Ethics

Judicial candidate faces charges after video shows him swinging belt at girlfriend

A judicial candidate in Michigan has been charged with misdemeanor domestic assault after an office worker recorded him removing his belt and swinging it multiple times toward his girlfriend while in his Muskegon, Michigan, apartment.

Oct 10, 2022 2:41 PM CDT

Kasowitz Benson is sanctioned for ‘dilatory tactics’ in suit accusing it of malicious prosecution

Updated: A Florida judge has ordered Kasowitz Benson Torres and one of its former partners to pay attorney fees for “dilatory tactics” in a lawsuit filed by the wife of Marvel Entertainment chairman Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter.

Oct 10, 2022 11:59 AM CDT

Lawyer is disbarred after email falsely claims he is dead

A California lawyer has been disbarred after someone used his email address to inform ethics regulators that he had died.

Oct 10, 2022 9:15 AM CDT

Former Jones Day partner is fined by UK judge for telling client to delete secure messaging app

A London judge has fined a former Jones Day partner about $28,000 after finding him in contempt of court for telling a client’s business to delete a secure messaging app.

Oct 6, 2022 12:58 PM CDT

Ex-lawyer gets prison time after staging sham depositions, creating bogus documents to claim court wins

A former California lawyer has been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for collecting legal fees from clients and then using phony legal documents to persuade them that he was winning their cases.

Oct 6, 2022 11:56 AM CDT

Baker & Hostetler helped client conceal ‘blatant insurance fraud,’ suit alleges

A bankruptcy trustee has filed a lawsuit alleging that Baker & Hostetler helped a client commit “blatant insurance fraud" and cause several companies to wrongly pay more than $100 million in rebates to pharmacy benefit managers that managed patients' insurance.

Oct 5, 2022 2:49 PM CDT

Former Dewey CFO will pay over $95K to resolve SEC lawsuit over misleading financial statements

The chief financial officer for failed law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf will pay more than $95,000 to resolve a civil lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that he falsified financial statements to raise money for the firm.

Oct 5, 2022 8:54 AM CDT

Watch out for these ethical constraints and pitfalls when speaking with the media

Most attorney speech about cases and the judicial system qualifies as political speech, which represents the core values behind the First Amendment. But attorneys are officers of the court, and their speech rights are limited in comparison with those of others.

Oct 1, 2022 1:40 AM CDT

How social media hijacked the Depp v. Heard defamation trial

Law firms are wondering what steps they can take to prevent bias like this going forward. And if they can’t prevent it, how can they use social media apps like TikTok in their favor?

Oct 1, 2022 1:00 AM CDT

California bar announces probes of 2 prominent lawyers after report on mishandled settlement funds

The State Bar of California announced Tuesday that it is investigating two prominent Los Angeles lawyers in connection with the mishandled distribution of settlement funds paid by insurers for descendants of Armenian genocide victims.

Sep 30, 2022 10:37 AM CDT

Utah’s reforms offer model for serving low-income and indigent people, report suggests

The Utah model of reform allowing nonlawyers to offer legal services could be “critical” to serving people who can’t afford them, according to a Stanford Law School study published Tuesday.

Sep 29, 2022 10:42 AM CDT

Pro se lawyers must follow ‘no-contact’ rule, new ABA ethics opinion says

Pro se lawyers may not directly contact an opposing litigant if that person is represented by counsel.

Sep 28, 2022 10:03 AM CDT

Suspension ordered for lawyer accused of sending ‘abusive and aggressive’ emails

The Illinois Supreme Court has ordered the suspension of a Chicago lawyer for sending harassing and threatening emails deemed to be “abusive and aggressive” by a disciplinary hearing board.

Sep 28, 2022 8:45 AM CDT

Former BigLaw associate is accused of lying about time spent on document review project

A former Dentons associate is accused in an ethics complaint of falsely claiming that he spent 277 hours to review 425 documents for a client responding to a discovery request.

Sep 26, 2022 9:17 AM CDT

Weekly Briefs: Bias suit against Trump lawyer resolved; Montana no longer defies court order over birth certificates

Trump lawyer resolves rap-music bias suit Alina Habba, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, has resolved a race- and gender-bias lawsuit largely based on the rap music that she was accused of loudly playing in the office. The case filed by legal assistant Na’Syia Drayton claimed that the music…

Sep 23, 2022 1:05 PM CDT