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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

Double Secret Probation?

Posted on March 21, 2008
The Supreme Court of Minnesota disbarred an attorney who was admitted in 1990 as a result of a pattern of misconduct including neglect, lack of diligence, failure to account for legal fees, failure to pay a judgment incurred in a...

Words And Pictures

Posted on March 21, 2008
The Supreme Court of Florida sanctioned an attorney for filing a series of pleadings that the court characterized as "inappropriate and pornographic material [submitted] to this Court." The submissions that the court found offensive are set out with some particularity...

The Public Speaks

Posted on March 20, 2008
A relatively recent (and much needed) improvement to the web page page of the District of Columbia Bar provides ready access to the reports of hearing committees in bar discipline matters. A case decided today by the D.C. Court of...

Suspension For Living Trust Bait-And-Switch

Posted on March 20, 2008
An Ohio attorney entered into a contract with a Michigan law firm "to market and sell living trusts and other estate-planning services in Ohio." He was paid per referral but "prohibited from offering any financial advice to his clients regarding...

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Ohio Suspension

Posted on March 20, 2008
The Ohio Supreme Court imposed an indefinite suspension of an attorney who began dating a domestic relations client shortly after he had been retained. The client sought assistance in proceedings to terminate her marriage as well as with a domestic-violence...

The Power Of Bar Counsel

Posted on March 20, 2008
The Maryland Court of Appeals suspended a lawyer in 1998 and ordered reinstatement in 2006. Bar Counsel, who neither supported or opposed reinstatement, advised the court of pending litigation involving the petitioner (which is what a lawyer seeking reinstatement is...

Libby Disbarred

Posted on March 20, 2008
As we had predicted, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals entered an order today disbarring Scooter Libby. Because his appeal from the criminal conviction had been dismissed, "this disciplinary matter is ripe for final action." Disbarment is the only...

Malpractice Venue

Posted on March 19, 2008
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Missouri held that the proper venue for a legal malpractice claim is in the circuit court where the underlying action could have been filed. The case involved an attorney's alleged...

Substantial Evidence Of Rehabilitation

Posted on March 19, 2008
The Oklahoma Supreme Court today granted the petition for reinstatement of an attorney who had resigned pending disciplinary proceedings in 1999. The misconduct that had led to the resignation was "of a very serious nature" and included neglect, misrepresentation, charging...

I Cry in My Room When Mommy and Daddy Fight

Posted on March 19, 2008
In the never-ending (and never-interesting, to the rest of us) football rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan, today's Pyhrric victory belongs to the Buckeyes: top-rated high school QB Terrelle Pryor chose OSU over Michigan. This will no doubt please Nancy...

New Rules Soon Effective for Federal Judicial Conduct and Disability

Posted on March 19, 2008
Joe Hodnicki (U. Cinn.) at our LPB sister Law Librarian Blog has just posted this summary: The Judicial Conference of the United States has approved the first-ever binding, nationwide set of rules for handling conduct and disability complaints against federal...

Macey-Dare on Litigation Costs, Settlements, and Game Theory

Posted on March 19, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Rupert Macey-Dare (St. Cross College, Oxford) has posted Litigation Cost Strategies, Settlement Offers and Game Theory on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Starting with a simple economic model of the value of civil litigation from each side's...

Objection! Hearsay!

Posted on March 19, 2008
The Georgia Supreme Court held that the failure of defense counsel to object to improper hearsay testimony amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel and reversed a malice murder conviction. The evidence at issue came from the state's firearms examiner, who...

District of Columbia v. Heller: The Elevator Speech as Part of the Lawyer's Repertoire in Oral Argument and Other Venues

Posted on March 19, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Last night, the Center for Advanced Legal Studies at Suffolk Law School and the Entrepreneur's Forum of the Stanford Club of New England co-sponsored a program on the art of the elevator speech. The elevator speech...

Contingent Fee Illegal For Lobbying Activities

Posted on March 19, 2008
The conduct of a prominent Maryland lawyer/lobbyist is the subject of an opinion issued today by the Maryland Court of Appeals. The seven judges who participated in the decision included five retired, specially assigned judges. The majority opinion quotes a...

Twice Disbarred

Posted on March 18, 2008
An attorney was disbarred in 1988 for mail and securities fraud convictions as a result of "his misappropriation of confidential securities information from his former law firm employer, and subsequent sharing of the information with friends and relatives who traded...

Mandatory Malpractice Insurance In California?

Posted on March 18, 2008
The California Bar is accepting written comments to a proposed rule requiring malpractice insurance. The comments must be filed on or before March 17. The announcement from the Bar's web page, with links to the proposal, may be found here....

Breach Of Fiduciary Duty

Posted on March 18, 2008
In a bar discipline case where the attorney had been charged with breach of fiduciary duty, conflict of interest, "giving something of value to a judge without charging any fee" and not disclosing the gift to opposing counsel and neglect...

Lawyer Liable For Clients" Security Fund Payments

Posted on March 18, 2008
The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed in part and vacated and remanded in part for a new calculation of damages in an action brought by the State Bar seeking reimbursement for funds paid by the Clients' Security Fund "for...

Some Quick Notes on the Bear Stearns - J.P. Morgan Merger Agreement

Posted on March 18, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Kudos to Steve Davidoff for his quick post with a link to the Bear Stearns - J.P. Morgan agreement. A couple notes during a quick skim. 1. I didn't realize from the newspaper accounts that it's...

Judge Removed

Posted on March 18, 2008
The New York Court of Appeals entered an order on its own motion removing a former Nassau County District Judge from office. This link to a post from the Simple Justice blog provides information about the basis for the court's...

New Edition Soon Out of Morgan & Rotunda's Problems Casebook

Posted on March 17, 2008
Foundation Press has just announced the availability come July, in time for Fall 2008 classes, of the newest edition of the classic problems-oriented ethics coursebook, Professional Responsibility, Problems and Materials, by Thomas Morgan (GW) and Ronald Rotunda (Geo...

The SSRN Law Academic Career Enhancement Journal: A Proposal

Posted on March 17, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw As noted earlier, Paul Secunda has a new piece posted on SSRN (see below - he's in 9th place right now, but moving quickly up the charts), a light-hearted look at the lateral market for law...

What do needles and vials in Vegas have in common with Jeff Skilling's appeal?

Posted on March 17, 2008
(Posted by Nancy Rapoport) There's a local scandal a'brewin' in Las Vegas, where several medical centers stand accused of having reused needles and single-use vials in an effort to cut costs--see, e.g., here. Unfortunately, the reuse of needles and vials...

Macey-Dare on Restricted Entry To the English Bar (Part of the Legal Profession) by Vocational Training Requirements

Posted on March 17, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress Rupert Macey-Dare (Oxford [St. Cross College] and the director of Oxford Informatica) has posted to SSRN his article, "'Practicing Certificate Risks' in the Market for Advocacy," as part of the series on developments at the English...

Misplaced Trust

Posted on March 17, 2008
A lawyer had previously been suspended in Maryland for escrow account violations including failure to supervise an office assistant (not a lawyer but an authorized signatory of the trust account) who had embezzled approximately $144,000 as a result of inadequate...

Speedy Reinstatement

Posted on March 17, 2008
An attorney who had been convicted of nine counts of mail fraud and two counts of engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from unlawful activity. The crimes related to his law practice. He was sentenced to a 24...

Ethical Duties of Prosecutors in White Collar Cases: The Enron/Skilling Example of the Value of Full Disclosure (or, Here's the Story of a Rule Named Brady)

Posted on March 17, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress On White Collar Crime Prof Blog, Ellen Podgor has recently posted on the social value (here) and on the ethics rule requirement (here) of full discovery disclosure by prosecutors -- the Brady rule as legal ethics...

An Agreed Disposition

Posted on March 16, 2008
The Louisiana Supreme Court accepted a proposed disposition for a six-month suspension, stayed in its entirety in favor a one year probation, in a case where the lawyer had falsely notarized a client's signature to a document and filed the...

Any Felony Conviction Threatens New York License

Posted on March 16, 2008
A recent article in the New York Times cites to expert opinions that term the possibility of professional discipline against soon-to-be former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer "unlikely." In my view, the commentary overlooks the possibility of a felony conviction...

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