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Legal Ethics
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May 14, 2024
Crystallex Special Master Fires Back Against Effort To DQ Him
The special master appointed to oversee the auction of Citgo's parent company to satisfy billions of dollars worth of Venezuelan debt bristled at the country's allegations that he improperly pressured the U.S. to change its sanctions policy to permit the sale to go through.
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May 14, 2024
Ga. Atty Disbarred For Trying To Steal $3M Settlement
The Georgia Supreme Court announced Tuesday that an Atlanta-area elder law and real estate attorney was disbarred because he conspired with online fraudsters to try to steal a $3 million settlement from an insurance company to its policyholder.
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May 14, 2024
Trump Attys Trying To Delay Paying Sanctions, Mich. Says
Michigan officials and the city of Detroit say former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and other attorneys should be penalized with another round of sanctions for apparently attempting to put off paying a hefty sanctions award imposed in a lawsuit challenging the state's 2020 presidential election results.
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May 14, 2024
Law Firm Must Face Ex-HR Manager's Pregnancy Bias Suit
A Florida federal judge refused Tuesday to allow a law firm to escape a former human resources manager's pregnancy discrimination suit, saying a jury should decide the dispute given the "peculiar" timing of her firing.
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May 14, 2024
Trump Can't Overturn Gag Order In NY Criminal Trial
A New York state appeals court on Tuesday denied Donald Trump's bid to overturn a gag order intended to stop him from criticizing witnesses and others involved in his ongoing criminal fraud trial.
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May 14, 2024
Firms Escape Malpractice Suit Over Chicken Plant Pollution
Baird Mandalas Brockstedt & Federico LLC and Schochor Staton Goldberg and Cardea PA have escaped a malpractice suit filed in Delaware Superior Court by parents who hired the firms to pursue claims alleging contamination from a Mountaire Corp. chicken plant caused "catastrophic injuries" to their child.
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May 14, 2024
Ex-Husch Blackwell, Dykema Atty Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion
A former Husch Blackwell LLP partner who helped launch Dykema Gossett PLLC's Milwaukee office two years ago has agreed to plead guilty in Wisconsin federal court to willfully evading paying income tax, which could land him in prison for over a year and will force him to pay almost $4 million in restitution to the IRS.
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May 14, 2024
NY Court System Immune To Spanish-Speaker's Bias Case
The New York Unified Court System can't be sued in federal court by a Spanish speaker whose limited English language skills allegedly barred him from a program that could have reduced a drug offense's severity, the New York federal court has ruled.
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May 14, 2024
Sullivan & Cromwell Seeks To Ax Claims Of Aiding FTX Fraud
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP wants a Florida federal court to dismiss a proposed class action alleging the firm knew about and helped facilitate the massive fraud by FTX, saying customers of the cryptocurrency exchange platform fail to claim anything beyond a "series of speculative allegations with no factual basis."
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May 14, 2024
Delays Justified Dismissing Malpractice Suit, Firms Tell NJ Panel
Two New Jersey law firms said a lower court got it right when it threw out malpractice claims against them due to the plaintiffs' failure to comply with discovery demands, arguing on Tuesday to a New Jersey state appeals court that the plaintiffs' delay in producing discovery and filing amended complaints was prejudicial.
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May 14, 2024
Legal Insurers See 'All-Time High' In Price Tag Of Claims
Some of the nation's largest legal insurance companies are reporting an unprecedented rise in "claim severity," according to survey data released Tuesday, with 11 of 13 insurers reporting paying claims in excess of $100 million in the past two years.
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May 14, 2024
Convicted Fraudster Says Exchanges With Atty Are Privileged
A convicted fraudster who had his sentence commuted by then-President Donald Trump — now charged with launching another scam shortly after leaving prison — is embroiled in a fight with New Jersey federal prosecutors over his attempt to assert attorney-client privilege for communications with an Israeli attorney who allegedly participated in the scheme.
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May 14, 2024
BigLaw Attys Fight Sanctions Over Alleged Judge Shopping
Attorneys from Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP, Cooley LLP, Lightfoot Franklin & White LLC and prominent LGBTQ rights organizations did not engage in judge shopping when walking away from cases challenging an Alabama law banning certain medical procedures for transgender youth, the lawyers have told an Alabama federal court.
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May 14, 2024
Ga. Justices Wary Of Gov't Listening To Atty-Client Calls
The Georgia Supreme Court seemed inclined during oral arguments Tuesday to find that a man convicted of assault had his Sixth Amendment rights violated because a detective and a prosecutor listened to his jailhouse phone calls with his attorney.
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May 14, 2024
Jackson Walker Wants Out Of Texas Judge Romance Suit
Law firm Jackson Walker told a Texas federal court it wants out of a lawsuit accusing it of harming a tug boat company whose case was pending before a bankruptcy judge engaged in a romantic relationship with a firm attorney.
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May 14, 2024
Judge Nixes In-House Atty's $7.5M Suit Against Client's Estate
A Connecticut federal judge has determined the $7.5 million vexatious litigation claims a onetime in-house counsel filed against the estate of a former client were served weeks too late, ending a nearly seven-year-old case.
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May 14, 2024
Coverage Recap: Day 13 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial
Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Tuesday, day 13 of the trial.
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May 14, 2024
Feds Say Bannon Must Start Prison Term After Losing Appeal
Prosecutors asked a District of Columbia federal judge Tuesday to order Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon to begin his four-month prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena, now that the D.C. Circuit has rejected his appeal.
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May 14, 2024
Insurer Files Another Suit Over Firm's Malpractice Coverage
After dropping a complaint in Washington federal court seeking a declaration that it does not have to indemnify Harris Sliwoski LLP for potential malpractice liability related to a $31 million judgment, Evanston Insurance Co. filed a similar action in New York on Tuesday.
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May 13, 2024
Tesla Threatened To Fire Holland & Knight, Law Prof Says
Tesla tried to bully a law professor out of filing an amicus brief in investors' suit over Elon Musk's $56 billion compensation plan, in part by threatening to fire the company's longtime outside counsel at Holland & Knight LLP if the professor submitted his brief, according to a filing Monday in Delaware.
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May 13, 2024
Challenger Says Ga. Justice Is 'Working The Refs'
Georgia Supreme Court candidate John Barrow accused his incumbent opponent on Monday of "working the refs" and capitalizing on the prospect that Barrow could face discipline for running on a platform that is stridently in favor of abortion rights in his bid for a seat on the state's highest court.
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May 13, 2024
Dunn Says Calif. Bar Shouldn't Have Brought Ethics Charges
Ousted California State Bar executive Joseph Dunn has moved to dismiss his ethics case over alleged lies regarding expenditures for a trip to Mongolia, arguing the charges should have never been brought as a prior investigation regarding the expenditures closed in 2014 and found no grounds to take disciplinary actions against him.
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May 13, 2024
50 Cent, GC Accused Of Federal Wiretap Violations
A liquor business consultant has told a New York state court that Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and the rapper's general counsel violated federal and New Jersey wiretap statutes, after the court dismissed an earlier counterclaim lodged under the Illinois Eavesdropping Act.
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May 13, 2024
Eletson Creditors Seek Over $1M Cut In Reed Smith Fees
Unsecured creditors of shipping company Eletson Holdings have asked a New York bankruptcy judge to cut more than $1 million from the fees being sought by Eletson counsel Reed Smith LLP, saying the firm overstaffed the case and wasted money on needless and meritless fights.
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May 13, 2024
NC Agency Atty Guilty Of Permitting 'Coercive' Custody Deals
The former attorney for a North Carolina county's social services department was convicted of obstruction of justice in connection with the agency forcing parents to sign "coercive" child custody agreements that put children into abusive homes and violated constitutional rights, Attorney General Josh Stein announced Monday.
Expert Analysis
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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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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.
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What Will Keep Legal Talent Professionals Up At Night In 2023
Hybrid work environments, high demand for lateral hires and a potential slowdown of the economy defined 2022 in the always-busy marketplace for legal talent, and as BigLaw looks at the year ahead, there are five major sources of concern for the teams charged with securing and retaining that talent, say advisers at Baretz+Brunelle.
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The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022
A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from the "great resignation" to potential expansion of attorney-client privilege.
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What 3 Legal Industry Trends From 2022 Mean For Next Year
Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey & Africa looks back on the year in legal recruiting, including practice areas that saw the most movement, which regions seemed most ripe for new office openings and who was promoted to partner, and makes some look-ahead predictions for 2023.
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Learning From This Year's Legal Industry Discrimination Suits
To limit the risk of lawsuits and make the workplace a more welcoming environment for female attorneys, it is important to reflect on lawyers' recent discrimination and sexual harassment claims against law firms and public employers, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.
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The Other Side Says Your Evidence Is A Deepfake. Now What?
Recent trials have shown that defendants are increasingly casting doubt on the reliability of video evidence by claiming it was altered by artificial intelligence, and litigants will need to incorporate certain best practices to approach the risk of deepfakes — even if there’s no credible basis for the opposing party’s accusation, say Matthew Ferraro and Brent Gurney at WilmerHale.
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Series
The Future Of Legal Ops: AI Has Important Role To Play
Though the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT has prompted some fears about negative impact on lawyers, artificial intelligence technology can be a powerful tool for legal operations professionals if used effectively to augment their work, say Justin Ben-Asher and Gwendolyn Renigar at Steptoe, and Elizabeth Matthews at TotalEnergies.