Ethics

Gitmo Lawyers Say Gov’t. Interferes With Defense

Lawyers for four Kuwaitis being held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, say government prosecutors are violating standard legal ethics rules by contacting defendants whom they know to be represented by counsel. In an emergency petition last week, they contend the chief military prosecutor says he doesn’t…

Mar 18, 2008 12:16 AM CDT

Out of Prison, Illinois Judge, 82, Still Claims Innocence

Convicted of participating in corrupt practices that sent a number of Illinois judges to prison under the 1980s federal sting operation known as Operation Greylord, Thomas Maloney served more than a dozen years for taking bribes. But he still doesn’t admit guilt, blaming “overreaching” prosecutors, “scumbag” witnesses and “weak” attorneys…

Mar 17, 2008 10:57 PM CDT

Ga. Chief Judge is Unindicted Co-Conspirator

Updated: Under fire last year for his alleged role in imposing unauthorized fees on criminal defendants, the chief judge of the Alapaha Judicial Circuit in Georgia has now reportedly been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal case against a former employee who used to work for him as…

Mar 17, 2008 9:42 PM CDT

Small Pa. Law Firm Hit With $5.2M Overbilling Judgment

A Pennsylvania judge has ordered a small practitioner to pay a $5.2 million judgment, including $1 million in punitive damages, for charging unlawful attorney fees while collecting delinquent municipal and school district property taxes. Ruling in an unjust enrichment case, Judge Mark Bernstein of the Court of Common Pleas held…

Mar 17, 2008 7:27 PM CDT

Lawyer Fined for Missing Client’s Murder Trial

A Las Vegas personal injury lawyer who failed to show up at trial to defend a client accused of murder will have to pay $2,500 in court costs and the fees of a public defender who took over the case. The lawyer, Glen Lerner, had left a voice mail with…

Mar 17, 2008 12:02 PM CDT

Texas Judge Steps Aside from 60 Cases at One Law Firm

A disabled client of a Texas law firm is reportedly feeling more secure after his counsel won a recusal motion that required the judge in his case to step aside. Meanwhile, the judge has now recused herself from all 60 of the cases that had been on her docket involving…

Mar 14, 2008 8:51 PM CDT

Scruggs Pleads Guilty; Plus a Profile of the ‘King of Torts’

Updated: Richard Scruggs, the well-known plaintiffs lawyer who made a name for himself pursuing asbestos and tobacco cases, has ended his career with a guilty plea this morning in a Mississippi courtroom. Scruggs and co-defendant Sidney Backstrom pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a judge in a dispute over attorney…

Mar 14, 2008 4:06 PM CDT

Minnesota Officials Recorded Inmate’s Phone Calls to Lawyer

A Minnesota attorney reportedly is livid after Becker County officials admitted that they have been recording his telephone calls with an incarcerated client. Although the officials say they haven’t actually listened to the attorney-client phone calls, and delete privileged conversations before passing the tapes on to prosecutors, defense lawyer Rory…

Mar 13, 2008 10:19 PM CDT

W. Va. Top Court Rehears Coal Case, Without Two Justices

West Virginia’s top court heard a dispute between two coal companies, one defunct and the other the nation’s fourth-largest, for a second time yesterday. This time, though, two justices have recused themselves amid allegations that the CEO of the bigger company wielded too much influence on the court. Novelist John…

Mar 13, 2008 6:05 PM CDT

Client to Real Estate Lawyer: Where’s My $2 Million?

A French client says he wired $3.8 million to a Miami Beach, Fla., real estate attorney’s trust account, with instructions to form six corporations and buy six condos by 2006. But then, when he changed his mind and wanted some $2 million of his money back, attorney Sally Sawh didn’t…

Mar 13, 2008 5:30 PM CDT

Judge’s Defense in Ethics Case: ‘Diminished Capacity’

An Alabama judge facing a 60-count Judicial Inquiry Commission ethics case filed his response to the allegations yesterday. His defense: a “diminished capacity” for rational decision-making, reports the Associated Press. A lawyer for Judge Stuart DuBose declined to elaborate on the reasons why he has been struggling with decision-making. However,…

Mar 13, 2008 3:43 PM CDT

‘Radioactive’ Resume: What’s Next for Eliot Spitzer?

Less than a week ago, bringing in New York’s high-profile governor as a high-profile partner would have been a major coup for any major law firm, if Eliot Spitzer had been willing to consider such a position. Now, following his sex-scandal-sparked announcement today that he will resign from office on…

Mar 13, 2008 2:51 AM CDT

Md. Judge Fights Environmental Charge

A Maryland judge who is accused of illegally dumping construction debris around his shoreline home is fighting the criminal charge. Judge Askew W. Gatewood Jr., 57, is contending, through his legal counsel, that the statute of limitations on prosecuting the case against him has expired and that a tolling agreement…

Mar 13, 2008 12:18 AM CDT

Opponent Computer Searches Likelier Under Revised Civ Pro Rule

As a number of discovery debacles in recent years make clear, law firms aren’t always as diligent as they should be about helping clients produce all of the electronic material requested in discovery. Now, however, clients who resist such evidentiary requests may find themselves facing a powerful new enforcement tool:…

Mar 12, 2008 11:11 PM CDT

Greenberg Traurig Indicted in Guam

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the firm for which he formerly worked have been indicted in Guam for allegedly making improper billings to the U.S. territory’s superior court. At issue in the case against Greenberg Traurig and other defendants is “a multitude of nonjudicial related activities the superior court paid…

Mar 12, 2008 8:41 PM CDT