Legal Ethics

  • April 18, 2025

    Ex-DOJ Atty Convicted In 1MDB Case Ordered Disbarred In NY

    A New York appellate court ordered Wednesday that a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney be disbarred due to his felony conviction as part of a sprawling, billion-dollar fraud scandal connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad and Fugees founder Pras Michél.

  • April 18, 2025

    WilmerHale, Feds Dispute Reach Of Trump Order Against Firm

    WilmerHale and the U.S. Department of Justice traded salvos in the BigLaw firm's challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting it, with the firm and the government offering "starkly different" versions of what's at stake in the dispute.

  • April 18, 2025

    Judge Nixes Feds' DQ Bid In Migrant Kids Legal Funding Case

    A California federal judge has denied the Trump administration's bid to remove her from a lawsuit challenging funding cuts that prevent attorneys from representing child migrants, ruling her employment at one of the plaintiffs nearly seven years ago doesn't undermine her impartiality.

  • April 18, 2025

    Texas Firm Says Couple Can't Double Dip On Damages

    The Morley Law Firm, now doing business as Zenith Law PC, told a Texas state court in Houston that a couple's $250,000 suit alleging the firm allowed an attorney without a law license to represent them in a case against the seller of their home is barred because they previously obtained a declaratory judgment against the seller.

  • April 18, 2025

    Atty DQ'd In NJ Cosmetics Biz Dispute Over Privileged Docs

    A New Jersey federal judge disqualified a Garden State attorney from representing a former executive of a South Korean cosmetics company in a contentious employment dispute with the business because the lawyer obtained privileged documents belonging to the company.

  • April 18, 2025

    11th Circ. Rejects Disbarred Ga. Atty's Reinstatement Bid

    A disbarred Georgia attorney lost her bid Friday to have the Eleventh Circuit revive her lawsuit alleging the Georgia Office of Bar Admissions violated her due process rights by refusing to reinstate her.

  • April 18, 2025

    Google Pushes For Sanctions In Location Tracking IP Fight

    Google wants a New York federal court to sanction a location tracking patent owner in litigation accusing the search engine giant of infringement, saying he either destroyed or failed to properly preserve key evidence.

  • April 18, 2025

    Buchanan Ingersoll Faces DQ Bid Over Former GC's Role

    Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC attorneys defending Amerilife should be disqualified for allegedly running "roughshod" over ethical rules by using a former general counsel of a retirement planning agency to gain an upper hand in a dispute in a Florida federal court, according to a bid to boot the firm from the case.

  • April 18, 2025

    Judiciary Faces Security Risks Amid Spending Freeze

    The federal judiciary is warning congressional appropriators that funding shortfalls could threaten courthouse security.

  • April 18, 2025

    Conn. Atty Convicted In Shooting Faces Suspension Bid

    A Connecticut court should suspend longtime Cramer & Anderson LLP partner Robert L. Fisher Jr. from the practice of law on an interim basis after his conviction on a manslaughter charge for shooting an attacker, the state's attorney discipline authority has said in a filing.

  • April 18, 2025

    NJ Law Prof Given Chance To Amend Tossed Free Speech Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge has declined a law professor's request to revive her free speech suit against Kean University over alleged controversial statements made in class, finding she failed to show errors in law in his dismissal, but left the door open for her to amend her complaint.

  • April 18, 2025

    4th Circ. Pauses Software TM Trial After Atty Held In Contempt

    The Fourth Circuit has pressed pause on an upcoming trademark trial between rival software companies while the defendant and its counsel at Womble Bond Dickinson appeal a contempt order over misrepresentations they allegedly made in a foreign tribunal.

  • April 18, 2025

    Dog The Bounty Hunter Can't Bag Podcasters For Defamation

    A Pennsylvania judge has dismissed a "sprawling behemoth" of a defamation case brought against two true crime podcasters by Dog the Bounty Hunter and the father of a missing Tennessee child whom the podcasters allegedly accused of being a pedophile, determining that the case was clearly a bid to muzzle participation in a topic of public interest.

  • April 17, 2025

    Fla. Legal Consultant Says La. Atty Stole Info, Started Own Biz

    A Florida company that advises small law firms on how to run successful businesses has sued a lawyer and former manager for allegedly stealing confidential information, saying he quit and ran off to Louisiana to start a competing business using trade secrets he learned at his previous job.

  • April 17, 2025

    Judge Grants Reduced Atty Award in Bowling Alley Chain Suit

    A Virginia federal judge trimmed just over $150,000 in attorney fees requested by a bowling alley chain after winning summary judgment in a suit against its former chief information officer, whom it accused of hacking into its computer system and CEO's email.

  • April 17, 2025

    K&L Gates Bungled Crypto Co.'s Bankruptcy Claim, Suit Says

    Gryphon Digital Mining has sued its former counsel K&L Gates LLP, claiming it dropped the ball on a bankruptcy filing that cost the company millions of dollars and complicated another legal case, all while allegedly overbilling the crypto mining firm by $1 million for related matters.

  • April 17, 2025

    Judge Accused Of Sexting, Misusing Bench For Ex-Client

    A Colorado state judge improperly used his position to help a former client with legal advice and exchanged sexually explicit texts with her while on the bench, according to a judicial disciplinary complaint that also alleged the judge failed to disclose their "prior sexting" when he later presided over her case.

  • April 17, 2025

    Firms Seek Fee Relief Over 'Grossly Unfair' Seresto MDL Snub

    Two New Jersey law firms say they were cut out of their fair share of $4.5 million in attorney fees, awarded as part of a $15 million settlement they helped secure against Bayer and others in a flea collar multidistrict litigation, asking an Illinois federal court to order lead counsel to open their wallets and share the reward.

  • April 17, 2025

    Man's Deportation Looms After Tax Evasion Plea Stands

    A Connecticut federal judge denied a man's attempt to vacate his guilty plea for tax evasion, despite accepting that his lawyers had misled him into believing that if he received no prison time he could avoid mandatory detention and likely deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

  • April 17, 2025

    Jenner & Block Fights DOJ Bid To Toss Exec Order Suit

    Jenner & Block LLP on Thursday urged a D.C. federal court to reject the government's bid to dismiss its lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the firm, saying the "legal profession as a whole is watching."

  • April 17, 2025

    Debt Firm's Successor, Ch. 11 Trustee End Latest Pay Dispute

    A law firm that bought thousands of client files left over from the collapse of bankrupt California-based debt relief business Litigation Practice Group PC has agreed to pay nearly $1 million to the bankruptcy estate to help settle a payment dispute that began months ago.

  • April 17, 2025

    Judge Refuses To Recuse Himself In Ga. Defamation Case

    A Georgia federal judge on Thursday refused to disqualify himself from presiding over a defamation case arising from a family dispute related to a tax preparation business, while also rejecting a bid to transfer the matter to a federal court in California.

  • April 17, 2025

    Calif. Judge To Resign Over Misconduct Amid Office Romance

    A California state judge will resign and be barred from serving on the bench after engaging in misconduct that included pretending to be the lawyer for his judicial secretary with whom he was having an affair, according to a Thursday decision.

  • April 17, 2025

    Ga. Judicial Watchdog To Weigh Cases Against Pair Of Judges

    Separate hearings have been set for a Georgia Superior Court judge accused of intervening in a legal matter on behalf of her uncle and locking a woman in a cell during her parents' divorce hearing, as well as a state probate judge accused of causing extensive case delays.

  • April 17, 2025

    'Latter-Day Machiavelli' Defamed Calif. Law Firm, Court Told

    California employment law firm Lawyers for Justice PC has filed a suit in state court accusing one of its former clients of defamation in what the firm calls "a scorched-earth crusade against her former attorneys."

Expert Analysis

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Ex-Chicago Politician's Case May Further Curb Fraud Theories

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Thompson v. U.S. to determine whether a statement that is misleading but not false still violates federal law, potentially heralding the court’s largest check yet on prosecutors’ expansive fraud theories, with significant implications for sentencing, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • Opinion

    Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits

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    With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.

  • How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program

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    During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.

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