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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

Blurred Out on Google Maps; Using GPS Safely; and Zillow is a Ouija Board

Posted on July 31, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress Three technological ideas to ponder: 1. The interesting IT Security post Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren't Allowed to See on Google Maps has all the usual suspects (the White House's rooftop security devices, bomber bases,...

No Jurisdiction in Federal Court For Malpractice Claim Based on Underlying Trademark Representation

Posted on July 31, 2008
The Fifth Circuit addressed the removal and jurisdictional issue yesterday, and held for the malpractice plaintiff against his defendants, the Duane Morris law firm and its attorney Richard Redano. This is in an opinion [here in pdf] authored by Judge...

Sharing Disciplinary Responsibility

Posted on July 31, 2008
The Wisconsin Supreme Court decided a reciprocal discipline case involving the interplay of disciplinary orders against an attorney also admitted in Minnesota. The court held that reciprocal and original matters should not be joined, that a sanction imposed by Minnesota...

Pay You Back With Interest

Posted on July 31, 2008
The District of Columbia Bar's Legal Ethics Committee recently issued an opinion on charging interest on advanced expenses. The committee summarized its conclusion as follows: A lawyer who uses the firm?s line of credit to advance to a client the...

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Class of 2007: A More Extreme Bi-Modal Distribution

Posted on July 30, 2008
[By Bill Henderson, cross-posted to ELS Blog] NALP just published its 2007 edition of Jobs & JD's. One topic of interest to students, lawyers, law firms, and legal educators is the change in salary distribution from 2006 to 2007. The...

Tenth Time Is A Revocation

Posted on July 30, 2008
The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board rejected a proposed 120 day suspension consecutive to a three-year suspension presently being served by a disciplined attorney. The case involved mishandling a matter and providing false information to the client...

Settlement Does Not Preclude Malpractice Claim

Posted on July 30, 2008
The New Jersey Appellate Division reversed an order granting summary judgment to the defendant in a legal malpractice case. Plaintiff and his uncle had agreed to pursue a joint business venture with plaintiff as a full-time employee. The lawyer handled...

Recusal Not Required

Posted on July 30, 2008
A litigant in a hotly-contested defamation suit sought the recusal of a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice on a variety of grounds that included political support of the justice by opposing counsel and the judge's appearance at a fund raiser in...

Both Sides Now

Posted on July 30, 2008
An attorney with a record of prior discipline was suspended for 18 months by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The case involved a husband and wife who were each represented by counsel in a divorce case that was scheduled for trial....

Sokol on Obama as Teacher

Posted on July 30, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Danny Sokol (Florida, left), over at Antitrust and Competition Policy Blog (A Member of the Law Professor Blogs Network), provides additional detail (he was also quoted in the New York Times story) on his experience with...

Pitting Client Against Client

Posted on July 30, 2008
A criminal defendant ("petitioner") who was represented jointly along with her spouse in connection with drug charges established that counsel labored under a conflict of interest. Thus, the South Carolina Supreme Court concluded that the trial court improperly denied post-conviction...

Sanction For Crimes Unrelated To Practice

Posted on July 29, 2008
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopted a recommendation of a three-year suspension of an attorney retroactive to December 2005. The attorney had been involved in a series of drug-related crimes during a period of unemployment after graduating from law school in...

New Edition Out of Handbook on Privilege

Posted on July 29, 2008
The ABA announces publication of a new fourth edition of Vincent Walkowiak's book, The Attorney-Client Privilege in Civil Litigation. Here is the webpage. The book is an edited collection of input from various lawyers. It is in one volume and...

Burke and McCouch on Ethics of Tax Shelter Attorney for Jenkins & Gilchrist

Posted on July 29, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress Karen Burke and Grayson McCouch (both at U. of San Diego) recently posted to SSRN an article on the tax lawyer Paul Daugerdas, whose shelter opinions led to the Jenkens & Gilchrist firm's collapse, Cobra Strikes...

Billing Misconduct Alleged

Posted on July 29, 2008
The Illinois ARDC has filed a complaint alleging that the attorney, while a general litigation associate as Kirkland and Ellis, falsely billed a client for legal services. The complaint alleges, in part: In March 2006, and from June 2006 through...

Litigation For the Yacht Club Set

Posted on July 29, 2008
In an opinion issued today, the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department resolved an issue regarding the appropriate Challenger of Record for the coming America's Cup race. The court found in favor of the Golden Gate Yacht...

"An Unfortunate Truth"

Posted on July 29, 2008
In another entry in the long-running war in the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the Acting Chief Justice yesterday issued a concurring opinion defending his decision not to recuse himself in a matter and lamenting the state's judicial election...

Collateral Estoppel In Bar Discipline

Posted on July 29, 2008
The full Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered an indefinite suspension of an attorney who had received into escrow funds specifically designated to pay a settlement. Instead, the lawyer sought to establish a basis to pay his firm and his father's...

Removed Magistrate Reprimanded

Posted on July 29, 2008
The South Carolina Supreme Court issued a public reprimand of a now-resigned Beaufort County magistrate for the following misconduct: Respondent admits in the Agreement for Discipline by Consent that he made inappropriate statements in commenting on a warrant...

Part II: How most law firms misapply the "Cravath system"

Posted on July 29, 2008
[Posted by Bill Henderson, cross-posted to ELS Blog] In my last post, I discussed the linkage between the bimodal distribution and the emphasis on credentials under the "Cravath system." I also stated that most law firms misunderstood the internal logic...

Whither Comity?

Posted on July 29, 2008
On August 1, the new rules for disciplinary enforcement will go into effect in the District of Columbia. One of the new provisions will largely (and mercifully) take the Board on Professional Responsibility out of the reciprocal discipline business. Identical...

Grose on Incorporating the Client's Story Into Contextualized Ethics Analysis

Posted on July 28, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress Carolyn Grose (William Mitchell) has posted to SSRN's journal on Law & Soc'y: The Legal Prof'n her new article, 'Once Upon a Time, in a Land Far, Far Away': Lawyers and Clients Telling Stories About Ethics...

New Search Engine "Cuil" Promises Lots More Pages and Logic Than Google, But Fails My Tests

Posted on July 28, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress (if he really exists) Announced today: New Google-buster from former Google engineers, called Cuil.com. Pronounce it as "cool." It touts three times the pages as Google, and a far better search logic: Rather than rely on...

Idaho Bar Using Musical Parodies and a Humorist to Teach Legal Ethics CLE in Sun Valley October 9

Posted on July 28, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress Using the "Ethics Rock!" program developed by Jack Marshall and his ProEthics seminars, the Idaho bar offers two ethics credits as part of its larger conference in Sun Valley October 8-10, 2008. The conference's program brochure...

Proceed At Your Risk

Posted on July 27, 2008
An Illinois Hearing Board considered charges of misconduct against an attorney in his capacity as pastor of the Grace Conservative Baptist Church. The attorney did not participate in the hearing and charges of conversion of church funds were deemed admitted...

More On New Jersey Reprimands

Posted on July 25, 2008
As a follow up to yesterday's post, here is an article on the multiple reprimands imposed by the New Jersey Supreme Court that appeared in the South Jersey Courier Post: Reprimands issued to 9 lawyers By ADAM SMELTZ Courier-Post Staff...

Music Festival Arrest Leads To Charges

Posted on July 25, 2008
The Illinois ADRC has filed a complaint alleging misconduct in the personal life of an assistant public defender for Cook County. The allegations involve illegal drug use. According to the complaint, the accused was arrested at a music festival in...

Rose of Aberlone and Other Cows in Plymouth, Michigan

Posted on July 25, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw About halfway between Detroit and Ann Arbor sits the cute little town of Plymouth, Michigan. It's now a suburb of Detroit, but it wasn't always, and its claim to fame is that it is the home...

Mandatory Malpractice Insurance For Virginia Lawyers?

Posted on July 25, 2008
The Virginia State Bar web page has recently posted a notice of proposed new rules that would require active bar members engaged in representing clients to obtain malpractice insurance: The proposed rule changes for Paragraphs 18 and 19, providing that...

State Residency Sufficient

Posted on July 24, 2008
The Supreme Court of Nevada has held that a candidate for a district judgeship satisfies residency requirements by being a resident of the state, not the district where judge will sit if elected: We conclude that NRS 293.1755(1) imposes a...

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