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Legal Ethics Forum 

Covering Legal Ethics
Post Frequency: 11.2/day Last Entry: August 14, 2020 at 13:23:48 Recent Entries: 2870
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Interdisciplinary studies in non-elite schools
Posted on January 21, 2008Brian Tamanaha kicked off the debate. My views are close to Larry Ribstein's. Self-serving regulation keeps law schools in a straitjacket, to the detriment of students and society and to the benefit of professors and existing lawyers. Let's re-introduce the...
Stunning Ethics Case in Virginia
Posted on January 19, 2008The New York Times has the story. Basically, a lawyer represented one of two men in the late 1990's who was accused of killing another man during a robbery. A critical issue in the case was who pulled the trigger,...
Who Should Regulate Lawyers?
Posted on January 18, 2008Here's a nice article from the National Law Journal, which describes the battle in some states between the legislature and the judiciary regarding who should regulate lawyers. These state skirmishes mirror recent struggles between the ABA and the federal government...
Stoneridge: win for the defense; "scheme liability' rejected
Posted on January 15, 2008Opinion here. "Scheme liability" is rejected. I don't have time to comment but I imagine the blawgosphere will be discussing it. A big win for defendants -- and for law firms that represent public companies.
David Luban on Padilla v. Yoo
Posted on January 13, 2008The always-worth-reading David Luban posts his thoughts about Padilla v. Yoo over at Balinization. I can't respond right away, but can offer a quick couple of thoughts. 1. Luban emphasizes Yoo's participation not merely in the role of lawyer within...
Want to help write my Inn of Court presentation?
Posted on January 12, 2008I'm drafting a presentation for my Inn of Court, to be delivered next month. We have judges (appellate and trial; state and federal), practitioners (mostly litigators) and students (Santa Clara, Lincoln, Stanford). The idea is to present a vignette that...
More Fun From Florida
Posted on January 10, 2008Oh Florida Bar, you make blogging so much fun. Here's yet another story from the Sunshine State. This time, the Bar is trying to stop a lawyer from using the slogan "Don't settle for less than you deserve," even though...
Will Qualcomm Do What Fisons Didn't?
Posted on January 09, 2008There's no need to add to David's excellent posts on Qualcomm (below), but I will offer one prediction: Qualcomm will do what Fisons didn't. There was some discussion about whether Fisons would usher in a new era of "good behavior"...
Lessons from Qualcomm
Posted on January 09, 2008The Qualcomm order offers useful lessons for anyone involved in big-case litigation. Subject to the important qualification that this list might be different if we knew the privileged information we do not know, here are my candidates: 1. Division of...
The Qualcomm Order
Posted on January 09, 2008Judge Major wrote a very impressive 48-page opinion sanctioning six attorneys and Qualcomm itself for what the court saw as massive discovery misconduct. It is not a surprise to anyone attending the hearing. I think the court essentially had to...
Qualcomm Sanctions Order
Posted on January 08, 2008Here it is: Download QualcommSanctionsMotion.pdf. I have to run to class. I'll comment later. DM
Overheard During a Recent Law Dean Search
Posted on January 08, 2008Dean Search Committee Chair: We believe that the Committee has brought to you three outstanding decanal candidates. The first, Hillary Clintlock, is a Yale Law grad. She started her career at a law firm and then spent a considerable amount...
Jose Padilla and his mother sue John Yoo (former OLC lawyer)
Posted on January 04, 2008I [now have read] the complaint, [and the blogosphere has been] hopping on news that Jose Padilla and his mother have sued John Yoo ( Orin Kerr and many others at Volokh and Duncan Hollis at Opinio Juris). The graveman...
Shark Tank in a Lawyer's Office
Posted on January 03, 2008Now that's creative marketing. But do you have any doubt that, if this happened in Florida, the lawyer would be disciplined?
Civility and All That
Posted on January 02, 2008A post on the LPB, referring to this Michigan disciplinary ruling, brought the topic of civility to mind. Since I began paying attention to the legal business in 1984,a few themes have remained constant in talk about the state of...
My Analysis of the "Puzzle"
Posted on January 01, 2008Following up on my ethics puzzle below, I thought I?d say a few more words about why I think this situation is interesting and, in some ways, puzzling. I agree with the commenters who say that the "right" answer is...
An Ethics/Moral Puzzle for the New Year
Posted on December 30, 2007Someone I know hired a landscaper to build a stone patio in his backyard. The landscaper completed the job, and the person I know never heard a peep. No bill. Nothing. After four months or so, it became increasingly apparent...
Reporting a corporate investigation to a Board with adverse interests can destroy the privilege.
Posted on December 27, 2007In an article titled, "Delaware Ruling May Let Plaintiffs Pierce Backdating Probes," American Lawyer Media covers an important case about loss of attorney client privilege. The key graf: The Delaware court ruled Nov. 30 that the special committee investigating backdating...
Last Plea for Votes
Posted on December 21, 2007We previously asked for votes in the ABA's Legal Ethics Blawg category, which matters to about five people. Ok, maybe four. In any event, we are now losing ground to the Legal Profession Blog in our attempt to win the...
Mayer Brown partner criminally charged in Refco fallout
Posted on December 18, 2007News story here (w/a nod to ABA's Daily News) SEC press release here. Indictment here. As you may recall, after Refco went belly-up, Weil Gotshal filed a massive RICO action against Mayer Brown, alleging that the firm had participated in...
Two Career Couples and Conflicts of Interest: FTC Commissioner Declines to Recuse Herself
Posted on December 15, 2007Here's an increasingly common problem: a two-career couple raises conflict of interest questions. The FTC Commission Chair, Deborah Platt Majoras, has denied requests to recuse herself from ruling on the proposed merger of Google and Double-click. Majoras's statement is here...
Top Ten Legal Ethics Stories of 2007 (Updated)
Posted on December 14, 2007UPDATE: The California Supreme Court's decision in Rico v. Mitsubishi has moved onto the list, meaning that the Top Ten is now an even dozen -- and we could get to a baker's dozen by year's end. The requirement of...
I was named ABA's "2007 Lawyer of the Year" (runner up)
Posted on December 13, 2007I am deeply honored about being named by the ABA as a "2007 (Runner-up) Lawyer of the Year." (Take a grain of salt and then scroll down to the part about the "Lawyer-Blogger.") I will delete any comments pointing out...
Members of Congress link accreditation and decline in African-American enrollment in law school
Posted on December 13, 2007The story is, unfortunately, only for subscribers. But here's the first sentence: "Members of Congress are pushing for a detailed study of the accreditation process for the nation's law schools, claiming it may be partly to blame for a decline...
Rico v. Mitsubishi: stop reading and notify; DQ affirmed
Posted on December 13, 2007The California Supremes have issued their opinion in Rico v. Mitsubishi, Here we consider what action is required of an attorney who received privileged documents through inadvertence and whether the remedy of disqualification is appropriate. We conclude that under the...
Rico v. Mitsubishi to be decided tomorrow (inadvertent disclosure)
Posted on December 12, 2007As many of you know, the California Supreme Court has been sitting on two inadvertent disclosure cases for a long, long time. One of them, Rico v. Mitsubishi, will be released tomorrow. In that case, a lawyer came into possession...
Disturbing holding: lawyer must testify against former client
Posted on December 11, 2007Details over at Legal Profession Blog. I understand the rationale, which applies the crime-fraud exception, but it's always jarring to hear of a criminal defense lawyer being a key witness against a former client.
Berkeley's Dean Edley is inaugural holder of legal ethics chair
Posted on December 11, 2007From UC-Berkeley: "Dean Christopher Edley Jr. has been named the inaugural holder of the Honorable William H. Orrick Jr. Distinguished Chair in Legal Ethics and the Legal Profession." I remember appearing before Judge Orrick. I can only paraphrase what he...
Lawyers cleared destruction of tapes?
Posted on December 11, 2007That's what the NYT's anonymous source says. For some time now, I've expected that fewer and fewer lawyers will advise clients that they can discard information, even when it seems lawful to do so. First, you never know what obscure...
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Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...
The company I worked for forced me to quit instead of dealing with someone harassing me, what can I do?
Look up CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE...................this looks like what happened t...

Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...
The company I worked for forced me to quit instead of dealing with someone harassing me, what can I do?
Look up CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE...................this looks like what happened t...








