Legal Ethics

  • June 11, 2025

    Ga. PI Firm Says 'Distasteful' Practices Aren't Court's Concern

    An Atlanta personal injury firm called on the Georgia Court of Appeals Wednesday to squash a proposed class action accusing it of stealing clients from other lawyers through shady solicitation practices, arguing that whether its business model is ethical or not, it isn't grounds for litigation.

  • June 11, 2025

    Ex-Judges Urge High Court To Protect Right To Counsel

    A group of six high-profile retired judges urged the Supreme Court to protect criminal defendants' right to consult with counsel during overnight trial recesses, saying a current "patchwork" of practices in this area is bad for judges as well as defendants.

  • June 11, 2025

    DOJ Says Newsom Can't Ask Court To Halt Guard Deployment

    The Trump administration is telling a California federal judge its decision to federalize the National Guard is unreviewable in court, calling California Gov. Gavin Newsom's effort to stop the takeover "a crass political stunt" in a new filing Wednesday.

  • June 11, 2025

    11th Circ. OK's Probationer's Malicious Prosecution Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit said a man can continue with his suit against two Georgia probation officers accused of filing a false warrant application for his extradition back to the Peach State, affirming that the Fourth Amendment's protections are not limited to the officers' "narrow definition" of a criminal proceeding.

  • June 11, 2025

    DC Attys Say They Had Small Role In 2020 Mich. Election Suit

    A pair of Washington, D.C., attorneys on Wednesday urged a disciplinary panel to dismiss ethics claims against them, telling the panel that they had no control over the filing of a complaint challenging the 2020 presidential election results that was later found to be frivolous.

  • June 11, 2025

    DOJ Legal Policy Chief, Adviser On Judge Selections, Resigns

    Aaron Reitz, a top U.S. Department of Justice official who works on judicial nominations, announced Wednesday he's resigning after being confirmed for the role on March 26.

  • June 11, 2025

    Iraq Sanctioned After Ignoring Order In $120M Award Suit

    A D.C. federal judge Tuesday slapped the government of Iraq with a $15,000 per day fine for largely ignoring a discovery order in litigation launched by a Cypriot construction and engineering firm to enforce a confirmed $120 million arbitral award stemming from a massive port facility project.

  • June 11, 2025

    Queens Defenders Ex-Director Charged With Embezzling

    A former executive director of Queens Defenders and her husband are charged with embezzling $60,000 from the organization and spending it on personal expenses including rent for a penthouse apartment, luxury goods, vacations and teeth-whitening procedures, prosecutors say in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York federal court.

  • June 11, 2025

    Attys For Disney Streaming Customers Vie To Lead Settlement

    Days after announcing that they've reached a settlement with Disney, live TV streaming customers are looking to appoint Yavar Bathaee from Bathaee Dunne LLP to serve as the lead counsel in their proposed antitrust class action against the company over ESPN carriage agreement fees.

  • June 11, 2025

    Uber Says Fla. Firm, Drivers Staged Wrecks For Profit

    Uber told a Florida federal court Wednesday that at least five of its drivers faked accidents and colluded with healthcare providers and a Florida law firm to file sham litigation against the ride-hailing platform and its insurer, costing millions of dollars in legal defense and settlements.

  • June 11, 2025

    Houston Atty Says Rival's Client Files Aren't Trade Secrets

    A Houston attorney accused of stealing another lawyer's files in an attempt to recruit clients to file malpractice suits told a Texas appellate court that his rival "misrepresents facts to support his false narrative" that the information constituted trade secrets.

  • June 11, 2025

    Atty Wants 6th Circ. To Vacate Tenn. 'Gag Order' Rule Decision

    If the Sixth Circuit does not undo a decision that a Nashville attorney didn't have standing to challenge a since-rescinded Middle District of Tennessee rule concerning lawyers' "extrajudicial statements," it could "be all but impossible" for lawyers to challenge similar court rules in the future, the attorney said Wednesday.

  • June 11, 2025

    JC Penney Blasts Jackson Walker Bid To Escape Fee Dispute

    J.C. Penney has called on a Texas bankruptcy court to knock down Jackson Walker LLP's bid to escape a fee suit prompted by a yearslong secret romance between a former firm partner and a onetime bankruptcy judge, saying the firm's dismissal bid is "riddled with implausibility, excuse and contradiction."

  • June 11, 2025

    Trump Presses 2nd Circ. To Federalize Hush Money Appeal

    Counsel for President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged the Second Circuit to take over the appeal of his New York state hush money conviction post-trial, saying a federal judge in Manhattan wrongly denied removal, and the landscape has now changed in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark presidential immunity decision.

  • June 11, 2025

    Insurer Says Law Firm Mishandled Pesticide Exposure Suit

    An insurer is claiming it is owed at least $625,000 from a law firm hired to defend a poultry farm against a suit over toxic pesticide exposure, alleging in federal court that it was forced to settle the suit above policy limits due to the firm's negligence and malpractice.

  • June 11, 2025

    J&J's Beasley Allen DQ Bid Based On 'Innuendo,' Court Told

    A California couple ripped Johnson & Johnson's renewed bid to block two Beasley Allen Law Firm attorneys from representing them in their suit accusing the company of selling carcinogenic talc-based baby powder, arguing the company's opposition is based largely on "innuendo" rather than proof of misconduct by the lawyers.

  • June 10, 2025

    Judiciary Panel Advances New Rules On Amici, AI, Subpoenas

    The federal judiciary's top policy panel Tuesday propelled revamped rules regarding numerous hot legal topics, including artificial intelligence, "dark money" groups bankrolling amicus briefs and the subpoena powers of courts and defense counsel.

  • June 10, 2025

    Vertex Says Tax Software Rival Purposely Destroyed Evidence

    Tax compliance software company Vertex Inc. told a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday that Avalara intentionally destroyed and failed to preserve "key sources of electronically stored information crucially relevant" to Vertex's lawsuit accusing its rival of poaching workers to steal trade secrets.

  • June 10, 2025

    House Conservatives Push Senate To 'Rein In' Judges

    House conservatives are imploring their Senate counterparts to do more to "rein in" federal judges with the budget reconciliation package.

  • June 10, 2025

    GM To Drop 'Cockamamie' Fiat Foreign Account Claims

    A Michigan judge indicated Tuesday that he would let General Motors withdraw allegations that Fiat Chrysler held foreign bank accounts in a union bribery scheme suit, and said he'd leave the determination of whether the automaker should be sanctioned for not sharing its evidence supporting those claims for another day. 

  • June 10, 2025

    Wash. Justices Unsure About State Bar's Atty Suspension Bid

    The Washington Supreme Court seemed split Tuesday on a request from the state bar association to suspend an attorney for failing to cooperate with a misconduct investigation, with several justices flagging the "different story" shared by the respondent lawyer, who claims to have provided all requested information.

  • June 10, 2025

    Farella Braun Wins Partial Fee Award In FDIC Dispute

    A California federal judge has awarded Farella Braun & Martel LLP around $10,000 in attorney fees for the work its lawyers did for the bankrupt parent of Silicon Valley Bank, finding the receiver for the bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., failed to comply with discovery orders.

  • June 10, 2025

    Willkie Partner Wants To 'Chill' Media Contact, Conn. Atty Says

    A Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner and his wife are pursuing a federal lawsuit based on speculative allegations and trying to "chill" the First Amendment rights of a Connecticut attorney who represented their ex-landlord and leaked a story about them to the New York Post, the defendant is arguing in seeking judgment in his favor.

  • June 10, 2025

    3rd Circ. Upholds NFL Case Findings On Censured Atty

    The Third Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a Pennsylvania federal judge's ruling that an attorney representing former NFL players seeking concussion litigation settlement proceeds made "material misrepresentations and omissions" concerning medical records during the claims process, for which he was censured by the lower court.

  • June 10, 2025

    Clerk's Role Means Antitrust Judge Must Recuse, Court Told

    Pork producer defendants involved in a major pork price-fixing case continue to push for the recusal of a Minnesota federal judge because of his clerk's connections to plaintiff-side firms, arguing the plaintiffs are running from "indisputable facts."

Expert Analysis

  • Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On

    Author Photo

    Career prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice often pride themselves on their ability to remain apolitical in order to ensure consistency and keep the department’s mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.

  • California Supreme Court's Year In Review

    Author Photo

    Attorneys at Horvitz & Levy highlight notable decisions on major questions from the California Supreme Court's last term, including voter initiatives, hostile work environment and the economic loss rule.

  • What Lawyers Can Learn From High School AI Suit

    Author Photo

    A pending Massachusetts lawsuit regarding artificial intelligence use in an academic setting underscores the need for attorneys to educate themselves on AI technology and tools that affect their clients so they can advise on establishing clear expectations and limits around the permissible use of AI, say attorneys at Hinckley Allen.

  • Service Providers Must Mitigate 'Secondary Target' Risks

    Author Photo

    A lawsuit recently filed in an Illinois federal court against marketing agency Publicis over its work for opioid manufacturers highlights an uptick in litigation against professional service providers hired by clients that engaged in alleged misconduct — so potential targets of such suits should be sure to conduct proper risk analysis and mitigation, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Series

    Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.

  • Mitigating Defamation Liability Risks Of AI-Generated Content

    Author Photo

    Until Congress and the courts provide clear guidance about defamation liability stemming from generative artificial intelligence tools, companies should begin building controls to prevent the creation of defamatory content, says Michael Gerrity at Accenture.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • When Investigating An Adversary, Be Wary Of Forged Records

    Author Photo

    Warnings against the use of investigators who tout their ability to find an adversary’s private documents generally emphasize the risk of illegal activity and attorney discipline, but a string of recent cases shows an additional danger — investigators might be fabricating records altogether, says Brian Asher at Asher Research.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

    Author Photo

    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • Opinion

    Why States Should Adopt ABA's 'Duty To Inquire'

    Author Photo

    State bars should codify the American Bar Association's proposed rule on a lawyer's duty to scrutinize each representation as it provides guardrails for lawyers, supports self-regulation of the profession, and helps avert money laundering and other crimes, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

    Author Photo

    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • Trump Faces Uphill Battle If He Tries To Target Prosecutors

    Author Photo

    On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump promised to go after the state and federal prosecutors who had investigated and prosecuted him, but few criminal statutes would be applicable — to say nothing of the evidence required to substantiate any charges against prosecutors, says William Johnston at Bird Marella.

  • Series

    Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.

  • So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?

    Author Photo

    Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
    Author Photo

    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.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Legal Ethics archive.