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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

Heartaches By The Number, Troubles By The Score

Posted on July 24, 2009
The Tennessee Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court determination regarding the estate of legendary country music songwriter Harlan Perry Howard, who was described in trial testimony as the "Irving Berlin of Country Music." The estate consisted primarily of...

Cover Up Worse Than Crime

Posted on July 24, 2009
A recent decision from the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department demonstrates the worst possible way to deal with an instance of neglect. The charges and disposition are described by the court: Charge one alleges that the...

"Eminently Practical And Efficient"

Posted on July 24, 2009
A Pennsylvania attorney attorney was suspended for failure to pay annual fess in 2002 and on disability in 2006. He petitioned for reinstatement based on his claim of rehabilitation from his disability. His prospects for reinstatement took a blow when...

Suspension For Undisclosed Revision To Agreement

Posted on July 23, 2009
From the web page of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers comes the following summary of a recent matter: From April 2000 through March 29, 2002, the respondent was employed as the director of procurement for a company that provided...

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Mediation Ethics

Posted on July 23, 2009
The North Dakota Supreme Court has adopted a Code of Mediation Ethics and procedures for enforcement of its provisions. The code will be in effect as of August 1. (Mike Frisch)

No Cause Of Action For Unauthorized Practice Prior To Statute

Posted on July 23, 2009
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Ohio ruled today that it has exclusive jurisdiction over the unauthorized practice of law in this state, and held that there was no legal basis for a...

Pay Dr. D.

Posted on July 23, 2009
While noting that the determination of sanction in a bar discipline matter is "not an exact science," the Wisconsin Supreme Court imposed a 90-day suspension and restitution in matter in which the attorney had failed to pay chiropractic bills. The...

Not Moving Forward

Posted on July 23, 2009
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Ohio has suspended the law license of [an] attorney...for one year, with the final six months of that term stayed on conditions, for neglecting the case of...

Computer Related Misconduct

Posted on July 23, 2009
A Tennessee lawyer received a public censure for misconduct that had taken place while she was an independant contractor working at a law firm on personal injury cases. Law firm management "discovered that [the attorney] had somehow obtained other employees'...

When In Doubt, Disclose

Posted on July 23, 2009
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals imposed a three year suspension of an attorney as reciprocal discipline for a suspension of that same length in Virginia. The misconduct involved a failure to disclose information in the Virginia bar admission...

Sotomayor's High Road, Writes Kelly Anders

Posted on July 22, 2009
[Our occasional guest-poster Kelly Lynn Anders, associate dean for students at Washburn Law and author of The Organized Lawyer, wrote a version of this op-ed for the Missouri Lawyers Media (subscr reqd), and we reprint it here with permission. Thanks,...

Cautionary Tale But No Violation Found

Posted on July 22, 2009
An interesting bar discipline matter from Louisiana involves charges of unauthorized practice against an attorney who was in good standing in New York but ineligible to practice in Louisiana due to a lapse in CLE obligations and non-payment of bar...

A Matter Of Autonomy

Posted on July 22, 2009
A capital criminal conviction was reversed by the Delaware Supreme Court due to a conflict in trial strategy between the defendant and counsel. Counsel had offered incriminating evidence at the guilt/innocence phase of the trial and had argued that the...

No Diatribe

Posted on July 21, 2009
The Alaska Supreme Court rejected an attorney's argument that a proposed suspension was too severe and imposed a three year suspension with two years stayed. The attorney had neglected the affairs of several clients. He contended that the proceedings before...

TaxProf SiteMeter Survey Ranks Blog As 30th or 27th, Up A Spot From Last Period

Posted on July 21, 2009
A follow-up to this blog's ranking earlier this year of 31st (visitors) and 28th (page views), the latest TaxProf survey places the blog at 30th and 27th among U.S. law professor blogs. Due thanks, sincerely, to our readers and commenters...

If You Can't Say Something Nice...

Posted on July 21, 2009
Posted by Mike Frisch An interesting post from my friend and former student Matthew Kaiser at The Kaiser Blog: Last week the Sixth Circuit decided a case with stunningly bad conduct by a defense lawyer. The case is United States...

Law Services Website Must Be Taken Down During Period Of Suspension

Posted on July 21, 2009
A District Committee of the Virginia State Bar has imposed a public reprimand with terms of an attorney who had continued to advertise his legal services on his website after he had been suspended for six months. When confronted about...

The Power Of Bar Counsel

Posted on July 21, 2009
An attorney was the subject of a bar investigation initiated as a result of an trust account overdraft. The attorney provided an explanation of the overdraft to Bar Counsel. Bar Counsel investigated the operation of the trust account and found...

Disbarment For Real Estate Fraud

Posted on July 21, 2009
The Maryland Court of Appeals has disbarred two attorneys as a result of "their involvement with a fraudulent, equity-stripping lease/buyback arrangement" for a husband and wife homeowners. One had conducted a closing where he utilized a false occupancy statement and...

Emotionally Frazzled

Posted on July 20, 2009
The Arizona Disciplinary Commission approved a proposed 30 day suspension followed by two years probation in a matter where the attorney had falsely advised a judge in a contentious custody matter that he could not proceed to a hearing because...

Indiana Judge Admonished

Posted on July 20, 2009
From the web page of the Indiana Supreme Court: The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications has issued a Public Admonition against the Honorable Roger L. Huizenga, Walkerton Town Court in St. Joseph County. Supreme Court rules give the Commission the...

One Joint, Two Court Orders

Posted on July 20, 2009
The New York Appellate Division for the Fourth Judicial Department has imposed reciprocal discipline based on a one-year deferred suspension of the attorney in Tennessee. The misconduct involved a self-report of a 2006 incident in which the attorney had possessed...

Workshop on Teaching Legal Ethics: Save The Date Nov. 6-8, 2009

Posted on July 20, 2009
Posted by Alan Childress Thanks to Clark Cunningham, professor in legal ethics at Georgia State University, we pass along the announcement below on a Fall 09 workshop in Georgia of interest to our readers. Note that the workshop is open...

One Bar Applicant Can Use Personal Computer, One May Not

Posted on July 19, 2009
The web page of the Louisiana Supreme Court reports that the below-quoted order was entered on July 13: APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO TAKE THE BAR EXAMINATION WITH PERSONAL COMPUTER GRANTED: 2009-OB-1546 IN RE: [NAMED APPLICANT] VICTORY, J., would deny the...

Report Your Own Malpractice?

Posted on July 19, 2009
From Practice Blawg: Ethical Duty to Report Your Own Malpractice - A Proposed Opinion The Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board has proposed the adoption of Opinion No. 21 [opens as PDF], which deals with a lawyer?s duty to report his...

Retired In Name Only

Posted on July 17, 2009
The Kansas Supreme Court found that an attorney who had "retired" and sold his practice to another attorney had violated prohibitions against unauthorized practice and imposed disbarment. The key facts: Perhaps the best evidence against [the accused attorney] came from...

If You Call The Bar for Advice, Wait For The Answer

Posted on July 17, 2009
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court dismissed an interlocutory appeal in an action brought by a corporation against its former president but commented on a claim of attorney-client privilege in its order. The former president had been convicted of violating federal...

Cash In Paper Bag Fee Leads To Disbarment

Posted on July 16, 2009
An interesting case from the Washington Supreme Court concluded that disbarment was the appropriate sanction in a matter involving a felony conviction for willful failure to file a currency report. The attorney ("respondent") was asked by a (now former) lawyer...

Litigation Over Artwork Donation

Posted on July 16, 2009
Not a legal profession case, but of possible interest, is a decision filed on July 14 by the Court of Appeals of Tennessee. At issue were the rights of three parties in a charitable gift to Fisk University of 101...

Referral Fee Not Unethical

Posted on July 16, 2009
An attorney who joined a law firm had an agreement that the firm would pay him additional compensation for fees generated on matters he referred to the firm. He thereafter referred a case to the firm. When he left the...

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