Legal Ethics

  • May 20, 2026

    Ex-DOJ Atty Stole Trump Classified Docs Report, Feds Say

    A former Florida federal prosecutor on Wednesday pled not guilty to stealing government property after the U.S. Department of Justice alleged she emailed herself confidential documents from former special counsel Jack Smith's report over President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

  • May 20, 2026

    Hagens Berman Says Apple Smear Job Can't Stop Withdrawal

    Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP urged a California federal judge to allow one of its named plaintiffs to withdraw from an Apple iCloud antitrust case, saying Apple Inc.'s filed opposition is rife with "misdirection and ad hominem" attacks and not about the merits of the dispute but "smearing opposing counsel."

  • May 20, 2026

    LA Judge Who Told Juror To 'Learn English' Gets Disciplined

    A judicial ethics panel has admonished a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge over her comments to two prospective jurors that they should "learn English" and that they're "not doing anything in our society," finding the remarks amounted to misconduct that undermined public confidence in the judicial system's integrity and impartiality.

  • May 20, 2026

    Atty Withdrawals Not Limited To Fee Conflicts, ABA Says

    Lawyers whose clients fail to hold up their end of valid engagement agreements are clear to cease their representation, so long as certain criteria are met, according to the American Bar Association's ethics committee's latest guidance, published Wednesday.

  • May 20, 2026

    2 Fla. County Courts Requiring AI Disclosure In Court Filings

    Two Florida circuit courts in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are requiring attorneys and self-represented litigants to disclose when they use generative text tools to prepare their court filings and to certify they checked the generated content for accuracy.

  • May 20, 2026

    Watchdog Targets Convicted Ex-Legislator's Law License

    An attorney and onetime Connecticut lawmaker should be temporarily suspended after a criminal conviction for receiving campaign funds during a law firm party and further disciplined for charging an immigration client a $30,000 flat fee, some of which he called his firm's "pocket money," state ethics authorities have said.

  • May 20, 2026

    Atlanta Law Firm Beats Attempt To Revive RE Malpractice Suit

    The Georgia Court of Appeals rejected an attempt to revive a malpractice suit filed against an Atlanta-based law firm for allegedly shoddy work on a title search in connection with a real estate property purchase, saying Wednesday the suit came too late.

  • May 20, 2026

    OpenAI Says ChatGPT Misuse Is Users' Responsibility

    OpenAI has asked a federal judge in Chicago to end an insurance company's suit alleging it practices law without a license, arguing the complaint should be directed toward individuals who misuse the company's ChatGPT bot to file faulty motions, and not the generative AI platform itself.

  • May 20, 2026

    Former Judge, NJ Judiciary Settle Pension Denial Fight

    A former New Jersey judge and the state judiciary have reached a settlement in her suit over the denial of her disability pension, according to a letter filed in state court.

  • May 19, 2026

    VLSI Tells Fed. Circ. To Allow Whistleblower Report After FOIA

    VLSI Technology LLC urged the Federal Circuit Tuesday to unseal at least part of an anonymous whistleblower report that allegedly shows a connection between Intel Corp. and Patent Quality Assurance LLC, now that a copy has become public though the Freedom of Information Act.

  • May 19, 2026

    Quinn Emanuel Owes More Sanctions In Guardant Fight

    Quinn Emanuel and its team representing medical testing company Natera will shoulder further sanctions on top of the $3 million already imposed over the firm's misrepresentations concerning an expert witness in Guardant Health's false advertising case, a California federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • May 19, 2026

    Colo. Co. Seeks More Boeing Discovery In NASA IP Fight

    A Colorado aerospace company claimed The Boeing Co. has failed to disclose numerous witnesses and records through discovery in the company's lawsuit accusing Boeing of stealing its patented technology to use on NASA's Artemis moon exploration program, according to a motion to compel filed in Washington federal court Monday.

  • May 19, 2026

    2nd Circ. Nixes $900M Suit Against Boies Schiller, Dentons

    The Second Circuit Tuesday refused to revive a racketeering lawsuit seeking up to $900 million in damages from Dentons and Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, in which the BigLaw firms were accused of misleading a former client in relation to a deal, and later arbitration, involving Senegal's state-owned energy company.

  • May 19, 2026

    Mich. Judge Orders Discovery In Ex-Public Defender Bias Suit

    A former public defender was ordered Tuesday to provide complete discovery responses in her discrimination and retaliation suit against two district judges and administrators after a Michigan federal judge found she failed to show the requests were improper and cast doubt on her claim that she had already mailed the materials.

  • May 19, 2026

    11th Circ. Says Two-Dismissal Rule Sinks Boat Insurer's Claim

    An Eleventh Circuit panel on Tuesday said an insurer cannot file its action seeking to avoid coverage for a boat fire a third time, determining that its two previous voluntary dismissals barred any further litigation, even if the first dismissal was by mutual agreement.

  • May 19, 2026

    $1.8B IRS Deal Fund 'Not Slush Fund,' Blanche Tells Senators

    Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche argued before a Senate committee on Tuesday that the nearly $1.8 billion settlement fund announced on Monday as part of the president's settlement with the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax documents "is not a slush fund."

  • May 19, 2026

    Ex-Kline & Specter Atty Ordered To Pay Firm $100K

    A Pennsylvania state court judge has ordered injury attorney Thomas Bosworth to pay his former firm Kline & Specter $100,000 as part of a modified settlement resolving the parties' contentious legal battle that included dueling defamation claims.

  • May 19, 2026

    Georgia Atty's Sixth Ethics Case Ends In Disbarment

    The Georgia Supreme Court disbarred an attorney after finding Tuesday that the punishment was appropriate because he lied to the State Bar of Georgia in his sixth disciplinary case and participated in a scheme where 14 victims sent the attorney a total of $655,000.

  • May 19, 2026

    Pullman & Comley Beats Malpractice Claims In $16M Loan Suit

    A Connecticut state judge has relieved Pullman & Comley LLC of malpractice, negligence, gross negligence, recklessness and fiduciary duty claims in a lender's lawsuit surrounding an allegedly unauthorized $16.2 million loan, ruling that the lender was not the law firm's client and, therefore, did not have standing to bring the claims.

  • May 19, 2026

    Non-Clients Say Katten Attys' 'Double-Cross' Bars Immunity

    Two onetime Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP attorneys accused of violating a joint defense agreement in a federal criminal healthcare fraud investigation should not be able to avail themselves of a Texas attorney immunity doctrine, according to two co-defendants who allege they were offered as "sacrificial lambs" in a "double-cross that would make good fiction."

  • May 19, 2026

    Del. Judge Pushes Firms To Back Up 2nd Bid To DQ Her

    A Delaware vice chancellor has told Friedlander & Gorris PA and two other firms to provide more information in their second bid to disqualify her from presiding over Chancery Court litigation because she previously was an attorney at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

  • May 19, 2026

    Ga. Atty Disbarred For Withholding Settlement Funds

    A Georgia personal injury lawyer who failed to distribute settlement funds and lied to the state bar about it was disbarred Tuesday by the state's high court.

  • May 19, 2026

    Brother May Pay Ex-BigLaw Atty's Legal Fees In Insider Case

    A former BigLaw associate charged with orchestrating a sweeping insider trading scheme can have his legal expenses covered by his co-defendant brother if the two waive potential conflicts, a Massachusetts federal magistrate judge said Tuesday.

  • May 19, 2026

    Realty Firm, Dispensary Say Other Shop Abusing RICO Claims

    A realty firm, a dispensary and its owner are urging an Illinois federal court to toss racketeering claims from another dispensary alleging they helped plan an illegal "raid," saying the complaint is abusing the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act process and fails to meet any of its pleading requirements.

  • May 19, 2026

    Aspiring Georgia Justices Take Ethics Case To High Court

    A pair of plaintiffs attorneys running to unseat Republican-appointed justices on the Georgia Supreme Court asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate an Eleventh Circuit ruling that allowed Georgia's judicial watchdog to issue public statements about ethics violations they are accused of committing.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Teaching Logic Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Teaching middle and high school students the skills to untangle complicated arguments and identify faulty reasoning has made me reacquaint myself with the defined structure of thought, reminding me why logic should remain foundational in the practice of law, says Tom Barrow at Woods Rogers.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Resilience

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    Resilience is a skill acquired through daily practices that focus on learning from missteps, recovering quickly without internalizing defeat and moving forward with intention, says Nicholas Meza at Quarles & Brady.

  • NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

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    Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Dispatches From Utah's Newest Court

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    While a robust body of law hasn't yet developed since the Utah Business and Chancery Court's founding in October 2024, the number of cases filed there has recently picked up, and its existence illustrates Utah's desire to be top of mind for businesses across the country, says Evan Strassberg at Michael Best.

  • 4 Quick Emotional Resets For Lawyers With Conflict Fatigue

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    Though the emotional wear and tear of legal work can trap attorneys in conflict fatigue — leaving them unable to shake off tense interactions or return to a calm baseline — simple therapeutic techniques for resetting the nervous system can help break the cycle, says Chantel Cohen at CWC Coaching & Therapy.

  • Series

    Playing Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    An instinct to turn pain into purpose meant frequent trips to the tennis court, where learning to move ahead one point at a time was a lesson that also applied to the steep learning curve of patent prosecution law, says Daniel Henry at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Judicial Use Informs Guardrails

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    U.S. Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell at the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado discusses why having a sense of how generative AI tools behave, where they add value, where they introduce risk and how they are reshaping the practice of law is key for today's judges.

  • Presidential Pardon Brokering Can Create Risks For Attys

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    The emergence of an apparent “pardon shopping” marketplace, in which attorneys treat presidential pardons as a market product, may invite investigative scrutiny of counsel and potential criminal charges grounded in bribery, wire fraud and other statutes, says David Klasing at The Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: 5 Tips From Ex-SEC Unit Chief

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    My move to private practice has reaffirmed my belief in the value of adaptability, collaboration and strategic thinking — qualities that are essential not only for successful client outcomes, but also for sustained professional satisfaction, says Dabney O’Riordan at Fried Frank.

  • Prisoners' Access To Health Info Should Have No Bars

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    To safeguard against unnecessary deaths in custody, courts and policymakers should clarify that incarcerated individuals’ constitutional right to medical care also includes access to sufficient information about their medical conditions, lifting current restrictions that can lead to crucial information being withheld, says Jaehyun Oh at Jacob Fuchsberg Law.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: How To Start A Law Firm

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    Launching and sustaining a law firm requires skills most law schools don't teach, but every lawyer should understand a few core principles that can make the leap calculated rather than reckless, says Sam Katz at Athlaw.

  • Series

    Hosting Exchange Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Opening my home to foreign exchange students makes me a better lawyer not just because prioritizing visiting high schoolers forces me to hone my organization and time management skills but also because sharing the study-abroad experience with newcomers and locals reconnects me to my community, says Alison Lippa at Nicolaides Fink.

  • How A 1947 Tugboat Ruling May Shape Work Product In AI Era

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    Rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence test work-product principles first articulated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s nearly 80-year-old Hickman v. Taylor decision, as courts and ethics bodies confront whether disclosure of attorneys’ AI prompts and outputs would reveal their thought processes, say Larry Silver and Sasha Burton at Langsam Stevens.

  • Navigating Privilege Law Patchwork In Dual-Purpose Comms

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    Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to resolve a circuit split in In re: Grand Jury, federal courts remain split as to when attorney-client privilege applies to dual-purpose legal and business communications, and understanding the fragmented landscape is essential for managing risks, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Considerations In Building Guardrails For AI Use In Arbitration

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    A recent California federal court case involving allegations of artificial intelligence ghostwriting an arbitration award, prior analogous practice on tribunal delegation, and emerging generative AI recommendations all support building a forward-looking framework for arbitration rules to minimize the risk of AI-based challenges, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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