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Legal Ethics
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June 20, 2025
Wash. Municipal Judge Fights State Board's Removal Petition
A suspended Washington municipal court judge has urged the state Supreme Court to reject a judicial board's recommendation that she be removed from the bench for allegedly mistreating staff and attorneys, saying she has been unfairly punished for her former attorney's actions "in a racially charged environment."
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June 20, 2025
Veterans Can't Stop Defendant's Outreach To Potential Class
A group of veterans can't stop a consulting firm from contacting potential class members for help with the firm's defense in a lawsuit alleging it charged millions of dollars in illegal fees, a North Carolina federal magistrate judge has ruled from the bench.
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June 20, 2025
New Trial Ordered Over $25M Fee Split In Verizon Injury Case
A New Jersey appellate panel has ordered a new jury trial to decide how to split a $25 million fee award stemming from a $125 million personal injury settlement with Verizon, finding several errors in a previous lower court bench trial.
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June 20, 2025
Florida Judge Barred From Keeping Police Credentials
Florida's judicial ethics watchdog said a sitting judge who was formerly a police officer in the same county in which the judge presides may not recertify law enforcement credentials, saying it could affect the judge's impartiality.
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June 20, 2025
Conn. Atty Agrees To Suspension After Court No-Shows
A Connecticut estates attorney has agreed to an interim suspension of her law license and will undergo a medical examination after failing to attend scheduled court dates four times in the last 60 days, records in her professional discipline case show.
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June 20, 2025
NJ Court Greenlights Beasley Allen Attys In Talc Litigation
A New Jersey state judge will allow two Beasley Allen Law Firm attorneys to represent a California couple in their suit accusing Johnson & Johnson of selling carcinogenic talc-based baby powder and appear pro hac vice despite the company's vehement opposition.
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June 20, 2025
Mich. Judge Won't Step Aside In Atty Voting Machine Case
A Michigan state judge on Friday said he would not remove himself from overseeing criminal charges against an attorney who is accused of accessing voting machines after the 2020 presidential election, finding there was no evidence to support her claims that he is biased.
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June 20, 2025
Patent Suit Against Alibaba Dropped After Sanctions Bid
Cooperative Entertainment Inc. has ended its patent lawsuit against Alibaba Cloud US LLC after the latter company sought to have the case thrown out earlier this month as a sanction for what it said was "extreme" conduct by opposing counsel.
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June 20, 2025
Boies Schiller Fights DQ Bid In Law Firms' Fee Dispute
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP pushed back on a bid to disqualify the firm in a Florida state court case between pharmaceutical mass tort firms and their former counsel, in which Boies Schiller is both representing itself as a defendant and its co-defendants, arguing there is no conflict because all their defenses are the same.
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June 20, 2025
Wisconsin Judge Gets Court To Weigh Dismissal Before Trial
A Wisconsin federal judge overseeing the government's prosecution of a state judge for allegedly helping an unauthorized immigrant evade arrest canceled a jury trial scheduled for July, saying he will rule on her motion to dismiss first.
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June 18, 2025
Toyota Says DOJ Has Closed Thai Bribery Probe
Toyota said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has closed a long-running Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation concerning allegations of bribery at its Thai subsidiary, the latest such probe to be dropped under the Trump administration.
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June 18, 2025
Nurse Staffing Exec Can't Nix Conviction, Sanctions Floated
A Nevada federal court has refused a nurse staffing executive's bid to undo his conviction on wage-fixing and wire fraud charges, and threatened his attorneys with sanctions for allegedly making repeated misrepresentations to the court.
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June 18, 2025
Ex-Drug Exec Must Testify, But Keeps 5th Amendment Rights
Sandoz, Teva, Actavis and Taro can again subpoena the deposition testimony of a former Actavis and Teva executive, but a Pennsylvania federal judge is still allowing the witness to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, even though the Justice Department dropped the criminal charges against him.
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June 18, 2025
Pa. Injury Atty With 'No Idea Who He Is Suing' Faces Discipline
A Pennsylvania federal judge reprimanded Simon & Simon attorneys Tuesday for letting paralegals file a "cookie-cutter" slip-and-fall lawsuit against Walmart without a presuit investigation and adding store managers as a ploy to beat federal jurisdiction, criticizing counsel for racing through courts "wearing blinders" with "no idea who he is suing."
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June 18, 2025
Atty Accused Of Forgery, Stealing Client's Settlement
An attorney and his firm have been accused by a former client in Colorado state court of negotiating a settlement without his knowledge, forging his signature on the deal and keeping the money for himself.
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June 18, 2025
Judge Warns Overeager Samsung, ZTE Attys Not To Bug Staff
A California federal judge has issued a short, stern warning to counsel in Samsung's antitrust fight against ZTE over its standard essential patents' licensing practices, telling counsel not to contact court staff again about the status of their pending stipulation and noting "future improper communications to court staff may result in sanctions."
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June 18, 2025
FTC, Amazon Trade Blows Over Attempts To End Prime Case
The Federal Trade Commission and Amazon have slammed one another in federal court filings over their competing bids to win regulators' case targeting Prime subscription enrollment practices, continuing to spar over the applicability of a consumer protection law shielding online shoppers.
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June 18, 2025
NJ Justices Take On Shielding Atty ID In Public Records Case
The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed this week to weigh in on whether a municipal prosecutor must turn over the identity of a third-party attorney who provided her with collegial legal advice in a traffic infraction case under public records access laws.
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June 18, 2025
Atty Told To Fix AI 'Train Wreck' In Multiple Fla. Courts
A Florida federal judge expressed outrage toward an attorney's reliance on artificial intelligence to draft filings with fake legal citations, ordering counsel in a fight over a $5 million Canadian judgment to submit supplemental briefs in order to fix a "train wreck" that spans several cases in multiple courts.
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June 18, 2025
California Bar Exam Woes Latest Chapter In Ongoing Scrutiny
Recent headline-grabbing blunders with the February California bar exam represent a stumbling block in a yearslong effort to reshape the exam, with an eye toward equity and accessibility for the more than 10,000 applicants who sit for the exam each year.
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June 18, 2025
Jeanine Pirro Faring Better Than Earlier Pick For DC US Atty
President Donald Trump's second pick for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, former judge and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, seems to be having an easier time than the previous contender, Ed Martin.
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June 18, 2025
Trump Organization Taps DLA Piper Atty As Ethics Adviser
President Donald Trump's family business said Wednesday that it has named a leader of DLA Piper's government affairs and public policy practice as its outside ethics adviser.
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June 18, 2025
Firm Can't Keep Atty's Fla. Whistleblower Suit​ In Federal Court
A Florida judge sent a whistleblower's lawsuit against her former law firm Matthiesen Wickert & Lehrer SC to state court, finding that the firm failed to prove the amount in controversy exceeded a $75,000 threshold to stay in federal court.
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June 18, 2025
NJ Judiciary Hit With Pregnancy Bias Suit From Court Exec
A court executive has claimed that the New Jersey judiciary is guilty of retaliating and discriminating against her by allegedly reducing her pay raise because she went on maternity leave, according to a new state complaint.
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June 18, 2025
NC Bar Lacks Power To Punish NY-Licensed Atty, Panel Rules
The North Carolina State Bar can't discipline lawyers who may reside in the state but are not licensed to practice there, a state appellate panel ruled Wednesday in reversing the disbarment of an immigration attorney who lives in the Tar Heel State but is licensed in New York.
Expert Analysis
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How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market
Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.
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Series
Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step
From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Avoiding Legal Ethics Landmines In Preindictment Meetings
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's recent bribery conviction included obstruction charges based on his former lawyer's preindictment presentation to prosecutors, highlighting valuable lessons on the legal ethics rules implicated in these kinds of defense presentations, say Steve Miller and Hilary Gerzhoy at HWG.
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Series
Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer
When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.
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Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity
The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: July Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers cases touching on pre- and post-conviction detainment conditions, communications with class representatives, when the American Pipe tolling doctrine stops applying to modified classes, and more.
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Opinion
Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism
As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
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Lawyers Must Be Careful When Using Listservs
The American Bar Association's formal opinion from May correctly states that attorneys must obtain clients' consent before posing related questions to listservs, but potential risks and drawbacks of using listservs go beyond those highlighted by the ABA, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.