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Legal Ethics
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May 14, 2025
Judge Rejects DQ Of Smith Gambrell In Defamation Suit
A New York federal judge denied a former Major Lindsey & Africa recruiter's bid to disqualify Smith Gambrell from representing Major Lindsey in the employee's $75 million federal defamation suit, saying the request wasn't ripe for consideration yet.
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May 14, 2025
Pa. Justices Seem OK With Transit Crimes Special Prosecutor
Elements of Pennsylvania's Constitution seem to support the Legislature's ability to single out Philadelphia and its district attorney, Larry Krasner, for special treatment in a law establishing a "special prosecutor" for crimes committed within its regional transit agency, several state Supreme Court justices suggested during arguments on Krasner's challenge to the law Wednesday.
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May 14, 2025
Wis. Judge Seeks To Nix Charges Of Blocking ICE Arrest
The Wisconsin state judge arrested for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade arrest moved to dismiss the "unprecedented" federal criminal case against her on Wednesday, claiming it blatantly violates the separation of powers principles at the heart of the U.S. Constitution.
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May 14, 2025
ExxonMobil Accuses Texas Atty Of Double Repping Company
Exxon Mobil and XTO Energy have accused a Texas attorney of taking their trade secrets connected to mineral interests and using them to benefit another energy company he is also representing.
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May 14, 2025
'Plaintiffs Are Wrong' In New Recusal Bid, Ga. Judge Says
A Georgia federal judge doubled down Wednesday on his refusal to recuse himself from a defamation case in which the plaintiff's counsel claimed he called their client a "fraud," writing that the "plaintiffs are wrong" that he misstated facts about a related case.
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May 14, 2025
Judge Who Defended Remarks As 'Dad Jokes' Is Suspended
The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended a state judge pending disposition of allegations that he made inappropriate jokes and comments while overseeing a criminal docket that he claimed were mostly inoffensive "dad jokes."
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May 14, 2025
Ex-Paralegal's Bias Claims Still Thin, Pennsylvania Firm Says
A former Zator Law LLC's paralegal's amended complaint claiming that the firm fired her on the basis of her panic disorder condition lacks specific details about her disability that would support her discrimination and retaliation claims, according to a motion to dismiss recently filed by Zator Law.
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May 14, 2025
DC Judge Restores Canceled ABA Domestic Violence Grants
A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday reinstated terminated federal grant funding for the American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence, finding that "the First Amendment prohibits the type of reprisal DOJ appears likely to have taken."
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May 14, 2025
NJ Firm Blume Forte Seeks To Arbitrate Disability Bias Claims
New Jersey personal injury firm Blume Forte Fried Zerres & Molinari PC is seeking to force the arbitration of claims from a former staffer regarding her dismissal after being hospitalized for a seizure.
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May 14, 2025
Judiciary To Share Pros, Cons Of AI For Courts With Congress
The federal judiciary is looking at the benefits and drawbacks of artificial intelligence for the court system and will share its discoveries with Congress, top officials testified on Wednesday.
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May 14, 2025
Judge Beats Ex-Law Student's Suit At 11th Circ.
The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday largely upheld the dismissal of a suit from a former law student and federal prosecutors' intern accusing a Florida federal judge and government attorneys of ruining his job prospects, finding that the judge has immunity while the lawyers' acts were mostly part of their jobs.
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May 14, 2025
DOJ Says No Hiring Private Counsel From Firms Suing US
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has issued a memo directing the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid engaging with firms that are suing the government over its policies or that represent clients in similar suits.
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May 13, 2025
Wis. Grand Jury Indicts Judge Accused Of Blocking ICE Arrest
A Wisconsin federal grand jury on Tuesday returned a two-count indictment against the state judge arrested for allegedly helping an unauthorized immigrant evade arrest by federal immigration officers.
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May 13, 2025
Pot Payment Co. Wants Court To Enforce $1.3M Deal
A Boulder, Colorado, fintech company said its former business associates in a failed joint venture to create a cannabis payment system cannot be trusted to pay the $1.3 million settlement meant to end all claims of fraud, urging a Nevada federal court to step in and force them to follow through.
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May 13, 2025
SEC Says Ex-Pot Co. CFO Can't Cite Atty Advice As Shield
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told a New York federal judge that a former executive of cannabis company Acreage Holdings Inc. accused of falsifying the company's financials cannot allege he was relying on advice from attorneys without forgoing the attorney-client privilege that would shield those communications.
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May 13, 2025
Boeing Slams Defunct Airline's Sanctions Bid In 737 Max Spat
Boeing has fired back at defunct airline Comair's bid to get the major American aerospace company sanctioned for deleting evidence of a side letter that purportedly assured Comair that its deposit for the purchase of 737 Max jets was refundable, telling a Washington federal court that no such assurances were made in the nonexistent letter.
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May 13, 2025
Did AI Co. Anthropic's Expert Cite AI-Hallucinated Study?
Music publishers claiming artificial intelligence company Anthropic infringed their works to train its AI models told a California federal magistrate judge Tuesday that an Anthropic expert witness cited a "fictitious" AI-generated study in a recently filed declaration, urging the judge to sanction the company's Latham & Watkins attorneys for not catching the issue.
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May 13, 2025
IT Worker Accuses Feds Of Malware Trial Evidence 'Ambush'
A former IT worker at an Ohio power management company has asked for a new trial on charges that he intentionally corrupted his employer's computer system with malware, saying prosecutors withheld evidence until the last minute that directly rebutted a key aspect of his defense.
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May 13, 2025
Law Firms Expected To Settle Veteran's TCPA Suit
A veteran told a North Carolina federal judge he expects to settle a suit accusing several law firms and lawyers of badgering him about representing him in litigation over Camp Lejeune's drinking water even though he was never stationed at the base.
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May 13, 2025
Buzbee Beats Suit Claiming He Coerced Client To Settle
Texas attorney Anthony Buzbee, who is making headlines by filing sexual abuse lawsuits against music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, has defeated a malpractice suit filed in Louisiana federal court by a ship captain alleging that the attorney pushed him to settle a work injury claim, then took 98% of the final disbursement.
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May 13, 2025
CFTC Faces Sanctions For 'Bad Faith' Actions In Forex Case
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is staring down sanctions in a case accusing a foreign exchange firm of fraud, with a special master recommending Tuesday that the agency pay the firm's legal fees for acting in bad faith in order to gain a "tactical advantage" in the case.
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May 13, 2025
MoFo DQ Sought In IP Case After Perkins Coie Ouster
A software developer pursuing intellectual property claims against another technology company in San Francisco federal court has followed through with its threat to seek removal of Morrison & Foerster LLP after it succeeded in disqualifying Perkins Coie LLP, arguing the firms worked closely together and new counsel is necessary to avoid prejudice.
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May 13, 2025
Ga. Justices Nix Atty Immunity Doctrine, Uphold Tossing Case
The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a long-standing attorney immunity doctrine that a lower court found shielded Barnes & Thornburg LLP from a legal malpractice suit, but the justices concluded that a onetime client's claims still fell short.
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May 13, 2025
Ex-Defender Can't Block Mystery Info In Sex Bias Case Appeal
The federal government can submit additional documents from a district court case record in an appeal by a former assistant public defender in North Carolina who accused the federal judiciary of sex bias, the Fourth Circuit ruled Tuesday over the assistant public defender's objections.
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May 13, 2025
Insurers Say McCarter Can't Blame NY Town In $22M Loan Suit
Two insurers asked a Connecticut judge to nix four of McCarter & English LLP's defenses in a $22.3 million lawsuit over the firm's role in crafting loans for recreational improvements in a Long Island, New York, town, saying the firm can't blame municipal officials while defending contract and malpractice claims.
Expert Analysis
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Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises
“No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.
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How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work
Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.
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Series
Competitive Weightlifting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The parallels between the core principles required for competitive weightlifting and practicing law have helped me to excel in both endeavors, with each holding important lessons about discipline, dedication, drive and failure, says Damien Bielli at VF Law.
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Opinion
Inconsistent Injury-In-Fact Rules Hinder Federal Practice
A recent Third Circuit decision, contradicting a previous ruling about whether consumers of contaminated products have suffered an injury in fact, illustrates the deep confusion this U.S. Supreme Court standard creates among federal judges and practitioners, who deserve a simpler method of determining which cases have federal standing, says Eric Dwoskin at Dwoskin Wasdin.
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In-House Counsel Pointers For Preserving Atty-Client Privilege
Several recent rulings illustrate the challenges in-house counsel can face when attempting to preserve attorney-client privilege, but a few best practices can help safeguard communications and effectively assert the privilege in an increasingly scrutinized corporate environment, says Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics.
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Applying ABA Atty Role Guidance To White Collar Matters
The American Bar Association’s recently published guidance, clarifying the duties outside counsel owes to both organizational clients and those organizations' constituents, provides best practices that attorneys representing companies in white collar and other investigative matters should heed, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Series
Collecting Rare Books Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My collection of rare books includes several written or owned by prominent lawyers from early U.S. history, and immersing myself in their stories helps me feel a deeper connection to my legal practice and its purpose, says Douglas Brown at Manatt Health.
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Opinion
Judge Should Not Have Been Reprimanded For Alito Essay
Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor's New York Times essay critiquing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for potential ethical violations absolutely cannot be construed as conduct prejudicial to the administration of the business of the courts, says Ashley London at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.
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Lights, Camera, Ethics? TV Lawyers Tend To Set Bad Example
Though fictional movies and television shows portraying lawyers are fun to watch, Hollywood’s inaccurate depictions of legal ethics can desensitize attorneys to ethics violations and lead real-life clients to believe that good lawyers take a scorched-earth approach, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
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Perspectives
Accountant-Owned Law Firms Could Blur Ethical Lines
KPMG’s recent application to open a legal practice in Arizona represents the first overture by an accounting firm to take advantage of the state’s relaxed law firm ownership rules, but enforcing and supervising the practice of law by nonattorneys could prove particularly challenging, says Seth Laver at Goldberg Segalla.
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AI Will Soon Transform The E-Discovery Industrial Complex
Todd Itami at Covington discusses how generative artificial intelligence will reshape the current e-discovery paradigm, replacing the blunt instrument of data handling with a laser scalpel of fully integrated enterprise solutions — after first making e-discovery processes technically and legally harder.
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When Innovation Overwhelms The Rule Of Law
In an era where technology is rapidly evolving and artificial intelligence is seemingly everywhere, it’s worth asking if the law — both substantive precedent and procedural rules — can keep up with the light speed of innovation, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Imagine The Possibilities Of Openly Autistic Lawyering
Andi Mazingo at Lumen Law, who was diagnosed with autism about midway through her career, discusses how the legal profession can create inclusive workplaces that empower openly autistic lawyers and enhance innovation, and how neurodivergent attorneys can navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with disclosing one’s diagnosis.
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Disciplinary Rule Updates Every Texas Lawyer Needs To Know
Sweeping amendments to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct that recently went into effect provide essential clarity and modernity to rules governing conflicts of interest, client confidentiality and duties to prospective clients, says Robert Tobey at Johnston Tobey.
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Series
Documentary Filmmaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Becoming a documentary filmmaker has allowed me to merge my legal expertise with my passion for storytelling, and has helped me to hone negotiation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are important to both endeavors, says Robert Darwell at Sheppard Mullin.