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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

  • 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.

  • How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'

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    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.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process

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    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.

  • The Ethics of Using Generative AI In Environmental Law

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    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.

  • What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires

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    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.

  • Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support

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    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.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons

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    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.

  • Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where

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    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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