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Legal Ethics

  • August 19, 2025

    Judge Bans Texas Atty He Says Is 'Incapable Of Honesty'

    A federal judge has indefinitely suspended attorney J. Shelby Sharpe from practicing law in the Northern District of Texas after he helped supposedly erstwhile clients dodge judgments, saying the attorney is seemingly "incapable of honesty."

  • August 19, 2025

    Ex-Holland & Knight Atty Wants Another Depo From Ex-Wife

    A former Holland & Knight LLP partner battling Pennsylvania personal injury firm Fritz & Bianculli LLC in litigation stemming from an affair and his messy divorce has pushed for his ex-wife to sit for another deposition, arguing that she wrongly refused to answer relevant questions when she was first deposed.

  • August 19, 2025

    Family Alleging Firm's Girardi Conflict Denied Partial Win

    A Los Angeles judge Tuesday denied a family's motion seeking judgment on declaratory relief claims in a $1.8 million malpractice lawsuit against a firm that represented it in recovering millions lost in Girardi Keese's embezzlement scandal, saying disputed facts remain in the "unusual" case.

  • August 19, 2025

    Bad Citations Aren't Always Sanctionable, Wash. Atty Argues

    An attorney in Washington state vowed on Tuesday to appeal harsh sanctions an Arizona federal judge meted out Thursday over fake and misleading citations she included in an opening brief, releasing a statement arguing that the court's order "treats the mere existence of AI-hallucinated citations as an automatic violation" but "that is not what Rule 11 requires."

  • August 19, 2025

    Insurers Avoid Coverage For Alleged $8.5M Judgment Scheme

    Two insurers owed no coverage to companies facing abuse of process claims, a Minnesota federal court ruled in two separate cases decided on the same issues, finding that commercial general liability policies' coverage for malicious prosecution did not apply.

  • August 19, 2025

    NY US Atty Hit With Complaint For Alleged Media Retaliation

    A collection of nonprofit organizations that support press freedoms has called for an ethics investigation of acting U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III of the Northern District of New York, saying he may have "unconstitutionally retaliated" against a newspaper that reported on him.

  • August 19, 2025

    Ex-Girardi Keese Atty Pleads Not Guilty To Chicago Charges

    Former Girardi Keese attorney Keith Griffin pled not guilty Tuesday to a Chicago indictment accusing him of helping Tom Girardi violate court orders to disburse settlement funds to certain plane crash clients and concealing the theft of those funds.

  • August 19, 2025

    Wisconsin Mall, Tenant Drop All Claims In Rent Dispute

    A mall and its tenant told a Georgia federal judge that they have jointly dismissed their claims over an unpaid rent dispute, ending their motions including the mall's bid to have Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP disqualified from representing the tenant due to an alleged conflict of interest.

  • August 19, 2025

    Pizza Chain Avoids Sanctions For Missing Payroll Docs

    An operator of Michigan pizza restaurants will not face sanctions in a wage suit over payroll records a group of drivers claimed were missing because the company was not aware the documents were lost, a Michigan federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

  • August 19, 2025

    Ex-Judge Gets Law License Back After Bribery Suspension

    A former Philadelphia Municipal Court judge can practice law in Pennsylvania again following a split state Supreme Court decision to reinstate his license that had been suspended after he admitted to accepting $90,000 to drop out of a congressional election.

  • August 19, 2025

    Trump's 'Abnormal' Use Of FCA Could Get Tricky In Court

    The Trump administration is wielding the False Claims Act in unusually narrow ways to drive policies on social and cultural issues — including gender-affirming care and diversity, equity and inclusion programs — but the government's potential theories of liability under the federal law remain largely untested and might not hold up in court, experts say.

  • August 18, 2025

    NJ Feds Say Habba's US Atty Role Unusual, But Not Unlawful

    Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba on Monday doubled down on her argument that President Donald Trump legally appointed her New Jersey's top federal prosecutor, telling a federal judge that this is simply "an unusual situation" created when the district court last month refused to extend her interim tenure.

  • August 18, 2025

    Ex-NY AG Immune From Malicious Prosecution Suit

    Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has immunity from a suit by a former New York City Council member claiming wrongful prosecution, a federal judge has ruled.

  • August 18, 2025

    Fla. Suit Over Atty Access To Detention Center Transferred

    A Florida federal judge on Monday transferred a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the government of restricting attorney access to an Everglades immigrant detention center, ruling that the current district isn't proper for the claims against state officials.

  • August 18, 2025

    Patent Licensing Co. Drops Starbucks Infringement Suit

    A patent licensing company has agreed to drop its suit alleging Starbucks infringed a patent covering a mobile ordering system, although defamation claims against one of the coffee chain's attorneys remains at play in another case.

  • August 18, 2025

    NJ Law Firm Not Covered In Malpractice Suit, Court Says

    An insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a Princeton law firm against a malpractice suit alleging that one of its attorneys assisted a client in misappropriating her husband's assets, a New Jersey federal court ruled Monday, finding that a prior knowledge exclusion bars coverage.

  • August 18, 2025

    Ex-GC Ordered To Destroy Files In Trade Secret Dispute

    Storehouse In A Box secured a permanent injunction against its former general counsel and chief operating officer, barring him from using or accessing confidential information the e-commerce company alleges he misappropriated after being put on leave, according to a Monday order.

  • August 18, 2025

    Biz Court Shoots Down Arb. Bid In Widow's Asset Fight

    A widow contending that she can't be forced into arbitration over who owns assets of her late husband's business venture was granted a pretrial win after a North Carolina business court judge found "no competent evidence" for an agreement that would force her to do so.

  • August 18, 2025

    Ga. Gov. Hopeful Asks Judge To Spurn AG's Fundraising Suit

    Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones hit back Monday at Attorney General Chris Carr's suit alleging state fundraising laws have given Jones an edge in their upcoming contest for the state governorship, accusing his Republican primary rival of flip-flopping on a law that Carr himself has defended in court on numerous occasions.

  • August 18, 2025

    Moore & Van Allen Wants Out Of Floridians' Malpractice Suit

    Moore & Van Allen PLLC has asked a Florida federal judge to dismiss a malpractice suit accusing it of mishandling some residents' employee stock ownership trust, claiming that the suit brought against the North Carolina-based firm is being litigated in the wrong venue.

  • August 18, 2025

    LabMD Fights Dinsmore's Bid To Toss Malpractice Suit

    Now-shuttered LabMD Inc. and its CEO are pushing back against a bid from Dinsmore & Shohl LLP and a legal nonprofit to have a malpractice suit in Georgia federal court tossed, saying they haven't abandoned the case but rather were delayed in pursuing arbitration because they were searching for "competent counsel."

  • August 18, 2025

    Stone Hilton Takes Aim At Sex Harassment Claim

    For the second time this month, Stone Hilton PLLC has asked a federal court to trim a former employee's lawsuit, saying her allegations of sexual harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress do not rise to the level of "severe or pervasive" or "extreme and outrageous" as the law requires.

  • August 18, 2025

    Ex-Conrail CEO Loses Bid To Overturn $11M Arbitration Award

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has upheld an $11 million arbitration award against former Conrail CEO David LeVan over a failed Gettysburg casino project that later spurred a legal malpractice case against Saul Ewing LLP in which LeVan claimed he was poorly advised during the deal's fallout.

  • August 18, 2025

    Whiteford Taylor Must Face Wire Fraud Malpractice Suit

    A Maryland federal judge has declined to toss the majority of a malpractice and gross negligence suit brought by the founder of a construction company who accused his former business partners and their shared counsel of being partially to blame for hackers stealing his $4 million share of proceeds from the sale of their business.

  • August 18, 2025

    Burr & Forman Must Face Claims From Healthcare Scheme

    A Georgia federal judge has denied Burr & Forman LLP's bid to escape a lawsuit accusing the firm of being party to a massive healthcare fraud scheme, ruling that it must largely face malpractice and breach of fiduciary claims from a pair of bankruptcy trustees.

Expert Analysis

  • Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys

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    Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.

  • Revisiting The Crime-Fraud Exception After Key Trump Cases

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    Evidence issues in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and classified documents cases involving former President Donald Trump offer an opportunity to restudy elements and implications of the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine, noting the courts' careful scrutiny of these matters, say Robert Hoff and Paul Tuchmann at Wiggin and Dana.

  • Series

    Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • 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.

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