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The Senate Finance Committee overwhelmingly approved Thursday the nominations of three judges for the U.S. Tax Court and a new inspector general for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, a post that has lacked a Senate-confirmed nominee for five years.
Indigent defendants requiring free criminal legal advice should have access to conflict-free counsel even over the weekends, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff in Manhattan said in a blistering Thursday opinion, citing a suboptimal sequence of events in a high-profile drug case.
A prosecutor from Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis' office wants a Georgia appellate court to nix an appeal that seeks to disqualify Willis from her election interference case against former President Donald Trump, claiming the appeal rests on flimsy evidence.
The California state bar has reported a "significant" increase in attorney-initiated complaints resulting from a new rule requiring lawyers in the state to report their peers' misconduct, but ethics attorneys say the spike is largely the result of anxious lawyers erring on the side of caution as they grapple with an unclear regulation.
A New Jersey federal judge will not step away from a construction accident coverage suit, ruling Liberty Mutual's recusal bid, which cited his failure to disclose his multiple policies with the insurer and a previous investigation over a missing jewelry claim, would potentially block hundreds of judges from presiding over similar cases.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose more private jet trips gifted by billionaire and Republican donor Harlan Crow, according to new information released Thursday by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday advanced the nomination of a Garden State Supreme Court-appointed special ethics master to the state court bench, as well as the reappointment of 14 sitting judges.
The Georgia Supreme Court said Wednesday that a defense lawyer for Atlanta rapper Young Thug doesn't have to head to jail Friday, ruling that he can appeal the criminal contempt charge lodged against him for refusing to divulge how he knew of a closed-door conversation between prosecutors, a witness and the judge presiding over the racketeering case.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted out unanimously on Thursday a bipartisan bill to create 66 new and temporary judgeships to alleviate the federal courts' workload.
Heavy rains that brought flash flooding to South Florida and prompted local leaders to declare states of emergency shut down courthouses throughout the area on Thursday because of concerns about safe access to flooded downtown areas.
A New York City man who was accused by city prosecutors of posing as an immigration attorney and fraudulently raking in legal fees pled guilty to a misdemeanor count of petit larceny and was sentenced to time served.
The U.S. Supreme Court made it tougher for the National Labor Relations Board to win injunctions against employers Thursday in a case involving Starbucks, directing courts to strictly apply a four-factor test when the board sues to stem alleged unfair labor practices.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday concluded "Trump Too Small" cannot be a registered trademark because it would violate a federal prohibition on using a living person's name without their consent, ruling against a California attorney who said using the phrase should be considered protected political speech.
A case that threatened to cut off access to a widely used abortion medication while disrupting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's authority over drugs and medical devices ended Thursday at the U.S. Supreme Court with a decision concerned solely with challengers' right to sue.
A former Colorado state judge told an attorney disciplinary panel Wednesday that a district attorney's push to interview the judge's ex-wife after he made adverse rulings for the prosecution in a high-profile murder case was prompted by a "baseless conspiracy theory" and harmful to judicial independence.
New Jersey U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger took the stand Wednesday in the bribery trial against onetime friend Sen. Robert Menendez, telling a New York federal jury he had to rebuff the senator's request for a "careful" look at a case against one of the men alleged to have bribed Menendez.
Several senior Democratic senators chided Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday for failing to take responsibility for or address the U.S. Supreme Court's ethics issues, vowing to continue fighting Republican opposition and to pass court reform legislation unless the chief justice makes improvements.
A Florida appeals court on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a petition to force Gov. Ron DeSantis to turn over information about the conservative advisers he consults to vet judicial nominees, but refused to affirm the lower court's conclusion that executive privilege shielded the governor from producing the documents.
A congressional committee on Wednesday began discussing whether to require more transparency of third-party litigation funding agreements to stem what lawmakers say are abusive patent lawsuits and national security concerns if hostile foreign governments meddle with cases anonymously.
The House voted 216-207 on Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for not turning over audio recordings of the president and his ghostwriter speaking with special counsel Robert Hur for his investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents.
An unsuccessful candidate for a Georgia Court of Appeals seat has launched a bid challenging the victory of a former state bar leader, arguing that he committed election fraud when he lied about living in Atlanta when he qualified as a candidate.
Senior U.S. District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber, who oversaw the criminal trials of R. Kelly and the "ComEd Four" during his four decades on the bench in Illinois, is remembered as a compassionate "favorite judge" whose tireless work ethic kept him active in the court until his death Tuesday.
An attorney for law scholar Alan Dershowitz told an Eleventh Circuit panel Wednesday the court should revive a $300 million defamation lawsuit against CNN, arguing that a jury should decide whether the news network is liable for intentionally omitting Dershowitz's statements in broadcasts over former President Donald Trump's 2020 impeachment trial.
An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday again denied a former attorney's bid for a new trial or pre-sentencing release after a jury convicted him of misappropriating a now-shuttered bank's embezzled funds, saying he should concentrate on his upcoming sentencing instead.
A Michigan attorney convicted of plotting to kill a wealthy client to gain access to his trust was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the opportunity for parole, and a judge said the lawyer viewed those around him as merely opportunities to profit.
Series
Ask A Mentor: How Do I Balance Social Activism With My Job?Corporate attorneys pursuing social justice causes outside of work should consider eight guidelines for finding equilibrium between their beliefs and their professional duties and reputation, say Diedrick Graham, Debra Friedman and Simeon Brier at Cozen O'Connor.
Mateusz Kulesza at McDonnell Boehnen looks at potential applications of personality testing based on machine learning techniques for law firms, and the implications this shift could have for lawyers, firms and judges, including how it could make the work of judges and other legal decision-makers much more difficult.
The future of lawyering is not about the wholesale replacement of attorneys by artificial intelligence, but as AI handles more of the routine legal work, the role of lawyers will evolve to be more strategic, requiring the development of competencies beyond traditional legal skills, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
Legal writers should strive to craft sentences in the active voice to promote brevity and avoid ambiguities that can spark litigation, but writing in the passive voice is sometimes appropriate — when it's a moral choice and not a grammatical failure, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law.
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Ask A Mentor: How Can I Help Associates Turn Down Work?Marina Portnova at Lowenstein Sandler discusses what partners can do to aid their associates in setting work-life boundaries, especially around after-hours assignment availability.
Although artificial intelligence-powered legal research is ushering in a new era of legal practice that augments human expertise with data-driven insights, it is not without challenges involving privacy, ethics and more, so legal professionals should take steps to ensure AI becomes a reliable partner rather than a source of disruption, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
With the increased usage of collaboration apps and generative artificial intelligence solutions, it's not only important for e-discovery teams to be able to account for hundreds of existing data types today, but they should also be able to add support for new data types quickly — even on the fly if needed, says Oliver Silva at Casepoint.
With many legal professionals starting to explore practical uses of generative artificial intelligence in areas such as research, discovery and legal document development, the fundamental principle of human oversight cannot be underscored enough for it to be successful, say Ty Dedmon at Bradley Arant and Paige Hunt at Lighthouse.
The legal profession is among the most hesitant to adopt ChatGPT because of its proclivity to provide false information as if it were true, but in a wide variety of situations, lawyers can still be aided by information that is only in the right ballpark, says Robert Plotkin at Blueshift IP.
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Ask A Mentor: How Can I Use Social Media Responsibly?Leah Kelman at Herrick Feinstein discusses the importance of reasoned judgment and thoughtful process when it comes to newly admitted attorneys' social media use.
Attorneys should take a cue from U.S. Supreme Court justices and boil their arguments down to three points in their legal briefs and oral advocacy, as the number three is significant in the way we process information, says Diana Simon at University of Arizona.
In order to achieve a robust client data protection posture, law firms should focus on adopting a risk-based approach to security, which can be done by assessing gaps, using that data to gain leadership buy-in for the needed changes, and adopting a dynamic and layered approach, says John Smith at Conversant Group.
Laranda Walker at Susman Godfrey, who was raising two small children and working her way to partner when she suddenly lost her husband, shares what fighting to keep her career on track taught her about accepting help, balancing work and family, and discovering new reserves of inner strength.
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Ask A Mentor: How Can I Turn Deferral To My Advantage?Diana Leiden at Winston & Strawn discusses how first-year associates whose law firm start dates have been deferred can use the downtime to hone their skills, help their communities, and focus on returning to BigLaw with valuable contacts and out-of-the-box insights.
Female attorneys and others who pause their careers for a few years will find that gaps in work history are increasingly acceptable among legal employers, meaning with some networking, retraining and a few other strategies, lawyers can successfully reenter the workforce, says Jill Backer at Ave Maria School of Law.