Ethics

Lawyer Who Wouldn’t Stop Talking Suspended From Federal Practice

A Tennessee lawyer who kept talking after a federal judge ordered him to keep quiet has been suspended from practice in the Eastern District of Tennessee for at least three years. Chief U.S. District Judge Curtis Collier said Knoxville lawyer Herbert Moncier “harbors a disrespect for the institutional role of…

Apr 30, 2008 1:41 PM CDT

Ohio AG Marc Dann Considers Policies to Address ‘Dannimal House’ Image

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann is considering a new e-mail policy after thousands of e-mails released in a sexual harassment investigation led critics to label his office “Dannimal House.” Spokesman Jim Gravelle says top officials in Dann’s office are discussing changes that would cover e-mail exchanges and establish guidelines for…

Apr 30, 2008 11:48 AM CDT

Lawyer Who Made Snarky Comments Ordered to Write Civility Article

A lawyer who ordered opposing counsel to “sit quietly in the corner” and “be like a potted plant” has been ordered to write an article on civility for that remark and other cutting comments. U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange said lawyer Gerard Pignato should submit the article to the Oklahoma…

Apr 30, 2008 11:12 AM CDT

Judge Smacks Law Firms & Partner With $150K Sanctions, But Spares 2 Associates

A federal bankruptcy judge in Massachusetts has sanctioned two law firms and a name partner a total of $150,000 for incorrectly claiming that their client owned a mortgage that had in fact been reassigned at least twice. Finding that one law firm had information in a client file that contradicted…

Apr 29, 2008 8:14 PM CDT

Fieger Firm Lawyer Says Agents Played ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’

A lawyer in Geoffrey Fieger’s law firm testified yesterday that federal agents came to his home under the guise of serving a subpoena, but then tried to get him to reveal damaging information about the law firm leader. Lawyer Paul Broschay said agents played a game of “good cop, bad…

Apr 29, 2008 5:53 PM CDT

Conyers Threatens to Subpoena Ex-DOJ Officials

U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is threatening to subpoena former Justice Department officials who are refusing to testify about torture policies. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and an ex-member of his Justice Department, John Yoo, have already refused requests to testify, the Washington…

Apr 29, 2008 5:05 PM CDT

State Farm, Lawyers Trade Barbs in Whistle-Blower Suit

A team of lawyers representing two sisters who claim State Farm defrauded the federal government are fighting to stay on the case. State Farm says the lawyers should be disqualified because of “improper and unlawful conduct” that includes accessing protected computer data, according to a press release. The insurer claims…

Apr 29, 2008 3:23 PM CDT

Hot Doc Found at Law Firm in $8.4M Detroit Settlement Flap

A critical legal document that led almost instantaneously to an $8.4 million city settlement of two Detroit police whistle-blower cases reportedly has been found on a plaintiffs lawyer’s computer and is to be discussed tomorrow in court. Now at issue in an ongoing controversy over the handling of the settlement,…

Apr 28, 2008 10:50 PM CDT

Disgraced Former N.H. Judge: ‘I Cried. Who Wouldn’t?’

Cleaning out her desk at her Rockingham County Superior Court chambers on Friday, former N.H. judge Patricia Coffey was disgraced, broke and regretful. Helping her husband, a disbarred lawyer, shield assets from creditors resulted in a three-year unpaid suspension from office by the state supreme court, instead of the three…

Apr 28, 2008 6:03 PM CDT

Lawyer & Client Jailed in Bizarre Scheme to Defraud Attorneys

A Washington state man and his lawyer have been sentenced to four-year federal prison terms in a bizarre, yet sophisticated scheme to fraudulently sell the homes of judges and attorneys. In the latest salvo in a revenge effort that has been ongoing for 25 years, client David Alan Hawkins, 68,…

Apr 28, 2008 3:20 PM CDT

E-Mails Show More Abramoff Links to Ex-DOJ Staffers; Probe Continues

Sources tell Legal Times that last week’s guilty plea by a former Justice Department official doesn’t end the investigation of DOJ ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Robert Coughlin, a former member of the Justice Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs, pleaded guilty last Tuesday to accepting thousands of dollars worth…

Apr 28, 2008 11:55 AM CDT

Mistakenly Revealed Logbook Has Lawyers Convinced They Are Monitored

Lawyers in Oregon and Washington, D.C., who represent a Saudi charity believe they have proof that the government improperly monitored their conversations with clients accused of financing terrorism. It’s in the form of a logbook stamped “top secret” that was mistakenly handed over to the lawyers in August 2004, the…

Apr 28, 2008 10:36 AM CDT

Fla. Bar Reverses Course, Allows Lawyers to Tout Avvo Rankings

The controversial lawyer-ranking website Avvo is fighting battles on several fronts in its effort to list lawyers in every state. In the most recent skirmish, the Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Advertising has reversed course and decided that lawyers may tout their Avvo ratings in advertising, the Financial News and…

Apr 25, 2008 2:17 PM CDT

D.C. Madam’s Civil Lawyer Is Suspended for Three Years

A lawyer who at one time represented convicted D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey has been suspended from practice for three years under a Florida Supreme Court order (PDF). The Financial News & Daily Record reports that Montgomery Blair Sibley was suspended after he filed “myriad” court proceedings that lacked merit…

Apr 25, 2008 1:14 PM CDT

Law Firm Sues Secretary Who Claims Partner Raped Her

A New York law firm has beat a secretary to the courthouse with a lawsuit claiming her allegations of rape and sexual harassment are false. The law firm of Bivona & Cohen says in its suit that secretary Windy Richards first made the rape allegations against a partner in a…

Apr 25, 2008 10:55 AM CDT