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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

A Classic Conflict Of Interest

Posted on September 15, 2010
An attorney who had represented a driver and two passengers in an automobile accident matter was reprimanded by the New Jersey Disciplinary Review Board: Unquestionably, respondent engaged in a conflict of interest situation by representing all three clients, when their...

Have A Nice Day

Posted on September 15, 2010
The Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint alleging that an attorney failed to cooperate with a bar investigation, engaged in unauthorized practice after suspension for non-compliance with registration requirements and engaged in misconduct toward an opposing party...

Frivolous And Obscene

Posted on September 14, 2010
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department has imposed a two-year suspension for an attorney's behavior in his own divorce case. The court sets out the findings: Respondent, born in 1961, graduated from Fordham College and Law....

Billing Fraud By Outside GM Counsel Alleged

Posted on September 14, 2010
The Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint alleging that an attorney retained by General Motors falsely billed GM for four mediation sessions that did not take place. The charging document alleges in pertinent part: 5. On December 3, 2009, Respondent...

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No Summary Judgment In Suit Against Fen/Pfen Attorney

Posted on September 14, 2010
The Mississippi Supreme Court has concluded that partial summary judgment was improperly granted to an attorney sued by former clients who he had represented in diet drug litigation. The former clients had sought to pay on a quantum meruit basis...

Over the Limit

Posted on September 14, 2010
The Illinois Administrator has filed disciplinary charges alleging that an attorney was convicted of offenses arising out of the following incident: On June 28, 2008 and into the early morning hours of June 29, 2008, Respondent consumed approximately eighteen beers...

Which Is It?

Posted on September 13, 2010
The Georgia Supreme Court vacated an earlier opinion and rejected a notice of discipline due to the inconsistency of the proposed discipline: The Notice of Discipline states that the Investigative Panel of the State Disciplinary Board directed the Office of...

Sex With A Client's Spouse, Part II

Posted on September 13, 2010
Is there an epidemic? On the heels of the South Carolina admonishment of an attorney for sex with the client's spouse (reported earlier today) comes a decision of the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board that upped the 179 day suspension imposed...

Marriage Not Fiduciary Relationship

Posted on September 13, 2010
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment in a matter in which an attorney wife had sued her attorney husband for tort claims based on the husband's "alleged financial malfeasance during the marriage." The husband...

Asserting Disability Issues In Pennsylvania Bar Discipline

Posted on September 13, 2010
From the web page of the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board: The Disciplinary Board is publishing changes to Rule 301(e) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement, which deals with attorneys who assert mental disability defenses in disciplinary hearings...

An Upstanding Member (Of The Bar)

Posted on September 13, 2010
The South Carolina Supreme Court has issued an anonymous admonition to an attorney who had sex with the spouse of a current client: Respondent has been an upstanding member of this bar for thirty-seven years, and before this action was...

More Than A Paralegal

Posted on September 10, 2010
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has suspended an attorney for a year and a day for allowing his non-lawyer assistant (hereinafter Porter) to practice law. The assistant had an expertise (which the attorney lacked) in employment and discrimination matters...

Stonewall's Defeat

Posted on September 09, 2010
A majority of the Washington State Supreme Court has disbarred an attorney who was charged with a multiple-client conflict of interest and assisting the practice of a suspended lawyer. The majority was less than impressed with his attitude: [The attorney]...

Never!

Posted on September 09, 2010
An attorney has been suspended for two years by the Wisconsin Supreme Court for an incident that led to his conviction for possession of heroin. The court describes the facts: Attorney...'s professional misconduct in this matter stems from events culminating...

If I Were A Carpenter

Posted on September 09, 2010
The Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint alleging that an attorney falsely claimed to be a carpenter in order to qualify for the employee benefits of a client. The allegations: 1. At all times alleged in this complaint, Avenue, Inc.,...

Judges: Stay Out Of The Lobby

Posted on September 08, 2010
The Delaware Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee has opined that lobbying and judging do not mix.: Lobbying is political in nature. The purpose of registering as a lobbyist is to promote the interests of a client by influencing the legislature. A...

Complaint Against Immigration Attorney Reinstated

Posted on September 08, 2010
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department reinstated a dismissed action brought by an employee who was represented in an immigration matter by an attorney retained by the employer. The court found that there were issues that...

Stop Means Stop

Posted on September 07, 2010
An Illinois hearing board has recommended a nine-month suspension of an attorney who engaged in unauthorized practice during a period of disciplinary suspension. The board concluded: Respondent admitted he engaged in the unauthorized practice of law, and there is little...

A Delayed Report, A Lame Excuse

Posted on September 07, 2010
Today's award for chutzpah goes to Hearing Committee No. Ten of the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility. After taking nearly three years to decide a disciplinary case, the hearing committee explains why: Both parties filed overlong post-hearing briefs:...

Neither Lawyer Or Prosecutor

Posted on September 07, 2010
The South Carolina Supreme Court has held that the prosecution of misdemeanor offenses by a non-lawyer business agent violated criminal statutes regulating the unauthorized practice of law. The court considered the public policy interests: If a private party is permitted...

Harassing Deputy DA Gets Two Year Suspension

Posted on September 06, 2010
A former deputy district attorney in Fresno, California has been disciplined in the wake of his conviction for identity theft. This report from KSEE24News quotes a press release from the Attorney General's office: Brown Charges Deputy District Attorney With Stalking,...

The Hard Sell

Posted on September 05, 2010
The web page of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers reports reciprocal discipline based on the revocation of the attorney's Virginia license. The facts: The respondent has operated an Internet website, http://www.investinginland.com, through which he has marketed home study courses...

A Brief Bit of Bragging, FWIW

Posted on September 04, 2010
Posted by Alan Childress A good week with the project on republishing classics and publishing new work, also that my son turned 18, and the new students are so engaged and interesting. As to the project, the top ten eleven...

The Best Little ...house in Palau

Posted on September 03, 2010
From the most recent online edition of the California Bar Journal: [An attorney] was disbarred in Illinois in 2008 for money-laundering in Palau and engaging in dishonest conduct by giving false testimony in his wife?s criminal trial. His actions amounted...

No Discipline On Witness Coaching Charges

Posted on September 03, 2010
The web page of the Virginia State Bar reports an order of the Circuit Court for the County of York, City of Poquoson, dismissing disciplinary charges against an attorney. The three-judge court found there was no evidence that the Respondent...

Theory and Practice in Contract Law Pedagogy

Posted on September 03, 2010
For those of you interested in how a longtime practitioner tries to dig into the theoretical basis of a legal education in contracts, I'm guest blogging this month over at The Faculty Lounge, and have offered up some thoughts on...

Turn Down the Music

Posted on September 02, 2010
An attorney drew a public censure from the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department for the following incident: Respondent's criminal convictions stem from an altercation with another patron at a restaurant he had attended with his wife...

Rapport With Opposing Counsel Does Not Prevent Ethics Lapse

Posted on September 02, 2010
A public censure was imposed by the New York Appellate Division for First Judicial Department in a matter in which the attorney had neglected a small claim and falsely notarized the client's signature on a document. the court set out...

The Influence Of High School

Posted on August 31, 2010
The Indiana Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded an attorney who represented a client in an employment dispute. The attorney wrote a letter to the former employer demanding a $70,000 payment under the wage claim act. The letter further advised the....

Attorney Possessed By Client's Deceased Wife

Posted on August 31, 2010
I thought that I had seen just about everything in the area of attorney misconduct, but a hearing officer's report from Arizona proves me wrong or at least lacking in imagination. The hearing officer has recommended a six month and...

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