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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

Call for Papers for "Law Firm Evolution: Brave New World or Business as Usual?"

Posted on June 11, 2009
[posted by Bill Henderson] The Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center has issued a call for papers for a March 2010 conference. The topic could not be more timely: "Law Firm Evolution: Brave...

From the AALS Mid-Year: The Academic-Practice Gap in the Basic Business Associations Course

Posted on June 10, 2009
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw The AALS asked me to give the "junior faculty" perspective on a panel here in Long Beach assessing the state of the basic business associations course. As I noted, it's a strange "junior-ness" as I'm going...

Threats Against Judge No Basis For Recusal

Posted on June 10, 2009
In a decision issued prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Caperton v. Massey Coal, the New Mexico Supreme Court held that a judge had not abused her discretion in denying the recusal motion of a defendant with three...

Large Cushion Fails To Soften Fall

Posted on June 10, 2009
The Maryland Court of Appeals has disbarred an attorney for misconduct in his handling of advanced fees and the operation of his trust account. The attorney, who was admitted in 1975, had worked for a law firm prior to opening...

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Deferred Associates May Serve As Judicial Interns

Posted on June 10, 2009
The Massachusetts Committee on Judicial Ethics has issued an advisory opinion on the propriety of allowing law firm associates with a deferred start date and financial benefits to serve as unpaid judicial interns. The committee does not view the proposed...

Fee Suit Dismissed

Posted on June 09, 2009
A trial court order denying dismissal of a law firm's suit for unpaid fees was reversed by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department. The firm had sued an individual defendant along with the entity client: Accepting...

Stipulated Discipline

Posted on June 09, 2009
An interesting stipulated disposition from the District of Columbia has led to a recommended 60 day suspension, which will be sent to the Court of Appeals for final action. The lawyer agreed the he had misrepresented his status at Pillsbury...

Let The Sunshine In

Posted on June 09, 2009
Legal Ethics Forum reported yesterday that California Chief Trial Counsel Scott Drexel has been denied reappointment. I solicited the views of David Cameron Carr, who represents accused California lawyers and has previously commented on posts on this blog...

Multiple DUIs Violate Rules

Posted on June 09, 2009
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has held that multiple driving while intoxicated offenses violate the rules governing lawyer behavior. The court also affirmed findings of misconduct relating to the failure to supervise a non-lawyer employee. The court noted that the offenses...

Bar Alleges Lawyer Misled Client For 27 Years

Posted on June 08, 2009
In a case involving allegations that a lawyer had misled his client about the status of his appeal, the Illinois ARDC has filed charges alleging that the misrepresentations to the client took place over a 27 year period: Between November...

Breaking News

Posted on June 08, 2009
The United States Supreme Court has held (by a 5-4 vote) that disqualification was required in the case involving the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The case involves the election of a justice to the court who thereafter refused...

Conviction Overturned With Instructions To Acquit

Posted on June 08, 2009
Not a legal profession case, but of possible interest is a recent decision of the West Virginia Supreme Court Court of Appeals overturning a murder conviction in a case self-defense in the face of horrific domestic abuse. The court sent...

Stalking Conviction Draws Reciprocal Indefinite Suspension

Posted on June 08, 2009
An attorney had been suspended for three months in New Jersey as a result of a conviction for fourth degree stalking. The Maryland Court of Appeals concluded that an indefinite suspension was the appropriate reciprocal discipline for the conduct, even...

Charges Dismissed

Posted on June 08, 2009
The Georgia Supreme Court accepted a special master's recommendation and dismissed charges of conflict of interest. The accused attorney represented retirees in an administrative ERISA proceeding. An associate joined the lawyer's firm who had previosl;y represented the opposing party and...

Just Visiting

Posted on June 08, 2009
A summary from the IARDC web page of a case decided by the Illinois Review Board: The Administrator charged Norton with misconduct in connection with her representation of a defendant in a first degree murder case. The Administrator alleged that...

Revelation

Posted on June 05, 2009
The Iowa Supreme Court suspended an attorney's license without possibility of reinstatement for eighteen months in a case involving a host of ethical violations in several matters. One finding of misconduct related to the lawyer's deposition of a former client...

Billing Misconduct Charges In Florida

Posted on June 05, 2009
An April 2009 post from the Florida Issues blog: A Jacksonville lawyer accused of overbilling taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to represent poor defendants could face discipline by The Florida Bar, where a formal complaint has been filed against...

Escrow Activity Leads To Immediate Suspension

Posted on June 04, 2009
The New York Appellate Division ordered the immediate suspension of an attorney in light of evidence concerning unexplained withdrawals from an escrow account: The Departmental Disciplinary Committee is now seeking an order...immediately suspending respondent from the practice of law based...

Florida Bar Section May File Amicus Brief

Posted on June 04, 2009
The Florida Supreme Court has held that the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar may file an amicus brief on a matter of interest to the section. The ruling came in a lawsuit initiated to enjoin the brief. The...

The Wrong Way To Get Clients

Posted on June 04, 2009
A summary of a recent bar discipline case from the California Bar Journal: [An attorney] was suspended for two years, stayed, placed on two years of probation with a 60-day actual suspension and he was ordered to prove his rehabilitation...

"Egregious Abdication Of... Ethical Obligations"

Posted on June 04, 2009
An interesting "case of the month" from the National Organization of Bar Counsel: A federal prosecutor?s personal animosity leading to a collateral investigation of an opposing defense team warrants sanction. On April 9, 2009, Judge Alan Gold of the United...

Law Firm Not Liable To Hedge Fund Investors

Posted on June 04, 2009
The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of an action brought by hedge fund investors against the fund's law firm. the court concluded that "neither the allegations in the complaint nor the surrounding circumstances give rise to the...

Costs Award Overturned For Threatening Letter To Adverse Witness

Posted on June 04, 2009
A majority of the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department overturned an award of costs against a client and lawyer that was based on the lawyer's letter to an adverse witness in an anticipated arbitration hearing concerning...

Ex Parte Contacts Draw Reprimand

Posted on June 04, 2009
The Mississippi Supreme Court approved a sanction that had been proposed by the Commission on Judicial Performance and imposed a public reprimand along with a fine and costs of a justice court judge. The matter involved a defendant charged with...

The Never-Ending Wrong

Posted on June 03, 2009
An interesting decision of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals deals with the literary estate of noted writer Katherine Anne Porter. Ms. Porter died testate in 1980, leaving a literary trust for the benefit of the University of Maryland College...

Torpedoed

Posted on June 03, 2009
A former New Jersey part-time judge was permanently barred from future judicial office by order of the New Jersey Supreme Court. The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct had concluded that the judge had engaged in misconduct by presiding in court...

Judge's DWI Leads To Censure

Posted on June 03, 2009
The New Jersey Supreme Court censured a municipal court judge as a result of a drunk driving incident. Details of the underlying incident from a report last December in the Cape May County Herald: A local municipal court judge charged...

Jury May Decide If Hazing Was Pretext For Coach's Dismissal

Posted on June 03, 2009
From the web page of the Bangor (Maine) Daily News: The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has sent back to Penobscot County Superior Court a former Brewer softball coach?s claim that she was fired because she is a lesbian. The court...

Imputed Conflict Does Not Result In Reversal Of Murder Conviction

Posted on June 02, 2009
The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the first degree murder conviction of a defendant on charges that he had poisened his wife. The defendant had claimed that his counsel labored under a prohibited imputed conflict of interest because a fellow public...

Judicial Compensation In New York

Posted on June 02, 2009
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department today held that a commission created for the purpose, rather than the courts, should address issues relating to judicial compensation: The judicial system is at its best when it stands...

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