Legal Ethics

  • October 11, 2024

    Boston Bomber Says Judge's Praise For Jury DQs Him

    A Massachusetts federal judge's public comments praising the jury that delivered a conviction and death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev disqualify him from reviewing alleged juror misconduct, the defendant's lawyers said in a filing unsealed Friday.

  • October 11, 2024

    Ex-Girardi Keese CFO Pleads Guilty In Calif. Wire Fraud Cases

    Girardi Keese's former Chief Financial Officer Christopher K. Kamon pled guilty Friday in California federal court to two counts of wire fraud, admitting that he conspired with the firm's disgraced co-founder Tom Girardi to steal millions from a client, while also stealing millions from the firm behind Girardi's back.

  • October 11, 2024

    Mich. Firm's Settlement Dispute Returns To State Court

    A Michigan federal judge ruled Friday that an attorney-client fight over how to divide settlement proceeds in a police brutality case belongs in state court, reasoning that the dispute was a matter of contract law over which he could not exercise jurisdiction.

  • October 11, 2024

    Attys Ordered To Apologize For Neighborhood 'Scream Test'

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has ordered attorneys representing a plaintiff in a civil rights suit to go door-to-door and issue written apologies to residents and business owners after subjecting a South Philadelphia neighborhood to a looped recording of a woman screaming as part of an acoustics test last month.

  • October 11, 2024

    Quinn Emanuel Faces DQ Bid For Musk-Dogecoin Deal Leak

    Dogecoin investors want Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP to be disqualified in their case against Elon Musk and Tesla Inc. because the law firm and its attorneys publicly disclosed a confidential settlement offer in the contentious lawsuit.

  • October 11, 2024

    Fox Rothschild Aims To Exit Malpractice Suit Over Land Row

    Fox Rothschild LLP has called on a New Jersey state court to throw out malpractice claims leveled against it by two siblings who accused a lawyer at the firm of bungling a 1984 property deed and 1993 trust belonging to their stepfather, arguing the sisters are trying to improperly hold it responsible for purported, decades-old negligence by other law firms.

  • October 11, 2024

    Ex-Firm's Role In Amicus Doesn't Force Judge Recusal In NJ

    The New Jersey Supreme Court has issued an order spelling out the grounds for a judge's recusal in relation to an amicus group, stating that the involvement of a judge's former law firm in an amicus filing is not grounds alone for disqualification.

  • October 11, 2024

    Nelson Mullins Can't Beat DQ In Foreign Exchange Fraud Suit

    A Florida state appeals court panel unanimously sided with a trial court Friday in deciding that Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP can't represent the defendant in a lawsuit accusing him of duping the plaintiff into doing business with online foreign exchange platform FxWinning Ltd. because the firm previously represented the plaintiff in a "substantially related" suit against the company.

  • October 11, 2024

    Lin Wood Slams Ga. Atty Fee Statute As Unconstitutional

    Retired Georgia attorney L. Lin Wood has doubled down on his argument that a state law violates the state and U.S. constitutions by favoring plaintiffs in awarding attorney fees, urging a Georgia federal judge to let him escape paying his former law partners' fees after they won a $3.75 million defamation verdict.

  • October 11, 2024

    Indicted NJ Power Broker Says Civil Suit Belongs In Biz Court 

    Indicted Garden State power broker George E. Norcross III has asked a New Jersey state judge to transfer the civil racketeering suit brought against him and his attorney brother by a Philadelphia developer to the state's complex business litigation program.

  • October 10, 2024

    Ex-Boxer Slams 'Big Brother' Tactics In $1B Drug Case

    The legal team of former heavyweight boxer Goran Gogic criticized the government's attempt to introduce alleged evidence from a massive state-sponsored hack of a messaging app in their client's $1 billion cocaine trafficking case, saying Thursday the use of the data thwarts constitutional protections and could provide an opening to target other encrypted platforms.

  • October 10, 2024

    Chutkan OKs Redacted Immunity Evidence In Trump Case

    The D.C. federal judge overseeing the case that charges Donald Trump with scheming to subvert the 2020 election results will allow the public disclosure of some evidence related to the issue of his potential immunity, but will give the former president time to challenge the disclosure.

  • October 10, 2024

    IP Forecast: 5G Patent Case Spells Deja Vu For EDTX

    A patent suit against a Chinese phone company will go before a new federal jury in the Eastern District of Texas after the judge scrapped the original $10.6 million verdict against it as excessive. Here's a spotlight on that case — plus all the other major intellectual property matters on deck in the coming week.

  • October 10, 2024

    Ex-Latham Atty Must Turn Over SEC Whistleblower Docs

    A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday ordered a retired Latham & Watkins LLP attorney to hand over communications between himself and two whistleblowers who tipped off the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to an alleged $73 million fraud after one of the whistleblowers dropped his objections to producing the documents.

  • October 10, 2024

    Paxton Prosecutor Fee Fight Ends With High Court Rejection

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday declined to take up a dispute over how much a special prosecutor appointed to oversee the securities fraud case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton should be paid, ending a fee fight that has stretched on almost as long as the criminal case.

  • October 10, 2024

    Feds Say Ex-Atty Stole $570K From Disabled Client's Trust

    A former attorney in Washington is accused of embezzling more than $570,000 from a client's insurance settlement after she was severely injured in a motorcycle accident, according to a federal indictment that said the victim was forced to sell her home after her trust account was drained.

  • October 10, 2024

    Gunster Reaches Deal In One Of Two Data Breach Actions

    Gunster has struck a settlement agreement in one of the two proposed class actions it faces in Florida federal court over a 2022 data breach, while the plaintiffs in the second case urged the court the same day to reject the law firm's dismissal bid in their suit.

  • October 10, 2024

    Combs May Face More Charges As Feds Pore Over Evidence

    Prosecutors helming the sex trafficking case against Sean "Diddy" Combs told a Manhattan federal judge Thursday they could file more charges against the jailed hip-hop mogul and rejected his accusations of grand jury leaks as "a means to try to exclude a damning piece of evidence."

  • October 10, 2024

    Houston Firm Says 'Scurrilous' Ex-Atty Not Entitled To Fees

    A Houston law firm is urging a state court to dismiss a lawsuit from a disbarred attorney seeking fees for cases he worked on before going to prison for fraud, arguing that paying him the $3.84 million he is asking for would run afoul of ethics rules and a Texas Supreme Court order.

  • October 10, 2024

    Atty For McElroy Deutsch's Ex-CFO Wants Out Of Theft Case

    An attorney representing McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer — who is behind bars on charges of stealing from the firm — has asked to be relieved as counsel in the firm's New Jersey suit against the former CFO because he has not paid his legal bills.

  • October 10, 2024

    Alaska Judge's Misconduct Prompts Bid To Pause Appeal

    A former Alaska nurse practitioner convicted of illegally prescribing millions of opioids, wants a stay of her appeal while she seeks a new trial in wake of Judge Joshua Kindred's resignation after he was found to have had an inappropriate relationship with an attorney in the office prosecuting her case.

  • October 10, 2024

    Ex-Mayor Can't Reduce 6-Year Term In Fraud, Graft Case

    A former Massachusetts mayor serving six years in prison for fraud and corruption has failed to raise a compelling argument to cut short the "already generous sentence" imposed, according to a Boston federal judge.

  • October 10, 2024

    Indicted Pa. Judge Suspended From Bench Over Alleged Fraud

    The York County, Pennsylvania, Court of Common Pleas judge who was accused of 31 counts of fraud, witness tampering and obstruction of justice related to his allegedly misusing unemployment relief funds to pay his law firm's employees during the COVID-19 pandemic has been suspended from the bench.

  • October 09, 2024

    Combs Accuses DHS Of Leaking Grand Jury Info To Press

    Government agents investigating charges of sex trafficking against Sean "Diddy" Combs have engaged in a scheme to undermine his right to a fair trial, the hip-hop mogul told a Manhattan federal judge late Wednesday, saying U.S. Department of Homeland Security personnel have been leaking grand jury information to journalists.

  • October 09, 2024

    Garth Brooks Accused Of Retaliating After Rape Lawsuit

    A hair and makeup artist told a judge Wednesday that Garth Brooks publicly revealed her name out of spite and retaliation after she sued him for rape, urging the court to sanction the country star and his lawyers for this "appalling and malicious behavior."

Expert Analysis

  • Weisselberg's Perjury At Trial Spotlights Atty Ethics Issues

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    Former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg’s recent guilty plea for perjury in the New York attorney general's civil fraud trial should serve as a reminder to attorneys of their ethical duties when they know a client has lied or plans to lie in court, and the potential penalties for not fulfilling those obligations, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease

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    This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.

  • Why Incorporating By Reference Is Rarely Good Practice

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Promptu Systems v. Comcast serves as a reminder that while incorporating by reference may seem efficient, it is generally prohibited by courts and can lead to sanctions when used to bypass a word count limit, says Cullen Seltzer at Sands Anderson.

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

  • For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill

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    A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Trump's NY Civil Fraud Trial Spotlights Long-Criticized Law

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    A New York court’s recent decision holding former President Donald Trump liable for fraud brought old criticisms of the state law used against him back into the limelight — including its strikingly broad scope and its major departures from the traditional elements of common law fraud, say Mark Kelley and Lois Ahn at MoloLamken.

  • Opinion

    Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea

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    A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.

  • 4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best

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    As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.

  • Series

    Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

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    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

  • Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent

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    Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.

  • The Fed. Circ. In February: A Reminder On Procedure Rule 28

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    Because the Federal Circuit does not often issue a sua sponte precedential order emphasizing an important rule of practice, it is useful to look at how the court applied the restrictions of appellate procedure Rule 28 in Promptu v. Comcast last month, and in cases that preceded it, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.

  • Opinion

    DOJ Press Office Is Not Fulfilling Its Stated Mission

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    The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs’ apparent practice of issuing press releases when someone is indicted or convicted, but not when a defendant prevails, undermines its stated mission to disseminate “current, complete and accurate” information, and has negative real-world ramifications, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • Series

    Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Needs Regulating To Meet Ethics Standards

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    Third-party litigation funding can provide litigants with access to the legal system, but, as recent cases show, the funding agreements carry the potential for exploitation and may conflict with core aspects of the attorney-client relationship, making the need for a balanced regulation self-evident, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

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