Ethics

Perkins Coie Settles Malpractice Suit

Perkins Coie has agreed to settle a malpractice suit in a deal that will pay a former client $19 million, Legal Times reports. Terms of the settlement are confidential. But the ex-client, Tokyo Kikai Seisakusho, has announced it will receive $19 million in a malpractice settlement. Robert Giles, managing partner…

Sep 18, 2007 1:06 PM CDT

Trial of Miami PI Lawyer Gets Under Way

Attorneys for a Miami mass-torts lawyer going on trial for stealing client money want to question potential jurors about their views on personal injury lawyers. Jury selection in the trial of asbestos lawyer Louis Robles gets under way tomorrow, the Daily Business Review reports. Robles was willing to accept a…

Sep 17, 2007 1:00 PM CDT

NV High Court Mulls Halverson Suspension

Lawyers for controversial Las Vegas Judge Elizabeth Halverson told the Nevada Supreme Court last week that the state Judicial Discipline Commission did not have the authority to order her temporary suspension. Justices are expected to decide in the next few days whether to overturn the temporary suspension, the Associated Press…

Sep 17, 2007 10:59 AM CDT

Scruggs Stays on State Farm Case

A federal judge has refused to disqualify lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs from representing dozens of Mississippi homeowners suing State Farm for denying Hurricane Katrina claims. U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. said State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. waited too long to file a motion seeking Scruggs’ ouster, the Associated…

Sep 14, 2007 4:10 PM CDT

Qualcomm Drops Day Casebeer—Again

The fallout over a finding that Qualcomm Inc. and its attorneys committed “aggravated litigation abuse” continues. Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder represented Qualcomm in two cases. One is a patent dispute with Broadcom that led to the abuse finding and a request for sanctions. The second is a patent dispute…

Sep 14, 2007 12:07 PM CDT

Threat to Sue Ethics Grievant Held Improper

A lawyer’s strongly worded letter to a client who filed an ethics grievance against him has resulted in a recommendation for a reprimand. The New Jersey Disciplinary Review Board says Harry Levin of Levin & Cyphers in Toms River, N.J., violated ethics rules requiring courtesy to participants in the justice…

Sep 14, 2007 11:46 AM CDT

Late Lawyer Not Ineffective

A lawyer who returns to a trial 20 minutes late from a lunch break does not necessarily provide ineffective assistance of counsel, a federal appeals court has ruled. The defendant, an alleged cigarette smuggler, contended his lawyer was absent during a critical stage of the trial, which amounted to ineffective…

Sep 13, 2007 3:33 PM CDT

Lawyer O’Quinn Ordered to Pay $41.4 M

Houston lawyer John O’Quinn owes $41.4 million because he overcharged former breast implant clients, an arbitration panel ruled yesterday. The amount owed climbed from the $35.7 million sum O’Quinn was ordered to pay in July after interest and attorney fees were added, the Houston Chronicle reports. The suit had claimed…

Sep 12, 2007 6:40 PM CDT

Judge in Trouble Over BS Comment

A New Jersey municipal court judge contends he shouldn’t be disciplined for telling a landlord his excuse for failing to show up in court was “a lot of bullshit.” Judge Frank Leanza of Guttenberg, N.J., said he had learned his lesson during a hearing on Thursday before the Advisory Committee…

Sep 12, 2007 1:34 PM CDT

Big-Name PI Lawyer Sentenced for Bribing Judges

A wealthy Biloxi lawyer and two former Mississippi judges were sentenced on Friday for taking part in a bribery scheme. Lawyer Paul Minor was sentenced to serve 11 years in prison and ordered to pay a $2.75 million fine and $1.5 million in restitution, the Sun Herald reports. Minor earns…

Sep 10, 2007 1:10 PM CDT

Plagiarizing Lawyer Sent to Law School

In an acerbic opinion, a federal bankruptcy judge has ordered an Iowa lawyer who submitted a largely plagiarized brief to return to law school and take a legal ethics course. In addition to presenting as his own work a 19-page brief containing 17 pages of material lifted from a scholarly…

Sep 7, 2007 8:46 PM CDT

Law Prof Resisted Rush to Judgment

A Washington Post column praises a law professor for his investigation in a lacrosse case that ended with disbarred former district attorney Mike Nifong going to jail today. Nifong arrived at a detention center this morning to serve a one-day sentence for lying to a judge in his prosecution of…

Sep 7, 2007 7:11 PM CDT

MI Lawyer Courtesy Rule Overturned

Controversial Michigan lawyer Geoffrey Fieger has won a round in his battle with Michigan state judges. A federal judge has struck down a state court rule used to sanction Fieger for calling state appeals judges jackasses in a radio interview and comparing them to Nazis, the Detroit News reports. The…

Sep 7, 2007 12:51 PM CDT

Judicial Watch Founder Loses Pro Hac Vice Bid

The Miami lawyer who founded Judicial Watch, a group that filed several lawsuits against the Clinton administration, has been denied pro hac vice admission for a New York case. In denying temporary bar admission, the judge cited other judges’ past complaints about lawyer Larry Klayman, including one judge’s decision to…

Sep 7, 2007 11:09 AM CDT

2 NJ Lawyers in Trouble for Real Estate Deals

An ethics panel is recommending discipline for two New Jersey lawyers handling real estate deals that unraveled or involved fraud. The board recommended a six-month suspension for Bincy Abraham of Marlton, N.J., a lawyer hired by McClary Financial Group in Bloomfield, N.J., to represent the company’s homebuying clients, the New…

Sep 7, 2007 10:53 AM CDT