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Ethics

Legal Ethics Forum

Covering Legal Ethics

Post Frequency: 11.2/day

Last Entry: August 14, 2020 at 13:23:48

Judicial Ethics Forum on a new Seventh Circuit case

Posted on June 21, 2010
Judicial Ethics Forum has this post about a new 7th Circuit case, Siefert v. Alexander, on the constitutionality of regulations on judicial campaigning.

Court upholds ban on legal advocacy and advice in federal antiterrorism statute

Posted on June 21, 2010
Here is the 6-3 opinion in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, upholding the federal law that bars "material support" to groups designated as "foreign terrorist organizations," including advice or advocacy for nonviolent, peaceful, lawful ends. An excerpt from the majority...

New Jersey Considering the "Massachusetts Exception" to Rule 1.6

Posted on June 21, 2010
George Conk reports that the New Jersey Supreme Court?s Professional Responsibility Rules Committee is seeking advice on whether to adopt an unusual exception to Rule 1.6, which exists only in Massachusetts and Alaska. The exception permits lawyers to disclose confidential...

HP in-house department hires law school grads?and Northwestern's a beneficiary

Posted on June 20, 2010
If this is a sign of what's to come, it's huge news. According to this ALM story, HP will be hiring law school graduates for its in-house department. Typically, the in-house departments hire biglaw associates after a few years of...

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legal ethics odds and ends (June 20, 2010)

Posted on June 20, 2010
In this NYT article, Ken Feinberg, who will head up the BP claims funds process, and Prof. Richard Nagareda (Vanderbilt) talk about the inevitability of fraudulent claims and how to manage that. Nagarada says, "The vast majority of lawyers involved...

legal ethics happenings (June 19, 2010)

Posted on June 19, 2010
At South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog is this post about a judge who ordered a criminal defense lawyer to apologize to a police officer for a cross-examination that "impugned the officer's integrity." On the face of it, this sounds absurd,...

what's going on in legal ethics (June 18, 2010)

Posted on June 18, 2010
This New York appellate decision says that estates have standing to sue lawyers for malpractice in the negligent devising of the estate. . . . . . In US v. Job, the Fifth Circuit rejected an argument by the convicted...

legal ethics nuggets (June 17, 2010)

Posted on June 17, 2010
A Jacksonville retiree thought she was just helping a friend. Florida's state bar thought she was unlawfully practicing law. . . . . . In Australia, the regional courts object to reform measures that would centralize power over the courts....

Stoneridge lives again?

Posted on June 17, 2010
Point of Law carries this post suggesting that expanded aiding and abetting liability may be added in conference to the financial reform bill, even though the provision to reverse Stoneridge wasn't passed in either the House or the Senate. As...

Is legal "ethics" still a useful term?

Posted on June 17, 2010
[edited] In the comments to the post on Justice Scalia's recent description of legal ethics, Brad, Patrick O'Donnell and others have touched on the degree to which legal "ethics" is or is not a useful term. I thought I'd offer...

Legal ethics bits and pieces (June 16, 2010)

Posted on June 16, 2010
The New York Times reports that lawyers for families of 9-11 victims have asked the Second Circuit to replace the district court judge, for lack of diligence and timeliness. . . . . . According to this decision, Hildebrandt Family...

Insurance executives admit to bribes from lawyer

Posted on June 16, 2010
The story, mentioned by Overlawyered, is part of the fall-out from the silicosis frauds. The execs can back out of their plea if the lawyer wins his argument that he cannot be tried a second time.

Vindication of Lani Guinier?

Posted on June 16, 2010
As long as we've been discussing the mix of politics and legal appointments, do I recall correctly that Lani Guinier's nomination for Assistant Attorney General was scuttled in 1993 in part because of her suggestion that cumulative voting could be...

what's going on (June 15, 2010)

Posted on June 15, 2010
Here's an article on the UPL controversy over Legal Zoom, with some commentary from Gillian Hadfield, of Southern Cal. . . . . . In Utah we have another ethics vs. free speech issue. A TV ad claiming that divorce...

Oral argument in Padilla v. Yoo at the Ninth Circuit

Posted on June 15, 2010
Oral argument here. This article by Dan Levine of The Recorder suggests that the decision won't be unanimous, but could go either way. Channing Turner of Main Justice filed this report.

More on the ethics of trial lawyers and post-conviction relief

Posted on June 14, 2010
Previously I linked to a post on the ethics of a lawyer?s response to post-conviction arguments that she provided ineffective assistance of counsel, by Bobby Frederick at South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog. In the comments, Tigran Eldred pointed us to...

legal ethics odds and ends (June 14, 2010)

Posted on June 14, 2010
The US Supreme Court's recent decision, Padilla v. Kentucky, focused our attention on a lawyer's need to counsel a client on the collateral consequences of a conviction, at least in some situtations. Richard Cassidy, at On Lawyering, looks at the...

Partisan Activity in the White House

Posted on June 14, 2010
This issue continues to be politicized, although it should not be. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have had troubles in this area. Political commentators from both parties prefer to attack each other rather than think seriously about whether the law...

Revealing a Client's Confidences to Help the Wrongfully Convicted

Posted on June 14, 2010
It's a classic legal ethics scenario: someone is wrongfully convicted of a crime, and the lawyer for the real culprit has to decide whether to disclose the client's confidential confession. Most states' ethics rules do not permit such a disclosure,...

Carole Silver on Eli Wald on Women in Biglaw

Posted on June 14, 2010
Carole Silver, at Jotwell, comments on Eli Wald's new article, Glass Ceilings and Dead Ends: Professional Ideologies, Gender Stereotypes, and the Future of Women Lawyers at Large Law Firms.

Strange Coincidence: Yoo and Bybee at Ninth Circuit today

Posted on June 14, 2010
Today at 9:00 am, the Ninth Circuit will hear John Yoo's appeal from denial of his motion to dismiss the civil liability suit brought by Jose Padilla. (We have discussed that suit previously, and my prediction was that the suit...

" . . . least analytically rigorous and hence most subjective of law-school subjects, legal ethics."

Posted on June 14, 2010
Justice Scalia, in dissent, on the topic we hold most dear. Scalia is the master of the back-handed slap, but what do you think? Is legal ethics the most subjective of law school subjects? On the merits of the case,...

SCOTUS releases opinions in Holland v. Florida and Astrue v. Ratliff

Posted on June 14, 2010
The Supreme Court issued two lawyering opinions this morning, Holland v. Florida and Astrue v. Ratliff. In Holland v. Florida, the Court held that the statute of limitations for filing a federal habeas petition under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death...

legal ethics news (June 13, 2010)

Posted on June 13, 2010
The Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled that it was not a breach of fiduciary duty for a law firm partner to have a sexual relationship with his client's wife. Coverage here and here. Other tort claims are proceeding against the...

A New Book from Peter Margulies

Posted on June 13, 2010
Professor Peter Margulies (Roger Williams) recently published a new book, Law?s Detour: Justice Displaced in the Bush Administration (NYU Press 2010). It addresses a number of issues of interest to legal ethicists, including several topics that we've previously discussed on...

Jim Towery named as Chief Trial Counsel of the State Bar of California

Posted on June 12, 2010
Here's great news about a friend and colleague, Jim Towery, who was named as the new Chief Trial Counsel of the State Bar of California. He's a terrific choice. In addition to being a top-flight trial lawyer, Jim's been involved...

legal ethics links (June 12, 2010)

Posted on June 12, 2010
George Conk continues to watch the mix of politics and judicial appointments in New Jersey. . . . . . Bobby Frederick, at South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog, shares his strong views on how criminal defense lawyers do respond and...

Dawn Johnsen on the proper role of the OLC

Posted on June 12, 2010
Dawn Johnsen, professor at Indiana and formerly a nominee for head of the OLC, published this op-ed about the proper role of the OLC. (h/t: Volokh) Although her rhetoric suggests that the OLC's role can be succinctly stated, my reading...

Jim Towery appointed Chief Trial Counsel of the State Bar of California

legal ethics stuff and the ethics of "flopping" in soccer (June 11, 2010)

Posted on June 11, 2010
In honor of the World Cup, I'm linking to my earlier post on the ethics of flopping. . . . . . The California Supreme Court has decided to take up two important issues in the law of lawyering. First,...

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