Legal Ethics

  • May 23, 2024

    Trump Loses 2 NY Criminal Appeals As Trial Winds Down

    Former President Donald Trump on Thursday lost a pair of appellate challenges complaining that both the judge and jury in his ongoing New York criminal hush-money trial are biased, just a few days before closing statements in the historic case.

  • May 23, 2024

    Legal Marketer, Ark. Firm Agree To End Trade Secrets Suit

    A legal marketing business has agreed to dismiss a Georgia federal lawsuit accusing an Arkansas law firm and others of stealing and profiting off its trade secrets, including a database of client leads for mass torts over talcum powder and heartburn medication.

  • May 23, 2024

    Trump Atty Nears Deal To End Colo. Discipline Case

    Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis and Colorado's attorney discipline office said Thursday that they were finalizing a settlement in a disciplinary case over Ellis' false statements about the presidential election in Georgia, though the disciplinary judge cautioned that he is prepared to rule if he does not like the deal.

  • May 23, 2024

    NC High Court Sees No DA Conflict In Cyberstalking Case

    North Carolina's highest court ruled Thursday that a county prosecutor was improperly disqualified from a criminal case in which the alleged victim is a county manager, reasoning that the scenario didn't meet conflict-of-interest parameters established by the court's decades-old precedent.

  • May 23, 2024

    NC Justices Scrap Defamation Suit Against Holtzman Vogel

    Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC is immune from defamation claims stemming from election protests the law firm helped file in 2016, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Thursday, rejecting what the justices characterized as a "baseless attempt" by voters to "constrict the absolute privilege's protections."

  • May 23, 2024

    Menendez Says Feds Can't Wield Texts About Egyptian Aid

    U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez told a federal court that the government can't support its corruption case with text messages involving military aid to Egypt and a local businessman accused of bribing the senator, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent excluding past legislative acts as admissible evidence.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ex-Judge Pushed False Narrative On Atty Romance, Firm Says

    U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones of Texas, who resigned last year after his secret relationship with a Jackson Walker LLP partner was revealed, attempted to head off rumors about the relationship by asking the firm to file a false, partial disclosure in 2022, the firm alleged.

  • May 23, 2024

    No Prison Time For Ex-State's Atty Mosby, Judge Rules

    Former Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby avoided prison time on Thursday after she was convicted of lying to make early withdrawals from her city retirement account and on a mortgage application for a Florida vacation home.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ga. Fights Disbarred Atty's Reinstatement Bid At 11th Circ.

    Georgia's bar admissions office urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to reject a disbarred Georgia attorney's attempt to regain her law license, arguing that she asserted a hypothetical injury because she didn't have an application to the state's bar at the time she filed the operative complaint.

  • May 23, 2024

    Houston Law Firm Wants To DQ Creditors' Counsel In Ch. 11

    Troubled MMA Law Firm PLLC is seeking to stop another firm from representing its bankruptcy creditors, arguing that MMA's principal had previously spoken with the other firm as a prospective client and had shared confidential information that now could be used against his firm.

  • May 23, 2024

    BakerHostetler Faces Suit Over Murdaugh Case Work

    BakerHostetler and one of its attorneys have been slammed with a lawsuit alleging they instructed an investigative agency to withhold information on the family of Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina attorney serving a life sentence for killing his wife and son, and then refused to pay the agency its related expenses.

  • May 23, 2024

    DC Judge Bars Giuliani From Defaming Ga. Poll Workers

    A D.C. federal judge has entered an injunction barring Rudy Giuliani from repeating lies that two Georgia poll workers meddled with the 2020 presidential election, resolving a second lawsuit the election workers launched after securing a $146 million judgment against the former New York City mayor.

  • May 23, 2024

    J&J Loses Expedited Bid For Beasley Allen Docs In Talc MDL

    Johnson & Johnson has lost its bid in New Jersey federal court to have the Beasley Allen Law Firm quickly produce documents related to what J&J said seems to be an "intentional effort" by the firm to "bias the vote" against a proposed $6.5 billion reorganization plan for its talc subsidiary.

  • May 23, 2024

    Stryker Unit And Seyfarth Attys Hit With $275K Sanctions

    A Colorado federal judge has imposed $275,000 in sanctions jointly and severally on Stryker-owned Howmedica Osteonics Corp., along with Seyfarth Shaw LLP, for witness coaching and discovery violations in a bitter breach-of-contract dispute, amounting to roughly one-eighth of what plaintiff ORP Surgical LLC had sought.

  • May 23, 2024

    Alex Jones Atty Escapes Suspension, For Now

    The Connecticut Appellate Court on Thursday threw out the six-month suspension of Norm Pattis, the lead attorney in Infowars host Alex Jones' Sandy Hook Elementary School defamation trial, ordering new proceedings against the attorney for supervising the transmission of the victims' confidential records to other Jones lawyers.

  • May 22, 2024

    Stubhub, Attys Beat Sanctions Bid For Lost Hyperlinked Docs

    A California federal magistrate judge on Monday rejected a request for sanctions against StubHub and its counsel over problems finding hyperlinked documents in a case brought by consumers seeking refunds for events that were canceled or rescheduled due to COVID-19, saying the court's order requiring their production was "in most cases impossible to comply with."

  • May 22, 2024

    Pryor Cashman Atty Accused Of 'Brazen' Hose Patent Fraud

    An attorney for Pryor Cashman LLP and his client were accused Wednesday in Florida federal court of engaging in a "brazen" scheme to usurp a hose company's rights to a patent portfolio while also defrauding the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • May 22, 2024

    'Appeal To Heaven' Flag Flew At Alito's Vacation Home: Report

    Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday called for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to immediately recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and face censure after The New York Times reported that flags tied to Donald Trump supporters had flown outside two homes owned by the justice in 2021 and again last year.

  • May 22, 2024

    Michael Best Accused Of Malpractice In Startup's Restructure

    Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, one of its partners and one of its former attorneys are accused of mishandling a technology startup's reorganization, jeopardizing tax benefits for its founders, according to a legal malpractice lawsuit filed in Illinois state court.

  • May 22, 2024

    Feds To Extend Plea Offer To Oath Keepers Atty In Jan. 6 Case

    Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they plan to extend a plea offer to an attorney for the far-right Oath Keepers group charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, but the specifics of the offer could depend on the U.S. Supreme Court's stance on a federal statute often used to prosecute alleged Capitol rioters.

  • May 22, 2024

    Inventor To Take $102M IP Malpractice Row To Ga. High Court

    A neurosurgeon pursuing a nearly $102 million legal malpractice case against FisherBroyles LLP and a legal services contractor over a missed patent filing deadline said Wednesday that he is planning to take the dispute to the highest court in the Peach State.

  • May 22, 2024

    Mich. Judge Not Satisfied By Atty's Letter Over Flint PR Stunt

    The federal judge overseeing Flint, Michigan, water crisis cases isn't satisfied with a California attorney's letter denying involvement in an alleged smear campaign targeting a lawyer for Flint children, saying Wednesday that if the attorney doesn't provide more substantive information, she will be referred to the State Bar of California.

  • May 22, 2024

    Ex-Mich. Judge Loses Law License Challenge

    A former Detroit trial court judge's failure to object to a magistrate judge's recommendation to toss her claims means she cannot continue to pursue a discrimination and defamation complaint against the state's judicial disciplinary board, a federal judge in Michigan ruled Wednesday.

  • May 22, 2024

    New Bill Calls For High Court To Explain Emergency Rulings

    A coalition of Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to provide vote tallies and explanations for decisions in most cases on its elusive emergency docket.

  • May 22, 2024

    Ill. Judge Hands Over Case As Cautious Step Amid DQ Bid

    An Illinois federal judge overseeing an Illinois tax attorney's witness tampering case — who previously presided over his fraud trial that ended in a mistrial — recused herself from a retrial "in an abundance of caution," but rejected the attorney's claims that she recommended to the government to add the tampering charge.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year

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    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.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    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.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    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.

  • For Now, Generative AI Is Risky For Class Action Counsel

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    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.

  • When Your Client Insists On Testifying In A Criminal Case

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    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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