday for comments she made at a University of Kansas appearance earlier this month criticizing Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

  • April 15, 2026

    Texas Panel Backs Atty Sanctions, Finding He Misled Client

    A Texas appeals court has upheld a judgment from a lower court sanctioning an attorney for misleading a client into believing that his firm could offer representation in a wrongful death suit, saying that the evidence was sufficient to support his loss in the lower court.

  • April 15, 2026

    McElroy Deutsch, Atty Beat Malpractice Claims Over Fraud Suit

    The New Jersey state appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a ruling throwing out a $300,000 malpractice suit against a former McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP partner, finding the trial judge correctly found the plaintiff's expert offered speculative, inadmissible net opinions.

  • April 15, 2026

    Former Judge To Head New NJ Attorney Readmission Board

    The New Jersey Supreme Court announced this week the lineup of a new committee that will consider disbarred attorneys' applications for readmission, with a former state court judge of over 20 years at the head of the board.

  • April 15, 2026

    DOJ Atty Slapped With $250 Sanction For Missed Deadlines

    A California federal judge hit a U.S. Department of Justice attorney with a $250 sanction for repeatedly missing deadlines in a noncitizen's habeas corpus case, rejecting his assertions that his need to juggle tasks under a 300-plus caseload should excuse him.

  • April 15, 2026

    Terrorism Victim's Atty Asks Court To Toss Malpractice Award

    A Baltimore attorney hit with a $721,000 damages judgment by an arbitrator over alleged malpractice amid his representation of a victim of the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in a successful lawsuit against the Republic of Iran has asked a D.C. federal judge to toss the arbitral award.

  • April 15, 2026

    UBS Must Reveal Atty Comms In Ex-Trader's $400M Libor Suit

    A Connecticut state judge has ordered UBS AG to hand some communications with its lawyers and prosecutors in U.S. and U.K. criminal cases to former trader Tom Hayes, whose $400 million lawsuit claims he was made a scapegoat to shield senior bank executives from Libor-rigging allegations.

  • April 15, 2026

    Nadine Menendez Seeks Bail Pending 2nd Circ. Appeal

    Nadine Menendez urged a Manhattan federal judge to keep her free while she challenges her conviction, arguing that prosecutors deprived her of her constitutional right to the counsel of her choice.

  • April 15, 2026

    Conn. Court Rule Would Make Lawyers Verify All AI Citations

    Connecticut lawyers and pro se litigants could face case-ending sanctions for citation errors tied to the misuse of generative artificial intelligence under a new rule proposed by the state's attorney rules committee.

  • April 15, 2026

    Pot Co. CFO Says Attys Must Be DQ'd In Embezzling Suit

    The former CFO of four related cannabis companies, who is accused of embezzling from those companies, is urging a California state court to disqualify the plaintiffs' attorneys, saying there is a conflict of interest between the company plaintiffs and the individual plaintiffs.

  • April 15, 2026

    ICE Arrest Memo Switch Looks 'Specious,' Judge Says

    A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday revived an effort by civil rights groups to block immigration courthouse arrests, citing what he called an apparently deceptive Trump administration move to disclaim its earlier litigation position.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Litigation Tools Can Enhance Case Assessment, Strategy

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    Civil litigators can use artificial intelligence tools to strengthen case assessment and aid in early strategy development, as long as they address the risks and ethical considerations that accompany these uses, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

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    In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

  • DOJ Faces Potential Discovery Pitfalls In Comey Prosecution

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    The unusual circumstances surrounding the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey increase the odds of a discovery misstep for the U.S. Department of Justice, offering important reminders for defense counsel on how to ensure the government fulfills its obligations, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • 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.

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