Legal Profession Blog: Academic

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Academic Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Academic

Legal Profession Blog

Cover legal ethics, bar discipline, business practice, the tension between the bar and the academy, ethical theory, and comparative legal professions.
By Alan Childress, Mike Frisch, and Jeff Lipshaw

Post Frequency: 40.8/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 14:56:26

Judge's Campaign Speech Draws Sanction, Dissents

Posted on June 18, 2009
On motions for rehearing by a disciplined judge and its Commission on Judicial Performance, the Mississippi Supreme Court withdrew an earlier opinion and suspended the now-former judge from office for one year. The allegations involved a speech before constituents in...

Time Served

Posted on June 17, 2009
The Oklahoma Supreme Court determined that an attorney's conviction for failure to file tax returns warranted professional discipline. The court held that the time since the attorney's interim suspension for the comviction was the appropriate measure of discipline and, in...

Law Student Career Options Program

Posted on June 17, 2009
From the web page of the District of Columbia Bar: On June 25 the program ?Law Students, Know Thy Career Options!? will return to help aspiring attorneys determine their career paths. The program is jointly sponsored by the Asian Pacific...

Permanent Disbarment Proposed For Former CFO

Posted on June 17, 2009
The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has recommended that an attorney convicted of theft be permanently disbarred. The attorney was the chief financial officer of Kiko Foods, Inc. and had direct access to and control of the corporate bank accounts and...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Second Disbarment May Be Permanent

Posted on June 17, 2009
The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has recommended the permanent disbarment of a lawyer who had been disbarred in 1986 and readmitted in 1999. In addition to findings of ethical violations in a number of client-related matters, the board found that...

Admonition For Confidentiality Breach

Posted on June 16, 2009
A recent admonition reported on the web page of the Massachusetts Bar Counsel; ADMONITION NO. 09-08 CLASSIFICATION: Improper Disclosure of Confidences of Lawyer?s or Firm?s former Client [Mass. R. Prof. C. 1.9(c)(1)] SUMMARY: The respondent began working for an asset...

Claims Dismissed

Posted on June 16, 2009
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department affirmed an order dismissing a number of claims against lawyers and a law firm: Plaintiff alleges fraud and fraudulent inducement against all defendants, breach of contract against the Weksler brothers,...

"Each Case Is Unique"

Posted on June 16, 2009
The Illinois Supreme Court imposed a two-year suspension of an attorney on review of the Review Board's proposed six-month suspension. The attorney had engaged in a number of violations included neglect of an estate for 17 years. The court rejected...

Fee Simple

Posted on June 16, 2009
From the web page of the North Carolina State Bar: The Grievance Committee reprimanded [a] Lexington lawyer...for filing a civil action against a former client before the Bar's fee dispute resolution process was completed, charging excessive fees, and charging for...

Misconduct Findings Vacated

Posted on June 16, 2009
An attorney who was reprimanded for ethical violations in a divorce case appealed to the Utah Supreme Court. Although the court concluded that the review sought was a petition for extraordinary relief rather than an appeal, the court held that...

"I Am Not a Nice Guy"

Posted on June 16, 2009
A summary of a recent Massachusetts bar discipline case: The respondent was suspended from the practice of law for a period of six months, with three months to serve and three months suspended for a two-year probationary period based on...

Court Considers Source Of Complaint As Mitigating Factor

Posted on June 15, 2009
A New York attorney formed a corporation for the purpose of bidding on a HUD contract to provide closing agent services on the sales of previously foreclosed properties. The corporation consisted of himself and a non-lawyer, who owned a majority...

Random Audit Leads To Discipline

Posted on June 15, 2009
In a matter that was initiated as a result of a random audit of an attorney's trust account, the Vermont Professional Conduct Board imposed a public reprimand of an attorney who kept a "positive balance" in his trust account. The...

More Reciprocal Discipline News

Posted on June 15, 2009
An interesting day for reciprocal discipline fans. The National Organization of Bar Counsel has posted a recent decision summary: A lawyer may be subject to reciprocal discipline in a jurisdiction where that lawyer is not licensed. Carl M. Weideman, III,...

Like Ceaser's Wife

Posted on June 15, 2009
The New Jersey Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct has recommended a public admonishment of a part-time municipal judge based on findings that the judge's law firm had made a series of four political contributions in the firm name. The judge...

No State Reciprocal Discipline For Federal Contempt

Posted on June 15, 2009
The Georgia Supreme Court dismissed a reciprocal discipline action based on a finding in federal district court that the attorney had engaged in unauthorized practice. The district court found the lawyer in contempt and imposed a fine and fee forfeiture...

Reinstatement Roadmap

Posted on June 15, 2009
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the reinstatement of an attorney who had been suspended for two years in 2006.The misconduct, which involved misuse of entrusted funds, had been the product of his alcoholism. The principal issue in the reinstatement proceeding...

Serious Anger Management Issues

Posted on June 14, 2009
After a defendant charged with assaulting a correctional officer had threatened his attorney, the judge determined that he had forfeited his right to counsel. He was convicted and appealed. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found that the judge had not...

SCRAM

Posted on June 12, 2009
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court accepted a consent discipline proposal and imposed a public censure of an attorney convicted of misdemeanor offenses as a result of a bar fight. He had immediately notified bar authorities of the disposition of the criminal...

Hearing No Objection...

Posted on June 12, 2009
A summary judgment granted to a law firm in a suit for fees was affirmed by the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department: The plaintiff established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law...

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, No...

Posted on June 12, 2009
A recent ethics opinion from Alaska weighs in on the Super Lawyer controversy: The use of lawyer rankings in advertising and promotional press releases has become controversial. Super Lawyers has received the most attention in recent ethics opinions. A minority...

Return To Sender

Posted on June 12, 2009
A New York solo practitioner sued another New York solo practitioner under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act after receiving 14 unsolicited fax communications. The sender specializes in bringing attorney malpractice actions. The New York Supreme Court had granted summary judgment...

Illinois Bar Charges

Posted on June 12, 2009
The Illinois Administrator has filed disciplinary complaints in two matters. One complaint alleges that the attorney wrote a will for a client a month after the client had surgery for brain cancer. The lawyer and his spouse were designated beneficiaries...

Activist Judge Reversed

Posted on June 12, 2009
The Maryland Court of Appeals has reversed criminal convictions and ordered new trials in two separate cases that were tried before the same Baltimore City Circuit judge. The court held that the judge's "repreated and egregious behavior created a fundamentally...

False Testimony In Disciplinary Case Draws Disbarment

Posted on June 11, 2009
An attorney who was found to have engaged in 36 counts of ethics violations involving five clients was disbarred by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department. The lawyer had not helped his cause by attempting to...

Lawyer Sanctioned For Initiating Guardianship Against Former Client

Posted on June 11, 2009
In a case that evaluates the difficulties in representing an elderly client with potentially diminishing capacity, a majority of the Washington State Supreme Court imposed an 18 month suspension of an attorney for initiating a guardianship proceeding against a former...

Certifications Expanded In Florida

Posted on June 11, 2009
The Florida Supreme Court has adopted amendments to the rules governing the Bar that permit certification of specialty in the areas of education law and adoption law. The amended rule, which takes effect immediately, is attached to the court's order....

Reconsideration Of Misappropriation Sanction Rule Narrowly Averted

Posted on June 11, 2009
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals recently entered an order denying en banc consideration of a decision of a three judge division of the court disbarring a lawyer for intentional misappropriation. The division had applied the Addams decision, which...

Relief Reversed

Posted on June 11, 2009
The Rhode Island Supreme Court has held that a motions judge improperly granted post-conviction relief to a defendant who claimed that his trial counsel labored under an impermissible conflict of interest. The lawyer had simultaneously represented a co-defendant in the...

Stayed Suspension For Misconduct As Public Official

Posted on June 11, 2009
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Ohio today imposed a six-month suspension, with the full term of suspension stayed on conditions, against the law license of Cleveland attorney George L. Forbes. The Court...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Update on AILF's Legal Action Center Visa Bulletin Litigation (Updated 7/10/07)
The following is the latest update from AILF regarding its pening ...

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center Legislative Forecast
The ILRC Forecast on Immigration ReformJudith Golub, Executive Dir...

The Christian Legal Society and "discrimation": Response to Susan
In response to Susan's post, I'm inclined to think that, yes, the ...

Stacy Scnheider Legal Commentator Apprentice

Catholic Legal Theory and life and death
Tom Berg’s question regarding the propriety or not of capital pu...