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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

Justice Delayed

Posted on November 06, 2008
The New York Appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department today imposed reciprocal discipline based on the lawyer's resignation from the Florida bar. The resignation was a result of a criminal conviction in federal court for a racketeering offense...

Misuse Of Escrow Account

Posted on November 06, 2008
The Minnesota Supreme Court accepted an agreed disposition and imposed a public reprimand and unsupervised probation for two years. The court described the misconduct as depositing earned fees into escrow and paying non-client related expenses from that account, which would...

Spare The Porcupine

Posted on November 06, 2008
An interesting decision from the New Hampshire Supreme Court reversed a conviction for the offense of felon in possession of a deadly weapon. The facts: At trial, the State introduced evidence that the defendant had a bow, with several arrows,...

The Globalization of the Legal Profession

Posted on November 06, 2008
[by Bill Henderson, crossposted to the ELS Blog] For anyone interested in the economic and political forces that are reshaping the legal profession, here is an event that you need to attend. On Friday, November 21, the Harvard Law School...

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The Learning President

Posted on November 05, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Back in March, 2007, before I owned an Obama button (which I acquired the day of the New Hampshire primary, when I did a hour or so of phone bank calling, ugh), I posted something on...

Non-Participation Leads To Disbarment

Posted on November 05, 2008
A lawyer charged with neglect of client matters and had failed to participate in the resulting discipline charges was disbarred by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The lawyer's situation was described by the court as follows: Respondent was unprepared to respond...

Overzealous Defense

Posted on November 05, 2008
The South Carolina Supreme Court imposed disbarment retroactive to the date of an interim suspension, as a result of a criminal conviction for the following misconduct: In 1996, Respondent was indicted for common law obstruction of justice and offering a...

Massive Voting Problems in Cambridge, Mass.

Posted on November 04, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress Blog post, updating regularly, here on how registration lists in Cambridge were incomplete and many voters were forced to vote "provisionally." I already thought Cambridge was the heart of communism so this may be some indication...

No Need To Be Superhuman

Posted on November 04, 2008
An attorney who had engaged in a series of retail thefts from Kohl's and sold the stolen items on Ebay under the name "1legaleagle1" had her license revoked by the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board. The board rejected the suggestion that...

No Risk, No Contingent Fee

Posted on November 04, 2008
The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has recommended a stayed one-year suspension with a year of probation for three partners in a law firm. The core allegations related to a contingency fee agreement where there was no risk that the lawyers...

A Serious Scrape

Posted on November 04, 2008
The Illinois ARDC recently filed a complaint charging the attorney with what I would describe as garden variety client-related misconduct (which is pretty serious if it is your garden that is not being tended properly) but it was a third...

"The Strongest Possible Terms"

Posted on November 03, 2008
A hearing committee in the District of Columbia recently filed a 168 page report recommending disbarment as a result of misconduct findings in four matters. The hearing committee held hearings on 12 days over a three-month period. The findings and...

"Basically An Extortionist"

Posted on November 02, 2008
An interesting bar discipline matter is described by the California Bar Journal as follows; Brar [the attorney] gained notoriety in 2003 for filing hundreds of lawsuits that then-Attorney General Bill Lockyer said violated the state Unfair Competition Law, also known...

Quest For Bar Exam Data Continues

Posted on November 02, 2008
The November 2008 edition of the California Bar Journal reports that UCLA Professor Richard Sander has filed suit in his quest for information concerning bar examination passing/failing demographics: Professor Richard Sander has taken his quest for bar exam data to...

Disbarment For Possession Of Child Pornography

Posted on November 02, 2008
The permanent resignation of an attorney convicted of possession of child pornography was accepted by the Louisiana Supreme Court. According to a press release from the United States Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Louisiana: According to documents filed...

Blogging and Tenure

Posted on October 31, 2008
[By Bill Henderson, crossposted to the ELS Blog] Over the years, a lot has been written about the risks of blogging during your pre-tenure years. See, most recently, Verity Winship, "Blogging without Tenure." Well, I blogged quite a bit as...

Strike Three

Posted on October 31, 2008
The New York Appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department denied the third petition for reinstatement of a suspended attorney who now resides in Colorado. The applicant had been interviewed by three members of the court's Committee on Character and...

Worst Person

Posted on October 30, 2008
A Pennsylvania lawyer has consented to disbarment as a result of his criminal conviction for arson and related offenses. He had set fire to the house of his estranged wife, which was also occupied by his minor daughter. The daughter...

Reprimand Affirmed

Posted on October 30, 2008
The Connecticut Appellate Court affirmed the reprimand of an attorney who was defending a claim brought by a mail carrier who had suffered a dog bite. The mail carrier had sued the dog owners, who retained the lawyer. The lawyer...

Reinstatement Possible, But Not Really

Posted on October 30, 2008
In a case involving misappropriation of client funds, the Minnesota Supreme Court ordered suspension rather than disbarment. The attorney had made full restitution of the funds. One notable aspect of the court's decision is that if reinstatement is sought, the...

No Break For Pro se Litigant

Posted on October 30, 2008
The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed a sanction award against a pro se plaintiff who had sued her former attorney for malpractice. The plaintiff had simply refiled the lawsuit after it had been dismissed on the merits and the dismissal...

Chapter Three

Posted on October 30, 2008
The Vermont Professional Responsibility Board declined to disbar an attorney who had been convicted of felony extortion and misdemeanor stalking, noting that "[t]he facts in this case break down into three distinct chapters and each chapter has a significant impact...

Ignorance Rather than Rebellion

Posted on October 29, 2008
In light of our post earlier today about the consequences on non-compliance with the terms of a suspension order, a decision from the Oklahoma Supreme Court that deals with a lawyer who had engaged in unauthorized practice in violation of...

Trolling For Business

Posted on October 29, 2008
The Illinois Review Board overturned a hearing board finding that a lawyer had violated ethics rules by soliciting personal injury clients through an agent in one instance while sustaining that charge in other circumstances. The decision discusses the proof required...

Required Affidavit Of Compliance

Posted on October 29, 2008
Reciprocal discipline was imposed by the South Carolina Supreme Court based on the lawyer's suspension in a federal bankruptcy court. The lawyer had incompetently represented a client and been ordered to disgorge his fees in 24 matters. The court concluded...

No Action For Escrow Disbursements

Posted on October 28, 2008
An action brought against a law firm that had served as escrow agent of payments made for vacation property use was dismissed by the trial court, an action affirmed by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department....

Double Secret Probation

Posted on October 28, 2008
An interesting decision from the Vermont Professional Conduct Board concludes that a Vermont lawyer had not properly handled the recordkeeping requirements with respect to the lawyer's escrow account. The attorney is admonished and placed on probation for a six-month period...

Welcome, With A Reprimand

Posted on October 28, 2008
The New Jersey Appellate Division has held that the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners acted within its authority to reprimand a doctor in conjunction with the grant of a medical license in the state. The reprimand related to the...

Proposed Rules for Judges

Posted on October 28, 2008
The Ohio Supreme Court has proposed new rules for judicial misconduct proceedings. The changes are summarized on the court's web page: The Supreme Court of Ohio will accept public comment until Dec. 31 on proposed changes for how to handle...

No Regrets

Posted on October 28, 2008
The New York Court of Appeals today upheld an order of removal from judicial office of an elected family court judge. The court sustained five charges of misconduct relating to his "violation of litigants' rights when he entered defaults and...

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