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Legal Profession Blog 

Cover legal ethics, bar discipline, business practice, the tension between the bar and the academy, ethical theory, and comparative legal professions.
Post Frequency: 40.8/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 14:56:26 Recent Entries: 3635
By Alan Childress, Mike Frisch, and Jeff Lipshaw
Go to Legal Profession Blog, find other Academic blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Suspension For Drug Offense
Posted on November 21, 2008An attorney who was convicted of possession of cocaine was suspended for nine months by the Nebraska Supreme Court. The attorney had recently seperated from his wife of 35 years and had been introduced to cocaine by a woman whom...
Suspension for Altering Will
Posted on November 21, 2008An attorney who had engaged in serious misconduct was indefinitely suspended without possibility of reinstatement for two years by order of the Iowa Supreme Court. The attorney has a longstanding problems with alcohol and depression, and had a record of...
Globalization of Law Practice - III
Posted on November 21, 2008Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Peter Kalis, of K&L Gates. Interesting. Very similar to my own beginnings. Kirkpatrick & Lockhart was a 80 person firm in Pittsburgh; my firm Dykema was a 100 person firm in Detroit in the late 1970s....
Do The Math
Posted on November 21, 2008A high school junior who was convicted of a criminal offense arising out of his agreement to act as a lookout for other students who were stealing a mathematics examination appealed his conviction to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The...
Globalization of Law Practice - II
Posted on November 21, 2008Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Trevor Faure now speaking; he's the European GC for Tyco. He's a British barrister but not wearing his wig and gown. Like most in-house lawyers in my experience, me included, he's taking a business approach that...
No Waiver, No Reinstatement
Posted on November 21, 2008A petition for reinstatement filed by an attorney who had been suspended for 18 months for serious ethics violations (not described in the order) was denied by the Georgia Supreme Court. The attorney had been found to suffer from significant...
Globalization of Law Practice
Posted on November 21, 2008Posted by Jeff Lipshaw The first panel is an overview of law firm globalization with James Jones of Hildebrandt, Trevor Faure, the European GC for Tyco International, and Peter Kalis, the managing partner of K&L Gates. Jones starts with an...
Live Blogging From Harvard Program on Globalization of the Legal Profession
Posted on November 21, 2008Posted by Jeff Lipshaw I am sitting in the Ropes & Gray Room in Pound Hall at Harvard Law School, next to Bill Henderson, attending a day-long program on the globalization of the legal profession. Right now, Dr. David Nersessian,...
New Blog: On Being a Black Lawyer
Posted on November 21, 2008Posted by Jeff Lipshaw We received an e-mail this morning about a new blog, On Being a Black Lawyer, edited by Yolanda Young (right). Here's what it had to say: You might remember [Young] as the former Covington & Burling...
Let's Not Meet By Accident
Posted on November 20, 2008Another entry in our continuing debate concerning the disciplinary consequences (or absence of consequences) of criminal conduct arising from an automobile accident comes from a hearing officer in Arizona, who has recommended dismissal of bar charges against an attorney who...
"We Have No Idea"
Posted on November 20, 2008A majority of the Washington State Supreme Court declined to reverse a criminal conviction for prosecutorial misconduct in closing argument, notwithstanding its conclusion that the prosecutor had repeatedly misstated the burden of proof. The court quotes the closing at length:...
Rape Conviction Results In Disbarment
Posted on November 20, 2008An attorney and former prosecutor was disbarred by the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department as a result of a conviction for rape in the third degree. The case had received a significant amount of publicity, as...
Identical Discipline
Posted on November 20, 2008The New York Appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department ordered reciprocal discipline of a one-year probated suspension based on the identical sanction imposed in Texas. The attorney had taken child-support payments due to his client as fees: Respondent's client...
Perils Of Co-Judging
Posted on November 20, 2008A city court judge who had permitted partners in the law firm of her co-judge to appear before her was censured by the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct: It is well-established that the law partners and associates of a...
Appeal Rights Forfeited
Posted on November 20, 2008The North Dakota Supreme Court held that a mother who had fled the jurisdiction with her children had forfeited any appeal rights in connection with an adverse custody determination. The court analysed and applied the so-called "fugitive dismissal" rule...
"One Man Band Of Competence"
Posted on November 20, 2008An attorney who was disbarred for misuse of funds entrusted to him in his capacity as treasurer for a county Democratic Party sought reinstatement after his disbarment. The Vermont Professional Conduct Board recommended that the petition be granted subject to...
Religion and Money: Pushing a Point Too Far
Posted on November 20, 2008Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Daniel Henninger, who comes out from behind the black curtain of the Wall Street Journal editorial page each week, had a column today that had me nodding in agreement until the last overstated conclusion. My thesis...
Settlement Remorse Fails To Move Court
Posted on November 19, 2008An attempt to set aside a settlement agreement by a former client of a law firm was rejected by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department: Defendants' contention that the portion of the settlement agreement requiring them...
Lobbying Lawyers
Posted on November 19, 2008The District of Columbia Bar is sponsoring a program on the ethical implications of lawyers engaged in lobbying activities: Faculty experts...will use hypothetical scenarios to address the following important questions confronting lawyer-lobbyists: When is lobbying governed by ethics rules? What...
Proving Mitigation
Posted on November 19, 2008An attorney who had acknowledged neglect of client matters agreed to a fully-stayed suspension of a year and a day that was imposed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Of particular interest is a psychotherapist's report attached to the Disciplinary Board's...
Bonus Promise Enforced
Posted on November 19, 2008In a case involving a dispute between a law firm and a former associate attorney, the Connecticut Appellate Court held that the law firm had breached an employment agreement and that the trial court had improperly struck a statutory claim...
Hold the Pepperoni
Posted on November 18, 2008An attorney was suspended for a four year period by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Some of the misconduct findings involved unauthorized practice while suspended for non-compliance with continuing legal education obligations. The Disciplinary Board had found 339 discrete acts of...
"A Professional and a Gentleman"
Posted on November 18, 2008An Arizona Hearing Officer found that an accused attorney had not violated ethics rules and recommended that charges be dismissed in a matter where the attorney had served as personal representative of a deceased client's estate. The lawyer, who had....
Perils Of Vanity Plates
Posted on November 18, 2008We recently reported a summary from the Virginia State Bar's web page on the suspension of a lawyer for felony fleeing from the police. The decision of the Disciplinary Board has now been posted and provides some interesting details. The...
Why I Don't Facebook Very Much - The New Etiquette
Posted on November 18, 2008Posted by Jeff Lipshaw One of my relatives was recently upset because she thought I "ignored" her friend request to me on Facebook. I don't go on Facebook very much, and this all confirmed why. Indeed, I had been "ignoring"...
A Fee Too High
Posted on November 18, 2008The Illinois Review Board found that an attorney had charged an unreasonable fee and improperly divided the fee with another lawyer, but rejected charges of incompetent representation and recommended a 30 day suspension. The Administrator had not appealed the finding...
Beetles, Frogs, and Lawyers
Posted on November 18, 2008Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Several weeks ago, I was provoked (in a good way) by Usha Rodrigues' reference to Ronald Gilson's 1984 article on how transactional lawyers create value as the "reigning academic account." I wrote a quick little essay...
No Disbarment For Misprison Of Felony
Posted on November 17, 2008An attorney convicted of misprison of felony was suspended for a period coterminous with his federal probation and until further court order. The facts: Respondent admitted that he knew and failed to report that a tenant in a building that...
Failure To Remit Draws Censure
Posted on November 17, 2008An associate attorney in a law firm who had failed to remit a legal fee paid to her that was the property of her law firm was censured by the New York Appellate Division for the Fourth Judicial Department. The...
Moved, Left No Forwarding Address
Posted on November 17, 2008The Louisiana Attorney Discipline Board has recommended that an attorney who had abandoned his law practice after accepting fees (which he did not earn) from five clients be disbarred. The lawyer had failed to participate in the the disciplinary proceeding...
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Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...
The company I worked for forced me to quit instead of dealing with someone harassing me, what can I do?
Look up CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE...................this looks like what happened t...

Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...
The company I worked for forced me to quit instead of dealing with someone harassing me, what can I do?
Look up CONSTRUCTIVE DISCHARGE...................this looks like what happened t...








