Ethics

New Pacific Law Center is Dealing With Old Problems

A lawsuit filed by an attorney earlier this year claims Pacific Law Center participated in unethical practices. Another onetime firm lawyer reportedly admitted in court that his client was guilty in a gang-related shooting case, allegedly forcing the client into a plea deal. Meanwhile, another former firm lawyer reportedly denies…

Apr 7, 2008 3:12 PM CDT

SonicBlue Trustee Wants Pillsbury to Return $4.2M in Fees, Pay $11M in Damages

The trustee in SonicBlue’s bankruptcy is seeking disgorgement of fees and damages against two law firms connected to the case: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Levene, Neale, Bender, Rankin & Brill. Trustee Dennis Connolly contends Pillsbury, the former counsel for SonicBlue, failed to disclose important information about a possible conflict…

Apr 7, 2008 11:16 AM CDT

Tearful Lawyer Begs Judge Not to Penalize Client for Her Ineptitude

A tearful defense lawyer who doesn’t want her client to pay for her mistakes convinced a federal judge in Indiana to give her client more time before sentencing. The Times of Northwest Indiana says lawyer Andrea Gambino appeared to weep in open court Thursday as she pleaded with U.S. District…

Apr 4, 2008 7:21 PM CDT

Scruggs Says He’ll Accept Suspension Over Disbarment

Former top plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs is fighting for his right to keep his law license and indicated to state disciplinary authorities that he would accept an indefinite suspension. The Mississippi Bar is asking that Scruggs be disbarred in light of his admission that he conspired to bribe a…

Apr 4, 2008 5:34 PM CDT

Troutman Sanders Seeks Sanction for Neo-Nazi’s Online Comments About a Partner

A partner with Troutman Sanders in Richmond, Va., testified Wednesday that a neo-Nazi’s online comments about his role in a fair-housing suit have upended his home life. Lawyer Kevin Mottley told a Norfolk federal court that after the post he and his wife began to get strange phone calls and…

Apr 4, 2008 4:31 PM CDT

Big Coal Co. Wins in Recusal Dustup; ABC Claims CEO Scuffled With Producer

The West Virginia Supreme Court has once again overturned a $50 million verdict against the nation’s fourth largest coal company, but that apparently didn’t stop the winning company’s chief executive officer from getting into a parking lot scuffle with an ABC producer. The state high court decided to rehear the…

Apr 4, 2008 1:28 PM CDT

Report Criticizes Energy Department’s Hiring of Morgan Lewis

A report released yesterday criticizes a decision by the Department of Energy to hire Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in connection with the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project despite conflicts of interest by the law firm. The department’s inspector general said a $109 million contract should not have been awarded to…

Apr 4, 2008 11:37 AM CDT

How an Influential Private Lawyer Got a $107K State Pension

An influential New York lawyer who worked as a private contract employee for six governmental entities was given 21 years’ retroactive credit in the state pension system, enabling him to collect an annual pension of almost $107,000, Newsday reports. Lawyer Albert D’Agostino received retroactive credit in 2000 for 28 years…

Apr 3, 2008 6:53 PM CDT

Patton Boggs Faces Suit by California Bank

A California bank claims in a lawsuit that the law firm Patton Boggs breached its duty as the lender’s general counsel by advising a group of activist shareholders who are planning a takeover. The suit says Patton Boggs served as the general counsel for Vineyard National Bancorp from 2003 to…

Apr 3, 2008 1:54 PM CDT

Judge Mulls Sentence After Melvyn Weiss Formally Enters Guilty Plea

Securities class-action king Melvyn Weiss formally entered his guilty plea to racketeering in a Los Angeles courtroom yesterday. Weiss, 72, told U.S. District Judge John Walter, “I take responsibility for everything,” the Associated Press reports. Weiss agreed to plead guilty last month to charges that he paid millions of dollars…

Apr 3, 2008 12:35 PM CDT

Judge Decides ‘Media Frenzy’ After Arrest Doesn’t Require Him to Quit

A well-respected Boston bankruptcy judge is reconsidering his decision to resign after a flurry of publicity about the circumstances of his arrest for drunken driving. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Somma had submitted his resignation after media reports that he was wearing a cocktail dress and high heels at the time…

Apr 3, 2008 10:55 AM CDT

Lawyer Pays for Retraction After Pulling Wash. Post Obit Prank

The prank that Washington, D.C., lawyer J. Peter Segall played on a longtime friend turned out to be no laughing matter when he was forced to pay a retraction and, apparently, strained his friendship. Segall took out a fake “in memoriam” ad in the Washington Post on Tuesday with a…

Apr 2, 2008 9:23 PM CDT

Nasty Race for Wisconsin Supreme Court Ends With Upset

An expensive, bitter supreme court race in Wisconsin ended Tuesday with the first unseating of a justice since 1967, when Chief Justice George Currie was ousted after he allowed the Milwaukee Braves to relocate to Atlanta. Burnett County Circuit Judge Michael Gableman succeeded in his bid for the high court,…

Apr 2, 2008 6:25 PM CDT

Biff! Bam! Wallop! 2 Lawyers Duke it Out in Oregon Courthouse

Lawyers are used to being adversarial, but two lawyers in the Portland, Ore., area apparently elevated their conflict to an actual fistfight in front of a crowd of courthouse spectators last week. Attorneys David Lawrence and Aaron Matusick had just left a Multnomah County landlord-tenant court hearing Thursday when they…

Apr 2, 2008 4:36 PM CDT

Ethics Group Recommends $25K Fine for Judge’s ‘Bizarre’ Letters

A judicial ethics commission has recommended a $25,000 fine and 30-day suspension for a judge who sent two “bizarre” and “threatening” letters to the publisher of the Boston Herald. The Commission on Judicial Conduct said in its report (PDF) that the conduct by Judge Ernest Murphy was intentional and therefore…

Apr 2, 2008 2:59 PM CDT