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Legal Ethics

  • August 01, 2025

    NJ Court Will Mull Legality Of Habba's US Atty Appointment

    If Alina Habba was illegally appointed acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, a pair of defendants in a drug trafficking case are not entitled to dismissal of the indictment, but it "appears appropriate" that Habba would be barred from prosecuting them, a federal judge ruled Friday.

  • August 01, 2025

    Investors Fight Sanctions Over Telecom Arbitration Dispute

    Minority shareholders in telecommunications infrastructure firm Continental Towers LATAM Holding say they are not the ones stopping an arbitral award from being enforced, and have tried to comply with the court's orders but are "caught in the cross-hairs of a personal vendetta."

  • August 01, 2025

    Conn. Firm Seeks Pause Amid Firm Breakup Arbitration

    In the latest legal skirmish between former law partners Andrew Garza and Ryan McKeen following the dissolution of Connecticut Trial Firm LLC, Garza's new firm on Friday asked a Connecticut state court to pause unfair trade practices claims brought against it by McKeen's new firm, arguing that the complaint is an attempt to circumvent arbitration stays.

  • August 01, 2025

    Mass. Judge Can't Dismiss Assault Case Via Sanction

    A Massachusetts appeals court has determined that a trial court judge abused her discretion in dismissing an assault and battery case with prejudice as the result of a sanction on the prosecution for dragging its feet in discovery.

  • August 01, 2025

    Atty Seeks To End Malpractice Suit Over SEC Fraud Case

    A New York lawyer is seeking a quick win on malpractice claims brought in Florida federal court by a former client who says she improperly advised him to sign a consent decree with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that resulted in a $12.1 million disgorgement judgment, arguing the client's subsequent guilty plea defeats the claims.

  • August 01, 2025

    NY Law Mandating Judicial Fine Declared Unconstitutional

    A New York state appeals court has declared unconstitutional a statute that mandates a judge forfeit $1,000 to a plaintiff if the judge refuses to issue a writ of habeas corpus.

  • August 01, 2025

    Politics And Privacy Laws Collide 5 Years After Salas Shooting

    Five years after a disgruntled litigant killed a New Jersey federal judge's son at their home, experts and judges disagree over whether the judicial privacy laws enacted following the shooting are doing much to protect jurists, while political leaders' heated rhetoric makes for an even more dangerous landscape for judges.

  • August 01, 2025

    NC Atty Says Ex-Wife Has No Claim To Firm's Future Earnings

    An intellectual property lawyer in North Carolina told the state's top court that his ex-wife isn't entitled to half the value of his law firm in their divorce, arguing that whatever he earns from the firm's goodwill in the future can't be divvied up as part of the marital estate.

  • August 01, 2025

    OptumRx Moves To DQ Motley Rice In Utah Opioid Case

    Pharmacy benefit manager OptumRx has moved to disqualify Motley Rice LLC from representing the state of Utah in an opioid crisis lawsuit, claiming the firm clearly violated ethical rules by investigating OptumRx on behalf of government entities, then suing OptumRx in a private capacity.

  • August 01, 2025

    Firms Say Lien Discharge Row Was Not Vexatious Litigation

    The law firms Neubert Pepe & Monteith PC and Cuddy & Feder LLP told a Connecticut state court they should not have to face a lawsuit from a couple who claim they misused the judicial system to delay payouts from a property owner, arguing that the complaint does not sufficiently allege they engaged in vexatious litigation.

  • August 01, 2025

    DC Panel Calls For Former DOJ Official Clark's Disbarment

    The majority of a Washington, D.C., lawyer ethics panel has called for the disbarment of Jeffrey Clark, a White House official and ally of President Donald Trump, over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

  • August 01, 2025

    Ex-Bank GC Must Pay $2.5M Fraud Restitution By Oct. 1

    A former Webster Bank general counsel who pled guilty to bank fraud must pay by Oct. 1 the remaining $2.5 million he owes in restitution, a federal judge has ruled, finding that the man's bank accounts and securities are enough to cover the difference.

  • August 01, 2025

    Judge Denies Memphis Bid To Sanction Tyre Nichols' Lawyers

    A Tennessee federal judge has decided not to issue sanctions against high-profile civil rights lawyers Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci over a press release that claimed a civil lawsuit against the city over the police beating death of Tyre Nichols would not bankrupt the Memphis government because the city's insurance would foot the bill.

  • July 31, 2025

    3 DOJ Attys Face Bar Complaints Over Ƶ Representation

    A legal watchdog group Thursday lodged bar complaints against a trio of U.S. Department of Justice lawyers, accusing them of making misleading and false statements in court filings while defending the Trump administration in litigation over its attempt to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

  • July 31, 2025

    'Abusive Behavior' Spurs $195M Add To Phillips 66 IP Verdict

    A California state judge added $195 million in exemplary damages to a $605 million trade secrets verdict against oil giant Phillips 66 following its "abusive behavior" toward startup and onetime acquisition target Propel Fuels.

  • July 31, 2025

    Tyson Says Interference Claim 'Lays Bare' Burford's Greed

    Tyson Foods urged an Illinois federal judge on Thursday to reject Burford Capital's bid to ditch allegations that the litigation funder improperly thwarted a near-final price-fixing settlement with Sysco Corp., arguing the counterclaim "lays bare" Burford's systematic effort to obtain a greater investment return.

  • July 31, 2025

    4th Circ. Says Brokers Owe Atty Fees Over Case Removal Row

    A unanimous Fourth Circuit panel has affirmed a South Carolina federal judge's order requiring several financial firms to pay more than $63,000 in legal fees for improperly trying to remove a securities class action to federal court for a second time, but said they don't have to pay additional fees to cover the cost of the appeal.

  • July 31, 2025

    Wis. Judge Pushes For Immunity In ICE Arrest Case

    A Wisconsin state judge is pushing for the dismissal of criminal charges alleging she hindered an immigration enforcement arrest, reiterating her argument that she has immunity against what she called the "overreaching federal prosecution of a state court judge for acts within her official duties."

  • July 31, 2025

    ABA Seeks To Toss Race Bias Suit Over Scholarship Program

    The American Bar Association urged an Illinois federal court to throw out a lawsuit from The American Alliance for Equal Rights alleging the association's Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund constitutes race-based discrimination, arguing that the claims are simply a "'desire to vindicate' a particular 'view of the law.'"

  • July 31, 2025

    8th Circ. Says Firm's Conspiracy Suit Wrongly Tossed

    The Eighth Circuit on Thursday revived a law firm's suit alleging that the defendants in a wrongful death suit conspired to have the firm withdraw from that suit after raising false accusations, saying the trial court "took a trip back in time" to an older interpretation of court doctrine.

  • July 31, 2025

    1st Circ. Denies Marathon Bomber's Bid To DQ Trial Judge

    The First Circuit on Thursday denied a request by convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to have the judge who presided over his 2015 trial removed from conducting a probe into whether some of the jurors who sentenced him to death were biased.

  • July 31, 2025

    Conn. Atty Pins Failed Redaction On Tech In Gunmaker Suit

    A third party's ability to bypass redactions and view protected documents was due to a software issue, a Connecticut civil litigator has told a federal judge, urging the court not to authorize sanctions for what he said was a "good faith" effort at redacting filings amid his dueling lawsuits with gunmaker Sig Sauer.

  • July 31, 2025

    MSG Makes Play For $1.5M Fees In Oakley Dispute

    Madison Square Garden is seeking $1.5 million in attorney fees from former New York Knicks player Charles Oakley, laying out the efforts it took to uncover Oakley's efforts to destroy text messages connected with his long-running assault and battery suit against the arena.

  • July 31, 2025

    Baldwin Eyes Deal Over Failed 'Rust' Trial With Suit Dormant

    Alec Baldwin's lawsuit in New Mexico state court against prosecutors and others involved in his botched involuntary manslaughter case in the "Rust" film shooting has been temporarily thrown out, but the actor-producer's attorneys said Thursday that they've been in settlement discussions and will move to reinstate the suit if the talks fail.

  • July 30, 2025

    US Atty Swap Was 'Calculated' To Evade Senate, NJ Court Told

    The reappointment of Alina Habba from interim to acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey was an unconstitutional maneuver "calculated to bypass Senate confirmation," a defendant seeking dismissal of his drug trafficking indictment told a federal judge Wednesday, while prosecutors opposed the motion as a "dispute over titles, not authority."

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    More Guidance Needed On Appellate Amicus Recusals

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    Instead of eliminating the right for amici to file briefs on consent, as per the recently proposed Federal Appellate Rules amendment, the Judicial Conference's Committee on Codes of Judicial Conduct should issue guidance on situations in which amicus filings should lead to circuit judge recusals, says Alan Morrison at George Washington University Law School.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.

  • How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'

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    Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process

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    Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.

  • The Ethics of Using Generative AI In Environmental Law

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    The rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools is challenging environmental lawyers, consultants and government agencies to determine when and how these tools can be responsibly, ethically and productively integrated into their practices to streamline research, predictive analytics and regulatory compliance, say Ahlia Bethea and Pamela Esterman at Sive Paget.

  • What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires

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    Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.

  • Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support

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    A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers certification cases touching on classwide evidence of injury from debt collection practices, defining coupon settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act, proper approaches for evaluating attorney fee awards in class action settlements, and more.

  • Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where

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    During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Crypto Gatekeepers May Be The Next Front Of Enforcement

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    Lawyers and other professionals who advise cryptocurrency companies should beware regulators' increasing focus on gatekeeper accountability, and should take several measures to fulfill their ethical and legal obligations, including implementing a robust vetting mechanism when representing crypto clients, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Xinchen Li at Selendy Gay.

  • Series

    Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.

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