Legal Ethics
Federal Court Fines Lawyer $1K for 'Extensive Use of Improper Confidentiality Markings'
There’s no Federal Rule of Civil Procedure that explicitly governs the use of the “confidential” stamp.
But, finding that FRCP 26 and 28(d) implicitly require disclosure unless documents are designated confidential by statute or judicial order, a federal appeals court has imposed a $1,000 fine on attorney Daniel Shapiro of Katten Muchin Rosenman for “extensive use of improper confidentiality markings,” reports the New York Law Journal in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
The disputed declaration was stamped on license and settlement agreements.
Shapiro declined to comment on the sanction by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
