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Legal Ethics
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July 25, 2025
11th Circ. Calls Dismissal Of Ga. Bar Bias Suit 'Indefensible'
An Eleventh Circuit panel appeared all but certain Friday that it would revive a Georgia attorney's race bias suit against the state's bar association, calling a federal district court's dismissal of her claims that the bar has a two-tiered disciplinary system "indefensible."
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July 25, 2025
Former Jan. 6 Prosecutor, 2 Other Ex-DOJ Employees File Suit
A former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has filed a federal lawsuit along with two other ex-Department of Justice employees alleging they were unlawfully fired.
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July 25, 2025
Boston Atty To Cop To Stealing $2M From Clients
A Boston lawyer will plead guilty to stealing more than $2 million from clients and may face more than four years in prison per the terms of his plea deal, Massachusetts federal prosecutors announced.
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July 25, 2025
Will Tom Girardi's Wardrobe Mishap Help His Appeal?
When legendary attorney Tom Girardi's pants fell down as he finished testifying in his defense, the judge had to decide: Was this a desperate bid to feign incompetence and avoid prison for stealing client funds, or just an accident by an 86-year-old man with dementia? And if it really was an accident, does it now give Girardi a shot at winning his appeal and overturning his sentence?
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July 25, 2025
Calif. Court Axes Deported Man's Drug Plea Over Atty Advice
A California appeals court has vacated the drug conviction of a Mexican national and U.S. resident and has told the lower court to set a trial on the charge, finding he wasn't properly told by his lawyer that pleading guilty would lead to deportation.
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July 24, 2025
NJ Atty To Pay SEC Fine Over Alleged Prime Bank Fraud Role
A New Jersey attorney and a California man will pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a total of $134,000 as part of agreements to resolve the regulator's allegations they helped bilk an older couple out of over $150,000 through a so-called prime bank scheme.Â
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July 24, 2025
Alina Habba Says She Is Now Acting US Atty In NJ
Alina Habba posted on social media Thursday that she is now the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, two days after the federal district court declined to extend her tenure in the interim position.
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July 24, 2025
Shipowner Settles Longshoreman's Personal Injury Claims
A Georgia longshoreman and a cargo ship owner have settled a federal lawsuit accusing the company of negligence after a gangway handrail collapse that injured the worker, according to a judge's order dismissing the case.
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July 29, 2025
CORRECTED: Nonprofit Attys Get OK To Appear In Yale Defamation Suit
The Connecticut Appellate Court on July 23 allowed six out-of-state attorneys representing special interest groups to appear in an appeal questioning whether an unapproved amicus brief in a separate case defamed an acquitted ex-Yale student.
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July 24, 2025
NJ Attys Warn RICO Case Revival Would 'Chill' Lawyering
The New Jersey State Bar Association told a Garden State appellate court that lawyers across the state will be chilled from zealously advocating for their clients if it revives the state's racketeering indictment against two politically connected attorneys, making it the second attorney advocacy group to file a proposed amicus curiae brief in the case.
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July 24, 2025
Akerman Faces $45M Malpractice Suit From Health Biz In Fla.
Akerman LLP and one of its attorneys have been hit with a $45 million malpractice lawsuit in Florida state court from a former client who develops healthcare facilities and claims the firm botched a commercial lease form.
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July 24, 2025
Jay-Z Defends Extortion Claims Against Buzbee, Other Attys
Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter is urging an Alabama federal court to send toward trial his extortion lawsuit against attorney Tony Buzbee and his firm, a New York City lawyer and her firm, and a client of theirs who accused him of rape and then dropped her case.
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July 24, 2025
Ex-Calif. Judge Says 'Trying To Do Too Much' Led To Backlog
A former California state appellate justice said health problems and a strong work ethic harmed his ability to handle his caseload quickly, leading to delays in hundreds of cases that precipitated ethics charges, telling a watchdog he "can only be faulted for trying to do too much under the circumstances."
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July 24, 2025
Butler Snow Attys DQ'd For Fake AI Citations In Prisoner Case
Three Butler Snow LLP attorneys have been publicly reprimanded and removed from representing the former commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections in an incarcerated man's federal civil rights case, after a judge found they had filed motions including "hallucinations" generated by ChatGPT.
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July 24, 2025
Bets On Atty's Lien Biz Lost Millions, Investor Tells Jury
A seasoned investor told a Manhattan federal jury Thursday that he heavily backed a tax-lien fund controlled by a lawyer now accused of fraud, ultimately losing $2.9 million in supposedly low-risk bets where such losses were "not supposed to be possible."
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July 24, 2025
Buzbee Gets Ex-Client's Fraud Claims Moved To Arbitration
A Louisiana federal court has granted Houston personal injury attorney Tony Buzbee's request for arbitration in a lawsuit by an injured seaman who claims the Texas lawyer and his firm bilked him out of settlement funds in a Jones Act lawsuit.
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July 24, 2025
Chamberlain Hrdlicka Wins Bid To Arbitrate Malpractice Claim
Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Autry PC won a Texas state appellate decision Thursday forcing a former client to arbitrate his claims that the firm's alleged malpractice over a business restructuring ultimately cost him millions in a divorce.
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July 23, 2025
NJ Fed. Judge Pulls Opinion Flagged With Nonexistent Quotes
A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday withdrew his decision declining to dismiss a securities class action against CorMedix Inc. after an attorney for the biopharmaceutical firm pointed out the opinion contained "a series of errors," including nonexistent quotes and misstated decisions.
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July 23, 2025
Hinshaw Must Face Malpractice Suit, Fla. Panel Says
A Florida appeals panel overturned Wednesday a lower court decision favoring Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in a malpractice claim brought by a pilot safety training company, ruling that the company didn't abandon its claims by settling an underlying arbitration.
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July 23, 2025
Oakley Penalized For Failing To Preserve Texts In MSG Spat
A New York federal judge Wednesday declined to dismiss the assault and battery lawsuit launched by former New York Knicks player Charles Oakley against Madison Square Garden and said it will not impose monetary sanctions, related to destroyed text messages, against two law firms representing him.
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July 23, 2025
Ex-Cannabis Co. CFO OK'd To Argue Good Faith In SEC Case
A former executive of cannabis company Acreage Holdings Inc., accused of falsifying the company's financials, will be permitted to argue that he was acting in good faith, a Manhattan federal judge said Wednesday, finding it was too early to know whether attorney-client privilege would block his defense.
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July 23, 2025
ACLU's Brief Rejected In Ex-Yale Student's Defamation SuitÂ
The ACLU's Connecticut litigation arm and five other legal advocacy groups cannot file friend-of-the-court briefs in former Yale University student Saifullah Khan's defamation case against 16 others that filed a rejected amici brief in a separate state Supreme Court matter, a state appeals court has ruled.
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July 23, 2025
Sen. Collins Opposes Bove For 3rd Circ. Over Bias Concerns
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, will oppose the confirmation of Emil Bove to the Third Circuit, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has also indicated her likely opposition.
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July 23, 2025
NJ Power Broker Blasts AG's Bid To Revive RICO Case
Garden State power broker George E. Norcross IIIÂ on Wednesday urged a New Jersey appeals court to affirm the dismissal of the state's explosive racketeering indictment, arguing the trial court was right to toss the charges because there are no factual allegations in the indictment that amount to a crime.
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July 23, 2025
Takeaways From The US Attorney Role Tumult In New Jersey
The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey was thrown into turmoil Tuesday with a leadership dispute that remained open Wednesday, teeing up a battle between the White House and the Garden State's senators on Capitol Hill.
Expert Analysis
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How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'
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.
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Opinion
Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process
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.
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The Ethics of Using Generative AI In Environmental Law
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.
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What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires
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.
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Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support
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.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons
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.
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Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where
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.
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Crypto Gatekeepers May Be The Next Front Of Enforcement
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.
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Series
Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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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Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing
Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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Opinion
The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address
A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Opinion
It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union
As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
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5 Defense Lessons From Prosecutors' Recent Evidence Flubs
The recent dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter charges, and the filing of an ethics complaint against a former D.C. prosecutor, both provide takeaways for white collar defense counsel who suspect that prosecutors may be withholding or misrepresenting evidence, say Anden Chow at MoloLamken and Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.