Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Legal Ethics
-
April 19, 2024
Sills Cummis Aims To Sink Atty Depo In Rock Musician Suit
Sills Cummis & Gross PC fought back against a move to force the deposition of one of its partners in a malpractice suit this week, arguing the plaintiff, the former manager of musician Nile Rodgers, has "manufactured" the dispute by refusing to hold up his end of a deal to be deposed first.
-
April 19, 2024
Atty In Tax Fraud Case Gets Supervised Release, $25K Fine
A former Houston lawyer whose conviction in connection with an $18 million tax scheme was overturned told a federal judge Friday that not testifying in his 2019 trial was "one of the worst mistakes" of his life as he was sentenced to a year of supervised release as part of a plea deal.
-
April 19, 2024
Antitrust Case Judge Reveals Husband's Ties With Apple
A New Jersey federal magistrate judge assigned to the U.S. Department of Justice's recent iPhone antitrust case disclosed on Friday that her husband has ties to Apple, but told the parties she does not believe she needs to recuse herself.
-
April 19, 2024
Hedge Fund Founder Fights Bid For Seward & Kissel Call Logs
The billionaire founder of hedge fund Two Sigma Investments LP told a New Jersey state court it should quash a subpoena his wife served on his phone provider for records of his calls to attorneys at Seward & Kissel LLP in the wife's suit accusing the firm of helping cheat her out of marital assets when she filed for divorce.
-
April 19, 2024
Cohen Seglias Suit Says DOD Must Unblock Its Web Domain
Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC has sued a communications arm of the Department of Defense over claims a government software system mistakenly flagged the firm's web domain as malware, asking the agency to clear a "bureaucratic quagmire" and lift the block keeping DOD officials from contacting its lawyers.
-
April 19, 2024
Self-Immolation Near Trump Trial Prompts Security Review
The New York Police Department is reviewing security protocols for former President Donald Trump's first criminal trial after a fatal incident in which a man set himself on fire across the street from the Manhattan courthouse where the proceeding was taking place Friday, underscoring safety concerns.
-
April 19, 2024
Ex-Pharma Exec Says Judge 'Coercive' In SEC Contempt Case
A former pharmaceutical executive facing criminal contempt charges for using an alias to flout a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ban says a Massachusetts federal judge was "coercive" in suggesting he might avoid prosecution if he cooperated with the agency.
-
April 18, 2024
Ex-BigLaw Atty Can Stay Free During OneCoin Fraud Appeal
A Manhattan federal judge Thursday granted a former Locke Lord LLP partner's motion for bail pending appeal of his 10-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of laundering around $400 million in proceeds from the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, saying he does not pose a flight risk given his medical conditions.
-
April 18, 2024
SEC Faces $1.8M Atty Fee Bid After Sanctions In Crypto Case
A court-appointed receiver and defendants in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case against crypto project Debt Box requested Wednesday that the regulator pay roughly $1.8 million in sanctions to cover the fees incurred by an allegedly ill-gotten temporary restraining order and receivership.
-
April 18, 2024
State Sen. Tells Ga. Judge It's 'Fact' He Was 2020 Elector
Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still, who was indicted alongside former President Donald Trump and over a dozen others last August, urged the judge overseeing the state's election interference case to accept as fact that he was an "elected and qualified" Republican presidential elector from Georgia during the 2020 presidential election.
-
April 18, 2024
Dunn Can't Nix Fiduciary Breach Charge As Ethics Trial Wraps
A California state bar judge denied Joseph Dunn's bid at the close of his disciplinary trial Thursday to toss a fiduciary breach charge, rejecting the former state bar executive director's argument that no evidence had been introduced to support the allegation.
-
April 18, 2024
Perkins Coie 'Beating A Dead Horse' To Duck Case, Judge Says
An Illinois judge on Thursday refused to reconsider his decision to let an investment company move ahead with its lawsuit accusing Perkins Coie of helping the company's former investment manager steal $12 million and opted not to certify questions raised by the firm about his reasoning to the Illinois Supreme Court.
-
April 18, 2024
Fed. Circ. Maintains Newman Can't Invalidate Disability Law
Suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman has still not proven that the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act has no constitutional uses and should therefore be invalidated, the Federal Circuit's judicial council told a D.C. federal judge Thursday.
-
April 18, 2024
Trump Again Seeks Delay In Fla., Says Attys Tied Up In NY
Counsel for Donald Trump in the ex-president's federal classified documents case in Florida again asked on Thursday to extend disclosure deadlines, contending that their client would be prejudiced without more time while some of them defend Trump in his hush money case in New York.
-
April 18, 2024
Tully Rinckey Fights Suspension Bid In Atty Contract Dust-Up
An attorney for Tully Rinckey PLLC's two founders told a D.C. legal ethics board on Thursday that a proposal to suspend his clients over restrictions the firm placed on departing lawyers was "a totally disproportionate response" to the allegations against them.
-
April 18, 2024
Dems Propose Inspector General For High Court, Judiciary
Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would create an inspector general's office for the judicial branch to investigate and report on allegations of misconduct lodged against U.S. Supreme Court justices, as well as judges throughout the federal judiciary.
-
April 18, 2024
Ousted Clerk Was A 'Loose Cannon,' NC Justices Told
An attorney who started proceedings that led to the ouster of former Franklin County Clerk of Court Patricia Chastain urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to keep her out of office, arguing that she undermined judicial authority through a series of incidents, including a "vulgar" accidental call to a magistrate judge.
-
April 18, 2024
Feds Fight George Santos' 'Meritless' Brady Violation Claims
Federal prosecutors are urging the Eastern District of New York to deny former U.S. Rep. George Santos' motion for a one-month delay in filing deadlines over allegations that the government withheld evidence in its fraud and campaign finance suit against him, calling the Long Island Republican's request "pretextual and meritless."
-
April 18, 2024
9th Circ. Affirms Rosette's Win In Tribe Representation Fight
The Ninth Circuit has backed a federal district court ruling that found Rosette LLP is not responsible for using allegedly false advertising to induce the Quechan Tribe to drop Williams & Cochrane LLP as counsel on the verge of closing a lucrative gambling contract.
-
April 18, 2024
Atty Wants Law Firm Subpoenaed In $12M Somali Fraud Case
A Maryland attorney accused of misappropriating more than $12 million in Somali state assets has asked a federal judge to subpoena his former firm, Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker PA, to produce his employment records.
-
April 18, 2024
Ohio Ex-Atty Gets Prison For Bilking Real Estate Clients
A former real estate attorney has been sentenced to four to six years of prison on charges he used his title company to steal from clients, the Ohio attorney general's office said Thursday.
-
April 18, 2024
NJ Atty Fires Back At Litigation Funder's $18M Contract Claim
A Florida-based litigation funder that is waging an $18 million breach of contract suit against a New Jersey lawyer has been hit with a countersuit alleging the business reneged on an agreement to secure funding for nationwide personal injury cases.
-
April 18, 2024
7th Circ. Nom Heads To Senate Despite GOP Backlog Criticism
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced five judicial nominees Thursday, including U.S. District Judge Nancy L. Maldonado, a nominee for the Seventh Circuit, whom Republicans had questioned about a backlog of cases in her court.
-
April 18, 2024
Conn. Ethics Office Wants Atty Suspended For Defying Audits
The office that regulates Connecticut attorneys wants a lawyer with a decadelong history of failing to respond to grievances and information requests to be found in contempt and immediately suspended for failing to comply with a trust account audit.
-
April 18, 2024
Ex-BigLaw Atty Can't Get Stalking Injunction Against Influencer
A Florida state judge on Wednesday denied a former Greenberg Traurig LLP partner's request for a cyberstalking injunction against a social media influencer, saying the petitioner did not show enough evidence to justify it.
Expert Analysis
-
Without Stronger Due Diligence, Attys Risk AML Regulation
Amid increasing pressure to mitigate money laundering and terrorism financing risks in gatekeeper professions, the legal industry will need to clarify and strengthen existing client due diligence measures — or risk the federal regulation attorneys have long sought to avoid, says Jeremy Glicksman at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
-
Insureds' Notice Pleading May Be Insufficient In Federal Court
A recent New Jersey federal court ruling in Bauman v. Hanover Insurance held that bare-bones notice pleading was insufficient and dismissed the policyholder's coverage complaint, a reminder that courts may require more than an expression of general disagreement with an insurance company's denial letter to proceed with the case, says Eugene Killian at The Killian Firm.
-
Every Lawyer Can Act To Prevent Peer Suicide
Members of the legal industry can help prevent suicide among their colleagues, and better protect their own mental health, by learning the predictors and symptoms of depression among attorneys and knowing when and how to get practical aid to peers in crisis, says Joan Bibelhausen at Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.
-
Building On Successful Judicial Assignment Reform In Texas
Prompt action by the Judicial Conference could curtail judge shopping and improve the efficiency and procedural fairness of the federal courts by implementing random districtwide assignment of cases, which has recently proven successful in Texas patent litigation, says Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper.
-
Opinion
Ga. Needs To Resolve Cannabis Counsel Confusion
Georgia’s medical cannabis regulator finally adopted rules for low-THC oil last month, but a 2021 ethics ruling prohibits lawyers from advising participants in the state’s legal program and creates a confounding landscape that the state bar and courts must address, say Whitt Steineker and Mason Kruze at Bradley Arant.
-
Patent Litigants Should Be Vigilant After Rare Retrial Order
A California federal court's recent unusual order for a new trial for attorney misconduct in Pavemetrics v. Tetra Tech should remind patent litigants to be careful about arguments that frame an infringement case in a way that does not fairly reflect the dispute at hand, say Ranganath Sudarshan and Yuval Mor at Covington.
-
DOJ's Compensation Reforms Pit Cos. Against Their Execs
The U.S. Department of Justice’s new policy, incentivizing compliance-focused corporate compensation programs and prompt disclosures of misconduct, will complicate the relationship between companies and their executives, and create potential ethical conflicts for counsel, say Solomon Shinerock and Annika Conrad at Lewis Baach.
-
Do Videoconferences Establish Jurisdiction With Defendants?
What it means to have minimum contacts in a foreign jurisdiction is changing as people become more accustomed to meeting via video, and defendants’ participation in videoconferencing may be used as a sword or a shield in courts’ personal jurisdiction analysis, says Patrick Hickey at Moye White.
-
Opinion
Humanism Should Replace Formalism In The Courts
The worrying tendency for judges to say "it's just the law talking, not me" in American decision writing has coincided with an historic decline in respect for the courts, but this trend can be reversed if courts develop understandable legal standards and justify them in human terms, says Connecticut Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher.
-
3 Reasons Why Congress Should Stay Out Of NY Trump Probe
Congress members should reconsider their investigation of the Manhattan district attorney’s indictment of former President Donald Trump for several key reasons — and if they persist, future congressional leadership should adopt a rule prohibiting this kind of local interference, say Kenyen Brown and Kevin Carroll at Hughes Hubbard.
-
Don't Let Client Demands Erode Law Firm Autonomy
As clients increasingly impose requirements for attorney hiring and retention related to diversity and secondment, law firms must remember their ethical duties, as well as broader issues of lawyer development, culture and firm integrity, to maintain their independence while meaningfully responding to social changes, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.
-
Opinion
Federal Judge's Amici Invitation Is A Good Idea, With Caveats
An Arkansas federal judge’s recent order — inviting amicus briefs in every civil case before him — has merit, but its implementation may raise practical questions about the role of junior attorneys, economic considerations and other issues, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation.
-
Fox Ex-Producer Case Is A Lesson In Joint Representation
A former Fox News producer's allegations that the network's lawyers pressured her to give misleading testimony in Fox's defamation battle with Dominion Voting Systems should remind lawyers representing a nonparty witness that the rules of joint representation apply, says Jared Marx at HWG.
-
Opinion
Stanford Law Protest Highlights Rise Of Incivility In Discourse
The recent Stanford Law School incident, where students disrupted a speech by U.S. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, should be a reminder to teach law students how to be effective advocates without endangering physical and mental health, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada.
-
Dispute Prevention Strategies To Halt Strife Before It Starts
With geopolitical turbulence presenting increased risks of business disputes amid court backlogs and ballooning costs, companies should consider building mechanisms for dispute prevention into newly established partnerships to constructively resolve conflicts before they do costly damage, say Ellen Waldman and Allen Waxman at the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.