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Legal Ethics

  • May 09, 2025

    NJ Panel Nixes Debt Adjustment Law's Limited Atty Exemption

    The New Jersey state appeals court on Friday ruled that provisions of a state law exposing attorneys representing clients in debt adjustment proceedings to possible civil penalties or criminal charges is unconstitutional and "impermissibly vague."

  • May 09, 2025

    Justice Souter Was An Unexpected Force Of Moderation

    Justice David Souter, who saw the high court as a moderating force apart from the messiness of politics, subverted the expectations of liberals and conservatives alike during his 19 years on the bench.

  • May 09, 2025

    Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter Dies At 85

    Retired Justice David H. Souter, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 to 2009, has died at 85, the court announced Friday. 

  • May 08, 2025

    5th Circ. Wipes Out Southwest Attys' Religious Training Order

    The Fifth Circuit on Thursday held that a lower court overstepped by ordering several in-house Southwest Airlines attorneys to undergo "religious liberty training" following a flight attendant's win in a wrongful termination suit, finding that the training wouldn't benefit the flight attendant or persuade Southwest to comply with an earlier order.

  • May 08, 2025

    Pa. Judge Gives Final OK To $1.1M Inquirer Data Breach Deal

    A Pennsylvania federal judge overseeing a consolidated action accusing the Philadelphia Inquirer of sharing subscribers' video viewing habits with Meta has granted final approval to a $1.1 million settlement, including nearly $375,000 in attorney's fees.

  • May 08, 2025

    Ramey IP Atty Likely To Get Sanctioned Over Netflix Doc Swap

    A California federal judge indicated Thursday he'll likely grant Netflix's request for monetary sanctions against a prolific patent plaintiff's former counsel William Ramey and the Ramey LLP law firm for giving Netflix's confidential information to nonparty AiPi LLC, but probably won't pursue the streamer's request for a civil contempt finding.

  • May 08, 2025

    Judge Seems To Favor Susman Godfrey In Trump Challenge

    A D.C. federal judge appeared poised Thursday to allow Susman Godfrey LLP's challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the firm to proceed or to grant the firm a summary judgment win altogether, after she pressed a government attorney on the president's basis for alleging discrimination at the firm.

  • May 08, 2025

    Dentons Europe, Houston Co. To Settle $4.7M Fee Dispute

    Dentons Europe CS LLP and Houston-area Guidry & Associates Inc.'s $4.7 million fee dispute was dismissed Thursday after the parties notified the court of settlement talks. 

  • May 08, 2025

    Musk Objects To New Job For SEC's Former Litigation Chief

    Elon Musk is opposing a move by plaintiff-side firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP to hire the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's former chief litigation counsel, arguing in a court filing that the lawyer "played a personal and substantial role" in suing Musk while at the SEC.

  • May 08, 2025

    Apple Asks 9th Circ. To Pause New App Store Injunction

    Apple has asked the Ninth Circuit to pause parts of a California federal court's new injunction mandating changes to its App Store policies, issued after finding Apple violated a previous order, saying the "punitive" measures force it to give away free access to its products.

  • May 08, 2025

    Ga. Atty Wins Appeal In 'Too Broadly' Applied Fees Ruling

    A Georgia Court of Appeals panel on Thursday threw out a trial court order requiring an Atlanta-based family law attorney and his client to pay about $86,484 in attorney fees from a contested divorce proceeding, finding that the trial court applied a statute "too broadly" among other missteps.

  • May 08, 2025

    Fla. Judge To Get Reprimand For Calling Attorney An 'Ass'

    The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday accepted a recommendation from the state's judicial disciplinary body to publicly reprimand a state judge who has apologized for calling an assistant state attorney an "ass" and making other inappropriate remarks directed toward prosecutors.

  • May 08, 2025

    Fla. Judge Suspended For Spreading Campaign Gossip

    A Florida state judge will be suspended for 10 days without pay after she admitted that actions she took during her 2022 reelection campaign violated the code of judicial conduct, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

  • May 08, 2025

    ABA Defends Free Speech In Response To DOJ's Grant Cutoff

    The American Bar Association has told the D.C. federal court the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to cut domestic violence-related grants to the ABA violates its First Amendments rights and sets a precedent that would allow the government to "silence all manner of opposition."

  • May 08, 2025

    Convicted Atty In Embassy Attack Seeks To Avoid Restitution

    A Florida attorney sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison for damaging a San Antonio sculpture and unsuccessfully trying to detonate explosives outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., has asked the court to eliminate his $325,000 restitution obligation because of his inability to pay.

  • May 08, 2025

    Miami Atty Disbarred Over Insistence Of Foreclosure Fraud

    The Florida Supreme Court disbarred a Miami attorney after accusations that he misled courts, impugned judges and brought frivolous pleadings over his insistence that clients' homes were fraudulently foreclosed, despite previous suspensions from allegations of similar conduct in the past.

  • May 08, 2025

    Pa. Jury Awards $165K To Teachers In Equal Pay Suit

    A Pennsylvania jury awarded a total of $165,000 in damages to two female teachers who claimed they had been unfairly paid less than their male counterparts in the Central Bucks School District Thursday.

  • May 08, 2025

    Jury Says Firm Owes Ex-HR Exec $3.27M In Retaliation Case

    A Tennessee federal jury said a personal injury firm should pay $3.27 million to a former chief people officer who claimed she was fired after raising concerns that female attorneys were being paid less than men.

  • May 08, 2025

    Trump Replaces Martin With Pirro As US Atty Pick

    President Donald Trump said Thursday he would withdraw the nomination of Ed Martin for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, replacing him with former judge and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.

  • May 08, 2025

    Critics Warn Tenn. Middle District Rule Could 'Chill' Speech

    Two public interest nonprofit law firms have expressed concerns that local rule changes proposed by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee regarding public communications by lawyers amid litigation are unconstitutionally vague and could impede attorneys' constitutional right to free speech.

  • May 07, 2025

    Girardi Hospitalized Ahead Of Mental Evaluation Hearing

    Disbarred attorney Tom Girardi was hospitalized Wednesday for a liver problem and is unable to attend a scheduled hearing Thursday before a California federal judge who is evaluating his mental health to determine if he should be sent to prison, according to a filing with the court by his attorneys. 

  • May 07, 2025

    9th Circ. Judge Suggests Sidelining Peers To Curb Injunctions

    With the U.S. Supreme Court set for a seminal showdown over nationwide injunctions, observers are advocating wide-ranging outcomes, and a Ninth Circuit judge entered the fray Wednesday by proposing that district judges be blackballed for blatant overreach or perceived bias.

  • May 07, 2025

    Perkins Coie's DQ Applies To MoFo Co-Counsel, IP Judge Told

    FaceTec Inc. told a California federal judge it plans to seek to disqualify Morrison Foerster LLP from representing Jumio Corp. in patent infringement litigation involving facial recognition technology, arguing the law firm previously served as co-counsel with recently disqualified Perkins Coie LLP and therefore can't now replace Perkins Coie.

  • May 07, 2025

    Bergdahl Asks DC Circ. To Uphold Conviction Toss

    Former U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl urged the D.C. Circuit to affirm a district court judge's dismissal of his court-martial conviction and sentence, and also to reverse holdings that his case was not subject to unlawful command influence by politicians, including President Donald Trump.

  • May 07, 2025

    Judge Warns Feds Impending Libya Flights Would Defy Order

    The federal government's reported plan to imminently deport migrants to Libya "would clearly violate" a court order requiring that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security provide due process protections for immigrants facing deportation to countries where they have no prior ties, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • How White Collar Defense Attys Can Use Summary Witnesses

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    Few criminal defense attorneys have successfully utilized summary witnesses in the past, but several recent success stories show that it can be a worthwhile trial tactic to help juries understand the complex decision-making at issue, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Opinion

    6 Changes I Would Make If I Ran A Law School

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    Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner identifies several key issues plaguing law schools and discusses potential solutions, such as opting out of the rankings game and mandating courses in basic writing skills.

  • Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware

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    Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Top 10 Legal Malpractice Defenses As Claims Tick Up

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    As legal malpractice claims and payouts increase, law firms should remember certain time-tested defenses, such as asserting no duty to nonclients, omissions beyond the scope of engagement or lack of proximate cause, say attorneys at Goulston & Storrs.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out

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    In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Immigration Atty Tips For Avoiding Prosecution Under Trump

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    Under the incoming Trump administration, immigration attorneys may need to protect themselves from prosecution when advising clients who may not qualify for relief sought by choosing their words carefully and keeping other key factors in mind, says Michele Carney at Carney & Marchi.

  • The Malpractice Perils Of Elder Abuse Liability

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    Recent cases show that the circumstances under which an attorney may be sued for financial elder abuse remain unsettled, but practitioners can avoid these malpractice claims altogether by taking proactive steps, like documenting the process of evaluating a client's directives under appropriate standards, says Edward Donohue at Hinshaw & Culbertson.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity

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    Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Plugging Gov't Leaks Is Challenging, But Not A Pipe Dream

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    As shown by ongoing legal battles involving New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Sean “Diddy” Combs, it’s challenging for defendants to obtain relief when they believe the government leaked sensitive information to the media, but defense counsel can take certain steps to mitigate the harm, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

  • Series

    Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review

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    For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On

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    Career prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice often pride themselves on their ability to remain apolitical in order to ensure consistency and keep the department’s mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.

  • California Supreme Court's Year In Review

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    Attorneys at Horvitz & Levy highlight notable decisions on major questions from the California Supreme Court's last term, including voter initiatives, hostile work environment and the economic loss rule.

  • What Lawyers Can Learn From High School AI Suit

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    A pending Massachusetts lawsuit regarding artificial intelligence use in an academic setting underscores the need for attorneys to educate themselves on AI technology and tools that affect their clients so they can advise on establishing clear expectations and limits around the permissible use of AI, say attorneys at Hinckley Allen.

  • Service Providers Must Mitigate 'Secondary Target' Risks

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    A lawsuit recently filed in an Illinois federal court against marketing agency Publicis over its work for opioid manufacturers highlights an uptick in litigation against professional service providers hired by clients that engaged in alleged misconduct — so potential targets of such suits should be sure to conduct proper risk analysis and mitigation, say attorneys at Dechert.

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