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Legal Ethics
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March 29, 2024
Northern Texas Judges Won't Adopt Judge-Shopping Rule
Judges with the Northern District of Texas have opted not to make any changes to how cases are assigned, despite a recent letter from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urging the district to implement an updated policy aiming to prevent litigants from judge shopping, the district's chief judge said Friday.
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March 29, 2024
UTA's Atty Hit With $125M Suit Over 'Pathological Liar' Remark
United Talent Agency's attorney has been accused of defaming MediaLink founder Michael Kassan by calling him a "pathological liar" in the press, according to a suit filed in Los Angeles County, the latest development in a fierce dispute that has seen UTA and Kassan accuse each other of fraud.
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March 29, 2024
Dem Cites 'Secret' Report Against Ticketmaster 'Rebates'
A major congressional critic of Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster highlighted an expert report from a long-running lawsuit as further proof of the ticketing juggernauts' "rampant, corrupt and abusive practices," although assertions that the report was secret and only newly unearthed may be overblown.
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March 29, 2024
Ala. Steel Mill Asks 11th Circ. To Undo $13M Default Judgment
An Alabama steel mill urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to reverse a misconduct-triggered default judgment that led to workers being awarded $13.1 million in a wage and hour suit they filed alleging the mill shorted hundreds of workers on hourly wages, overtime pay and bonuses.
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March 29, 2024
Winston & Strawn Looks To Settle Brief-Copying IP Suit
A Winston & Strawn LLP attorney on Friday told a Manhattan federal judge that the firm is angling to settle a copyright infringement suit that accuses its attorneys of copying a motion-to-dismiss filing by a boutique intellectual property firm "nearly verbatim," saying it isn't worth the cost to all involved.
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March 29, 2024
'Antiquated' Doctrine Can't Cut Burford Unit From Turkey Suit
An Illinois federal judge has refused to block a Burford Capital investment unit from pursuing price-fixing allegations in a consolidated case against major turkey producers, saying federal law largely no longer recognizes the "antiquated" doctrine the producers cited to invalidate the claim.
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March 29, 2024
Houston Firm Says Ex-Atty Lost Chance To Toss Poaching Suit
A Houston personal injury firm has told a state appeals court to keep in place an order denying an ex-associate's bid to toss its poaching lawsuit under the state's anti-SLAPP law, writing that its former employee waived dismissal rights when he removed the case to federal court.
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March 29, 2024
Attys Dodge Sanctions Over Microsoft Word Error, Judge Rules
An error in an attorney's Microsoft Word settings made sanctions against two firms for filing oversized briefs while representing High 5 Games in a consumer protection class action unnecessary, a Washington federal judge ruled Thursday.
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March 29, 2024
Up Next After Bankman-Fried Sentencing: FTX Cooperators
Now that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for an $11 billion fraud on the collapsed crypto exchange, it's time for the three top lieutenants who testified against him at trial to face their own judgments — and experts say the cooperators are well positioned to avoid jail time.
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March 29, 2024
Klehr Harrison Exits Athlete-Poaching Claims, Citing Conflict
Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg LLP has ended its representation of sports memorabilia brokers ensnared in two sports agencies' battle in Pennsylvania federal court over a contract with former Detroit Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay, citing concerns about an unspecified conflict of interest.
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March 29, 2024
Epiq Says Chubb Owes Costs In Clergy Abuse Data Leak Case
Epiq Corporate Restructuring LLC has sued Chubb-affiliated insurers in Connecticut federal court seeking to be reimbursed for $2.5 million in settlement costs and roughly $1.8 million for its defense of litigation over Epiq's disclosure of sex abuse survivors' names in a Chapter 11 case.
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March 29, 2024
NJ Law Firm Can Keep Benicar Malpractice Suit In Fed. Court
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has refused to remand to state court a proposed malpractice class action accusing Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman LLC attorneys of unfairly taking an excessive fee out of plaintiffs' settlements in multidistrict litigation over the blood pressure drug Benicar.
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March 29, 2024
Dominion Wants County Sanctioned In Voting Machine Row
Dominion Voting Systems Inc. wants a Pennsylvania county to pay its legal bills over allegedly rehashed claims that its voting machines had security issues in violation of the county's contract, since a federal court had already tossed those claims.
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March 29, 2024
Dentons Europe Says Houston Co. Owes $4.7M In Legal Fees
International law firm Dentons Europe CS LLP has accused a Houston-area company, self-described as a leader in kidnap and ransom resolution and crisis response, of failing to pay more than $4.7 million in legal fees in connection with the development of a port in Africa.
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March 29, 2024
Atty Called A Flight Risk In $1.3 Billion Tax Fraud Case
An attorney serving a 23-year prison sentence for tax fraud in a $1.3 billion conservation easement scheme is a flight risk and should remain in federal custody while he waits for his appeal, the government told a Georgia federal court Friday.
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March 28, 2024
Telecom Co. Wants Rival Sanctioned In Contract Row
Florida telecom Local Access LLC is again seeking sanctions against the Chicago-based rival it's suing over a contract dispute, claiming that Peerless Network destroyed records and refuses to turn over revenue information it's been seeking since 2017, even after a Florida federal judge directed the company to do so.
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March 28, 2024
Wells Fargo Sued Over Role In Texas Atty's Carbon Tech Scam
Wells Fargo and an advisory group including an attorney and accountant from California facilitated a yearslong Ponzi scheme that deceived investors to put money into a fraudulent gas industry carbon capture technology venture, according to a proposed class action filed in Texas federal court.
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March 28, 2024
Texas Judge Sanctions Atty For No-Showing At Hearing
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman sanctioned an attorney who didn't appear at a show cause hearing, saying Thursday the court has been inundated with smaller cases and if law firms want to remove cases to the Fort Worth division of the Northern District of Texas they need to follow local rules.
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March 28, 2024
Prolific Consumer Atty Beats Fireball Maker's Sanctions Bid
An Illinois federal judge has declined to sanction a prolific plaintiffs' attorney over alcoholic beverage company Sazerac Co. Inc.'s allegations the attorney sues without regard to the facts and law, saying the complaint "was not entirely baseless" and the suit was dropped within a "safe harbor" period under civil procedure rules.
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March 28, 2024
Feds Say Ex-OneCoin Atty Should Serve 'Substantial' Time
Manhattan federal prosecutors have requested a "substantial" amount of prison time for a Bulgarian woman who worked on the legal team at the fraudulent OneCoin cryptocurrency exchange, but said the sentence should fall below the guidelines range of 10 years.
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March 28, 2024
Texas Judge Lifts Discovery Stay On Google's Bidding Deals
A Texas federal judge agreed to lift a discovery stay in the Texas-led antitrust suit challenging Google's ad technology, allowing the 16 plaintiff states and Puerto Rico access to additional information about a network bidding agreement between Google and Facebook that they claim stymied competition in the digital advertising market.
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March 28, 2024
Fees Awarded For 'Feeble' Milk Vitamin Eligibility Argument
A Delaware federal judge has ordered ChromaDex Inc. and Dartmouth College to pay attorney fees to Elysium Health for making a "feeble" and failed argument defending their milk vitamin patents from an eligibility challenge, saying he's rarely been more confident that a suit was unreasonable.
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March 28, 2024
NC Atty Says Career Coaching Business Stiffed Him On Pay
A North Carolina lawyer said this week that he hasn't been paid for his work at a career coaching business in which he owns a minority stake after he discovered the company was bleeding funds and rife with mismanagement, according to an amended state business court complaint.
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March 28, 2024
Morgan Lewis Accused Of Age, Race Bias By Patent Specialist
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP gave preferential treatment to younger white co-workers of a Black patent prosecution specialist, including more overtime and better pay, according to a complaint filed Thursday in Washington, D.C., federal court.
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March 28, 2024
Pillsbury Ducks Malpractice Suit At 3rd Circ. Over Bankruptcy
A Third Circuit panel on Thursday shot down a bid from a group of hotel investors to sue Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP for malpractice, finding a Delaware bankruptcy court was right in denying the request sought months after a Chapter 11 plan had been finalized.
Expert Analysis
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Litigators Should Approach AI Tools With Caution
Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT hold potential to streamline various aspects of the litigation process, resulting in improved efficiency and outcomes, but should be carefully double-checked for confidentiality, plagiarism and accuracy concerns, say Zachary Foster and Melanie Kalmanson at Quarles & Brady.
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Crypto Coverage After FTX Fall: Accountant And Atty Liability
The recent fall of cryptocurrency firm FTX highlights complexities regarding accounting and tax reporting for digital assets, and reveals lawyers’ potential liability exposure when providing services to crypto firms — as a result, insurers may face unintended vulnerabilities related to this nebulous landscape, say Anjali Das and Farzana Ahmed at Wilson Elser.
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Thorny Legal Issues Surround NY Prosecutor's Trump Tell-All
As the Manhattan district attorney's office empanels a grand jury in its ongoing Donald Trump investigation, it is seeking to pause publication of a book by former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz that focuses on Trump's indictment — an unusual situation that raises issues of prejudice, contractual responsibility and legal ethics, says John Harris at Frankfurt Kurnit.
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5 Ways Attorneys Can Use Emotion In Client Pitches
Lawyers are skilled at using their high emotional intelligence to build rapport with clients, so when planning your next pitch, consider how you can create some emotional peaks, personal connections and moments of magic that might help you stick in prospective clients' minds and seal the deal, says consultant Diana Kander.
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5 Keys To A Productive Mediation
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Cortney Young at ADR Partners discusses factors that can help to foster success in mediation, including scheduling, preparation, managing client expectations and more.
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Evaluating The Legal Ethics Of A ChatGPT-Authored Motion
Aimee Furness and Sam Mallick at Haynes Boone asked ChatGPT to draft a motion to dismiss, and then scrutinized the resulting work product in light of attorneys' ethical and professional responsibility obligations.
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Jan. 6 Panel Transcripts Highlight Attorney Ethics Issues
Recently released transcripts of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to the U.S. House Jan. 6 committee demonstrate that there is always a lurking conflict when someone other than the client is paying the fee, and that disclosure must therefore be painstaking and extensive, says Steven Lubet at Northwestern University.
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7 Tips To Increase Your Law Firm's DEI Efforts In 2023
Law firms looking to advance their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts should consider implementing new practices and initiatives this year, including some that require nominal additional effort or expense, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Gina Rubel at Furia Rubel.
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Series
Keys To A 9-0 High Court Win: Get Back To Home Base
When I argued for the petitioner in Morgan v. Sundance before the U.S. Supreme Court last year, I made the idea of consistency the cornerstone of my case and built a road map for my argument to ensure I could always return to that home-base theme, says Karla Gilbride at Public Justice.
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Atty-Client Privilege Arguments Give Justices A Moving Target
Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case regarding the scope of the attorney-client privilege appeared to raise more questions about multipurpose counsel communications than they answered, as the parties presented shifting iterations of a predictable, easily applied test for evaluating the communications' purpose, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
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5 Gen X Characteristics That Can Boost Legal Leadership
As Generation X attorneys rise to fill top roles in law firms and corporations left by retiring baby boomers, they should embrace generational characteristics that will allow them to become better legal leaders, says Meredith Kahan at Whiteford Taylor.
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6 Questions For Boutique Firms Considering Mergers
To prepare for discussions with potential merger partners, boutique law firms should first consider the challenges they hope to address with a merger and the qualities they prioritize in possible partner firms, say Howard Cohl and Ron Nye at Major Lindsey.
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Del. Justices' Reversal Of Boardwalk Award May Apply Widely
The Delaware Supreme Court's recent Boardwalk Pipeline v. Bandera Master Fund decision that a general partner wasn't liable for willful misconduct is likely to have wide applicability for noncorporate entities, which courts are unlikely to view as entitled to more protection than Boardwalk's public unit holders, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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5 Tips For Adding Value To Legal Clients' Experience In 2023
Faced with a potential economic downturn this year, attorneys should look to strengthen client relationships now by focusing on key ways to improve the client experience, starting with a check-in call to discuss client needs and priorities for the coming year, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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6 Ways To Avoid Compounding Errors When Practicing Law
For lawyers and law firms, inevitable human error can lead to claims of malpractice or ethical violations, but the key is to avoid exacerbating mistakes by adding communication failures, conflicts of interest or insurance coverage losses, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.