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Legal Ethics
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May 09, 2024
Houston Firm Can't Escape Litigation Funder's $2M Loan Suit
A Houston-based law firm doesn't have to turn over financial documents to a litigation funder that has alleged the firm failed to pay back a more than $2 million debt, but it does have to continue litigating the underlying matter, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.
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May 09, 2024
Denver Firm Gets $1.4M Fee For Elijah McClain Settlement
A Colorado appellate court Thursday partially reversed a lower court decision awarding roughly $3.1 million to a Denver firm for its work on behalf of Elijah McClain's family in connection with a $15 million federal litigation settlement, ruling that the firm is only entitled to about $1.4 million.
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May 09, 2024
Sens. Press Colleagues For Public Defender Funding
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., a former public defender, led a letter Thursday to Senate appropriators calling for the federal public defender program to receive its full funding request for the upcoming fiscal year.
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May 09, 2024
9th Circ. Says Judge Defied Order To Revive Opioid Case
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday again revived a nearly 7-year-old case against a California doctor for allegedly selling opioid prescriptions and ordered that the case be reassigned, saying the presiding judge had defied the plain language of a previous order to reinstate the indictment.
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May 09, 2024
Sen. Menendez's 2nd Bribery Trial: All You Need To Know
In the wake of a 2017 mistrial on bribery charges, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez reaffirmed his dedication to public service and vowed never to stop fighting for the people of New Jersey.
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May 09, 2024
Coverage Recap: Day 10 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 to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from day 10.
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May 09, 2024
NFL Player-Turned-Atty Can't Appeal After Contempt Deal
An appeal of a contempt-of-court order by NFL-player-turned-lawyer Walter Bernard is moot because the underlying dispute over unpaid rent has been settled and Bernard has been released from jail, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled.
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May 09, 2024
Mich. AG Charges Pro-Trump Atty With Election Tampering
A Michigan attorney is facing new criminal charges related to efforts to uncover fraud in the 2020 presidential election, as the state's attorney general accused her of handing over nonpublic voter data to an unauthorized person.
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May 09, 2024
Conn. Atty Denies Blame For News Story About Willkie Partner
A solo practitioner in Greenwich, Connecticut, denied blame on Thursday for having "concocted" an unflattering New York Post article that said a Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner and his wife were squatting in a Connecticut mansion during a heated legal battle with their landlord.
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May 09, 2024
Texas Court Urged To Keep Alive Judge Romance Suit
In a flurry of filings, a former shareholder in an engineering company has pushed a Texas federal court to reject bids to throw out his lawsuit over an ex-bankruptcy judge's secret relationship with a former Jackson Walker LLP attorney.
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May 09, 2024
Music Industry Vet's Son Fights Atty's Suit In Estate Spat
The son of music industry figure Solomon "Kal" Rudman has asked a New Jersey federal judge to toss a claim that he filed baseless counterclaims in state court against a South Florida attorney, arguing that the attorney's removal as an executor of Rudman's estate was not due to the son's counterclaims.
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May 09, 2024
Calif. Atty Wins Ruling To Pursue YouTube Defamation Suit
A California state appeals court has revived an Orange County attorney's defamation suit over comments made in a YouTube video regarding her father's affiliation with the Vietnamese Communist party.
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May 09, 2024
Philly Doctor Loses Bid To Restore $15M Bias Award
A Philadelphia federal judge on Thursday denied a former Thomas Jefferson University Hospital surgeon's request to reinstate a $15 million jury verdict against his onetime employer, reasoning that the judge would have reached the same conclusion as a previous judge who vacated the award before recusing himself from a new trial.
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May 09, 2024
Watchdog Seeks Texas Judge's Recusal In Noncompete Case
An industry watchdog is calling on U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker to step away from the U.S. Chamber's lawsuit in Texas federal court challenging the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's new noncompete rule, citing "ample financial conflicts" including his investments in Amazon, Apple and IBM, two of which are members of the Chamber.
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May 09, 2024
Ex-Pharma Exec Asks 1st Circ. To DQ Judge In Contempt Case
U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf cannot be impartial and must be disqualified from presiding over a criminal contempt trial against a former pharmaceutical executive accused of using an alias to flout a civil judgment, the defendant told the First Circuit in a Wednesday filing.
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May 08, 2024
Colo. Justice Doubts Auto-Reversal In 'Very Rare' Atty Conflict
Colorado's chief justice questioned Wednesday why a man should get to automatically reverse his sexual assault conviction because his lawyer was being simultaneously prosecuted by the same district attorney's office, a situation that the convicted man said is exceedingly rare.
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May 08, 2024
Wash. Justices Decline Personal Injury Atty's Fee Split Spat
Washington's high court has declined to hear a personal injury lawyer's challenge to his old firm's fee-splitting agreement, letting stand a state appellate court's ruling that the contract had "clear and unequivocal language" compelling him to pass on half the fees he earned from the firm's former clients after his departure.
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May 08, 2024
Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says
A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.
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May 08, 2024
Cannabis Law Firm Accused Of $5M Error In Pot Shop Deal
A cannabis retailer has sued Vicente LLP in Massachusetts state court, alleging the law firm negligently drafted an amendment to a purchase agreement that prevented the company from recovering nearly $5 million in damages when the deal fell through.
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May 08, 2024
NJ Court Reverses Order Piercing School Board Atty Privilege
A New Jersey appellate court has reversed trial court orders compelling a school district to produce communications with its attorneys in a discrimination and malicious prosecution suit brought by a former administrator, finding that she had not established any Sixth Amendment right at stake to necessitate piercing attorney-client privilege.
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May 08, 2024
ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs
It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.
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May 08, 2024
In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.
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May 08, 2024
Disbarred Mich. Atty Jailed For Stealing $140K From Client
A Michigan attorney will spend more time in prison than planned after failing to keep up his side of a plea agreement he made with the state attorney general when he admitted to stealing more than $140,000 from an elderly client.
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May 08, 2024
Hurricane Ads Suit Paused For Law Firm Amid Ch. 11 Case
In light of its recent bankruptcy filing, a Texas federal judge has paused class claims against a beleaguered Texas law firm accused of misconduct in soliciting clients in hurricane-related property damage cases, but the case remains active against a legal funding outfit and other defendants.
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May 08, 2024
Conn. Justices To Hear McCarter & English Damages Demand
The Connecticut Supreme Court has accepted a certified question from a federal district court judge in McCarter & English LLP's yearslong fee feud with a former client, agreeing to decide whether the firm can recover punitive damages after years chasing Jarrow Formulas Inc. and winning a jury verdict last year.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Litigation Funding Needs Regulating To Meet Ethics Standards
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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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
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.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
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.
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For Now, Generative AI Is Risky For Class Action Counsel
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.
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When Your Client Insists On Testifying In A Criminal Case
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.
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Why Preemption Args Wouldn't Stall Trump Hush-Money Case
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.
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Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
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.
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
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.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
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.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
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.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
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.