Ethics

Scruggs Takes Issue With Letter Claiming Katrina Case Withdrawals

Updated: Are Richard “Dickie” Scruggs and his law firm withdrawing from all Hurricane Katrina-related litigation? The answer is yes, according to a letter from Don Barrett posted on the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. Barrett is one of the founders of the Scruggs Katrina Group, which represents thousands of policyholders…

Nov 29, 2007 8:03 PM CST

Anti-Tax Lawyer Indicted Following Undercover Probe

A Pennsylvania lawyer has been indicted for allegedly helping clients and employees hide more than $23 million in income through shell corporations. Bernard Bagdis of Blue Bell, Pa., was indicted after an operation in which undercover agents sought to conceal more than $100,000 in cash, the Legal Intelligencer reports. Federal…

Nov 29, 2007 4:04 PM CST

Katrina Lawyer Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs Indicted in Judge Bribery Plot

High-profile plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs has been charged with conspiring to pay a Mississippi judge $50,000 to resolve a fee dispute in favor of his law firm. Scruggs is well-known for handling tobacco litigation for the state of Mississippi and more recently for suing State Farm on behalf of…

Nov 29, 2007 11:42 AM CST

Civil Rights Lawyer Gets Three Years for Tax Evasion

Crusading civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for federal tax evasion, bankruptcy fraud and money laundering. Known for his high-profile cases against law enforcement authorities and President Bush, the 63-year-old lawyer was convicted of trying to avoid more than $200,000 in federal income…

Nov 28, 2007 7:27 PM CST

Fla. Judges Feel the Heat of Blog Spotlight

Like politicians before them, judges in Florida are feeling the pressures of the ever-watchful, ever-critical blogosphere. Case in point, Dale Ross, who was chief judge for the Florida circuit court in Broward County for 16 years. He stepped down after a year of “embarrassing scandals, gaffes and bad behavior by…

Nov 28, 2007 7:04 PM CST

Ex-Judge Who Wrote Privilege Opinion Backs PD Who Told of Client Confession

The former chief judge of the North Carolina Supreme Court hopes an opinion he wrote on attorney-client privilege will help his new client—a North Carolina man convicted of murder partly based on now-discredited evidence. Former chief judge I. Beverly Lake Jr. is one of the lawyers representing Lee Wayne Hunt,…

Nov 28, 2007 1:11 PM CST

Judge ‘a Petty Tyrant’ for Jailing 46 Over Ringing Cell Phone

A New York judge should be removed from the bench for acting like a “petty tyrant” when he jailed 46 people due to a ringing cell phone, a commission has recommended. Judge Robert Restaino of Niagara Falls City Court “engaged in what can only be described as two hours of…

Nov 28, 2007 11:35 AM CST

Brooke Astor’s Son, Lawyer Face Criminal Charges

Updated: Anthony Marshall, the son of the late wealthy socialite Brooke Astor, is charged with stealing money and artwork from his mother and forging her name on an amendment to her will, Bloomberg reports. Francis Morrissey Jr., a onetime lawyer of Brooke Astor, is charged with conspiracy, forgery and possession…

Nov 27, 2007 10:36 PM CST

Lawyers Claim Law Firm Fired Them for Ethical Objections

A California law firm known for its heavy advertising has been sued by two of its former attorneys who claim they were fired for objecting to unethical practices. The Pacific Law Center in La Jolla estimates it has represented 10,000 clients in criminal, bankruptcy and personal injury cases since it…

Nov 27, 2007 7:40 PM CST

Lawyer Seeks Criminal Investigation of U.S. Judge for Sex Harassment

The lawyer for a woman who has accused U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent of sexual harassment is asking a federal appeals council to consider referring the matter to a body that has the power to recommend impeachment. Kent was reprimanded in September after the complaint of former case manager Cathy…

Nov 27, 2007 2:33 PM CST

Ex-Lawyer Arrested for Shoplifting

A disbarred Dallas criminal defense lawyer has been charged with shoplifting from a Nordstrom department store. Catherine Shelton, 59, is accused of trying to walk out of the store with a designer handbag worth nearly $1,200, two shirts and a candle, the Dallas Morning News reports. A store manager refused…

Nov 27, 2007 1:01 PM CST

Columbia Law Prof Knocks Hired-Gun Academics

Columbia Law School professor William Simon contends in an article that law professors are part of a “vast enterprise” that provides legal opinions shielding those who hire them. The article (PDF), already published on the Social Science Research Network website, has been accepted for publication in the Stanford Law Review,…

Nov 26, 2007 5:15 PM CST

PD Faces Ethics Complaint for Telling of Dead Client’s Confession

The appellate defender for North Carolina is facing an ethics complaint for testifying that his dead client had confessed he alone committed a double murder for which another man is doing time. Staples Hughes testified in a January hearing for the convicted man that his client confessed 20 years ago…

Nov 26, 2007 12:17 PM CST

BP Victims Blast ‘Shockingly Lenient’ Plea

Updated: More than a dozen victims of a 2005 Texas refinery explosion have blasted a planned criminal plea deal with BP and successfully sought the recusal of the federal judge in the case. The deal announced last month calls for BP to plead guilty to an environmental crime and pay…

Nov 21, 2007 4:37 PM CST

Lawyer Ordered to Testify About Client Communications

A lawyer has been ordered to testify about his communications with clients regarding opinion letters he wrote facilitating the sale of shares in Defense Technology Systems Inc. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin has ordered lawyer Frank Hariton of White Plains, N.Y., to testify under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege,…

Nov 21, 2007 12:52 PM CST