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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

Failure To Respond Threatens Credibility Of Bar Discipline

Posted on January 30, 2009
The Nebraska Supreme Court disbarred an attorney who had previously been admonished and suspended for twelve months without reinstatement. In the present matters, among other things, the attorney had escalated a simple contract matter into one involving possible illegal and...

Whereabouts Unknown

Posted on January 30, 2009
An attorney who had accepted advanced fees from four clients seeking bankruptcy protection, misled the clients into believing that their case had been filed and defaulted on the ensuing bar charges was indefinitely suspended by the Ohio Supreme Court...

If Reinstated, On Probation

Posted on January 29, 2009
An attorney who had been twice convicted of alcohol-related traffic offenses was suspended for two years, stayed in its entirety in favor of probation for two years, based on an agreed disposition adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The attorney...

Does Law School Destroy Your Sense of Humor?

Posted on January 29, 2009
Posted by Alan Childress And if the product of law school is humorless people, is that caused by the education, or are humorless people drawn to enroll in the first place? That's after years of people telling them they should...

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Judge Reprimanded For Filing Mandamus Petition

Posted on January 29, 2009
A county court judge was reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court as a result of his filing a petition for writ of mandamus seeking to compel the public defender, states attorney, county sheriff and various judges to "comply with the...

"A Pretty Vicious Guy"

Posted on January 29, 2009
From the Daily News Brooklyn: A crooked Brooklyn lawyer ripped off disabled people to the tune of $4 million and used the cash to spruce up his plush suburban home, prosecutors charged Wednesday. Steven Rondos, 44, and his law firm,...

Suspension For Probation Violation

Posted on January 29, 2009
An attorney who had been suspended for 60 days and reinstated subject to a two year probationary period was suspended for a minimum of six months for failure to comply with the terms of probation and failure to cooperate with...

No Less A Sanction

Posted on January 29, 2009
An attorney was disbarred by the New Hampshire Supreme Court for misconduct committed in conjunction with another now-disbarred lawyer. The two attorneys had initiated two actions on behalf of the clients concerning alleged construction defects in thier newly-built home...

Prosecutor Ghostwrites Judge's Opinion, Both Reprimanded

Posted on January 29, 2009
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Ohio today publicly reprimanded Judge John M. Stuard of the Trumbull County Court of Common Pleas and assistant county prosecutor Christopher D. Becker for professional misconduct arising...

Same Or Related Insurance Claims

Posted on January 28, 2009
In an action brought by the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund and two lawyers in a law firm, the Oregon Court of Appeals held that the trial court had correctly granted a declaratory judgment. The defendants were investors in...

Conference on Empirical Research on the Legal Profession

Posted on January 27, 2009
[posted by Bill Henderson] Thanks to the Georgetown Center for the Study of the Legal Profession and the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, on March 3, 2009, GULC will be holding another major conference on the empirical research on the...

No Automatic Recusal

Posted on January 27, 2009
A trip to the Maine home of an attorney eight or nine years ago does not automatically require the disqualification of a judge in matters involving the attorney's clients, according to a recent opinion of the Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory...

Michelson on Gender Inequality in China's Legal Profession

Posted on January 27, 2009
Posted by Alan Childress New to SSRN is this paper by Ethan Michelson of Indiana-Bloomington's departments of sociology and East Asian studies: "Gender Inequality in the Chinese Legal Profession." Its abstract: In China's urban context of labor retrenchment, women are...

Ethics of Email CLE: Tomorrow in D.C.

Posted on January 27, 2009
Posted by Alan Childress Sounds good, and is certainly affordable for 2 hours of ethics CLE credit. Provided by the D.C. Bar. To be held, pending weather, Wednesday, January 28, 2009, from 6:00-8:15 pm: This interactive program uses hypothetical scenarios...

Out Of Time, Out Of Court

Posted on January 27, 2009
A legal malpractice suit against Dechert LLP was dismissed on grounds of statute of limitations. The plaintiff's appeal of that determination was rejected by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department, which also affirmed financial sanctions imposed...

"An Easy Disregard For the Truth" Warrants Disbarment

Posted on January 27, 2009
A hearing committee of the District of Columbia Board on Professional Professional Responsibility has issued a 54-page report in a case involving intentional failure to pursue the client's lawful objectives and related dishonest conduct. The lawyer had deceived his client...

Cheerleading A Sport

Posted on January 27, 2009
In a case previously covered in the blog of the Wall Street Journal, the Wisconsin Supreme Court today held that a cheerleader who was injured in a pregame warmup exercise may not sue another member of the squad or the...

First Amendment Defense Rejected

Posted on January 26, 2009
An attorney who has practiced for 30 years without a disciplinary blemish is the subject of a recommended sanction of a two year suspension with reinstatement subject to court order. An Illinois hearing board found that the attorney, after discharge....

Child Abuse Violates Disciplinary Rule

Posted on January 26, 2009
A Colorado attorney was suspended for 60 days, all stayed if he successfully completes probation. The presiding disciplinary judge approved a conditional admission of misconduct based on the attorney's guily plea to misdemeanor child abuse. He "became angry with his...

Till Death Us Do Part

Posted on January 26, 2009
A Colorado hearing board found that an experienced personal injury attorney had violated ethical standards and imposed a six-month suspension, stayed in favor of six-months probation. The attorney was retained to pursue a claim for injuries that the client had...

Evidentiary Hearing Required Before Disqualification Order

Posted on January 26, 2009
The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, Division I reversed an order disqualiying counsel in a dispute arising from an asserted attorney's lien. The lawyer represented the client while employed by a law firm. He left to open his own firm...

Expert Improperly Excluded

Posted on January 26, 2009
The Tennessee Supreme Court held that a trial court had committed error in a case where the defendant had been charged with sexual contact with his stepdaughter. The defendant contends that he was asleep when the alleged conduct took place...

Six Month Suspensions For Escrow Violations

Posted on January 26, 2009
Noting that a sanction of disbarment was within the range of options for the misconduct, the Georgia Supreme Court imposed a six month suspension for intentional misuse of entrusted funds. The lawyer had used the funds for his own personal...

Resignation Accepted

Posted on January 26, 2009
The New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department accepted an attorney's resignation and ordered disbarment. Because there was a pending investigation into escrow account violations, the order may be supplemented with a restitution requirement: To the extent that...

Calorie-Counting, The Foundering Ark, and Credit Default Swaps

Posted on January 25, 2009
Although I sometimes wonder if all the various behavioral psychology theories ultimately cancel each other out (sort of like Karl Llewellyn's famous table of contradictory construction axioms), Gretchen Morgenson's New York Times column on credit default swaps got me to...

Blago's Lawyer Resigns

Posted on January 24, 2009
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Well, in a rare moment of being "on topic," I was wondering about the somewhat "noisy" withdrawal by Rod Blagojevich's lawyer, Ed Genson, in which he was quoted as saying, "I never require a client to...

In Favor Of Screening

Posted on January 24, 2009
The Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers ("APRL") has issued a statement in support of the recent ABA proposals favoring screening of lateral lawyers as a solution to imputed conflicts under Model Rule 1.10. The statements notes that "more than a...

Aiding Fraud Draws Suspension

Posted on January 23, 2009
The Virgina State Bar reports the following sanction order: On October 17, 2008, a three-judge panel of the Chesterfield County Circuit Court imposed a suspension of one year and one day on Steven Scott Biss, effective January 1, 2009. In...

Upward Adjustment In Sanction

Posted on January 23, 2009
The Illinois Review Board concluded, contrary to the finding of a hearing board, that a lawyer had made a material misrepresentation to a tribunal in addition to instances of neglect, failure to withdraw and other misconduct. The attorney had undertaken...

Disagreement Over Sanction

Posted on January 23, 2009
An attorney was the subject of bar proceedings rooted in three instances of driving while intoxicated in 2001 and 2002. In the second incident, he drove to the residence of his ex-wife's boyfriend while intoxicated. He smashed out the vehicle...

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