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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 Difficult Time

Posted on November 17, 2008
An attorney suspended for neglect of four client matters was reinstated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The misconduct had taken place during a difficult period of the attorney's life, when his marriage was deteriorating, his mother passed away and he...

New 10th Edition of Morgan & Rotunda Available for Spring

Posted on November 16, 2008
I got an email stating that the new edition of the problems casebook by Tom Morgan (GW) and Ronald Rotunda (now at Chapman) is now available for spring 09 adoption, via this link. I also wanted to mention that John...

Hard Labor

Posted on November 14, 2008
The Louisiana Supreme Court ordered the permanent disbarment for a variety of ethics violations that included a criminal conviction arising out his plea to 40 instances of theft, forgery and issuing worthless checks. The order indicates that the sentence in...

Suing The Dead

Posted on November 14, 2008
A complaint and summons alleging legal malpractice filed after an attorney's death was properly dismissed, according to an opinion of the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department: Because there simply is no precedent nor any support in...

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False Statement Conviction Results In Disbarment

Posted on November 14, 2008
A lawyer who had been convicted of violation of the federal false statement provisions of 18 U.S.C. section 1001 was summarily disbarred by the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department. The court held that the conviction involved...

Computer Novice May Suffer Sanctions For Spoliation

Posted on November 14, 2008
An order declining to impose sanctions for spoliation of computer evidence was reversed by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The trial court had applied the wrong standard in imposing sanctions against a plaintiff who had thereafter voluntarily dismissed the action...

Legal Ethics CLE in Denver Dec. 8 at the Ritz-Carlton and Near Skiing

Posted on November 14, 2008
The 13th annual Ethics CLE, called Ethics: Because It's More Than Just the Rules, is sponsored by CLE International. Up to 7 ethics hours are available. It is at the Ritz-Carlton in Denver 12/8/08. Home study is also available, but...

Duty Of Candor

Posted on November 14, 2008
The Vermont Supreme Court denied the application for bar admission of an applicant with a history of criminal and financial responsibility issues. Of particular significance to the court were issues relating to the adequacy of the applicant disclosures concerning these...

Fleeing Police Nets Lenghty Suspension

Posted on November 13, 2008
The web page of the Virginia State Bar reports the following disciplinary action: On September 26, 2008, the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board suspended [an attorney's] license to practice law for one year and one day. [The attorney] was found...

Reprimand Equals Censure

Posted on November 13, 2008
An attorney who had been reprimanded in New Jersey was censured by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department. The court concluded that censure was the equivalent of a New Jeresy reprimand and thus imposed that sanction...

No Liberty Interest

Posted on November 13, 2008
Not a legal profession case, but an interesting decision from the West Virginia Supreme Court reversed a trial court judgment that declared unconstitutional the procedure to challenge the decision of the referee of a high school basketball game calling a...

Representing Buyer And Seller Leads To Bar Complaint

Posted on November 13, 2008
A complaint filed by the Illinois ARDC charges an attorney with a conflict of interest in representing both the buyer and seller in a real estate transaction. The fee charged to the buyers (who had initially retained the lawyer) was...

Acts Of Lewdness

Posted on November 12, 2008
The Oklahoma Supreme Court accepted the resignation and ordered the disbarment of an attorney who had been charged with, among other things, second degree rape and forcible oral sodomy. The attorney pleaded guilty to two counts of offering to engage....

Reversal for Improper Cross-Examination

Posted on November 12, 2008
The Maryland Court of Appeals reversed a criminal conviction, finding error in the cross-examination of the defendant concerning the timing and content of his conversations with his attorney. The court held that the claim had been preserved and that the...

Ineffective Hold Harmless Agreement

Posted on November 12, 2008
An attorney who acknowledged that she may not have provided competent representation in connection with real estate closings was reprimanded by the South Carolina Supreme Court. The court's order recites the key facts: Respondent represents that, at the closing, she...

AALS Agonistes

Posted on November 11, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw (not Bill Henderson, but my name sits right below his on the left) Brian Leiter has provided a link to his post from a year ago about when candidates should expect to hear from schools with...

Alcohol Problems Lead To Practice Problems

Posted on November 11, 2008
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has approved a two-year consent suspension, retroactive to a previously imposed interim suspension, of an attorney who had appeared in court in a state of intoxication to represent a client scheduled to plead guilty in a...

Reinstated

Posted on November 11, 2008
An attorney who had been suspended as a result of a conviction for causing a death while driving drunk was reinstated with conditions by the South Carolina Supreme Court. He had served 7 1/2 years of a prison sentence. The...

Gambling With The License To Practice

Posted on November 11, 2008
The South Carolina Supreme Court reprimanded an attorney for engaging in illegal gambling. The attorney had resigned his position as a deputy solicitor in the wake of criminal charges: Respondent has been thoroughly cooperative with ODC throughout the course of...

Getting Personal Leads To Reprimand

Posted on November 10, 2008
The Connecticut Appellate Court affirmed the reprimand of an attorney who had accused opposing counsel in a domestic relations matter of having an affair and fathering a child with the client that opposing counsel represented. Even if true, the allegations...

Censure Insufficient?

Posted on November 10, 2008
The New York Commission on Judicial Discipline imposed a censure of a judge who had accepted a guilty plea and imposed on jail sentence on an intoxicated and incompetent criminal defendant. A dissent finds the sanction insufficient: In my universe,...

Malpractice Claim Against Criminal Defense Counsel Improperly Dismissed

Posted on November 10, 2008
The dismissal of a legal malpractice action brought by a criminal defendant was reversed by the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The court determined that a previous case holding that the defendant must prove actual innocence in order to establish malpractice...

Taken Out of Context

Posted on November 10, 2008
Reuters report out of Poland, via TPM: A right-wing Polish MP has dubbed Obama's election "the end of white man's civilization," and declared that "al Qaeda are rubbing their hands with glee." He later said his remarks were not meant...

Disregard Of Suspension Order Alleged

Posted on November 07, 2008
An interesting complaint filed by the Illinois ARDC alleges that an attorney, in anticupation of his suspension in an earlier case, hired an inexperienced associate and continued his practice in violation of the suspension. The complaint alleges: In or about...

Hunting Clients Leads To Permanent Disbarment

Posted on November 07, 2008
The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has recommended the permanent disbarment of two attorneys for serious violations of client-solicitation rules as well as paying non-lawyers to drum up personal injury business. The board noted that the marketing tools used to solicit...

Suing Law Students

Posted on November 07, 2008
A former Rutgers law student was sued for alleged failure to pay off student loans. He in turn filed a pro se third-party complaint against the law firm that had initiated the action for alleged violation of the Federal Fair...

Level Of Incompetence

Posted on November 07, 2008
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has denied the reinstatement petition of an attorney who had been suspended for misappropriation of client funds. The court accepted the report and recommendation of its Disciplinary Board, which had found that the attorney had made...

"Bullies may get kick out of seeing others in pain"

Posted on November 07, 2008
That is the actual Reuters headline for the shocking and "surprising" findings of a recent University of Chicago study. Reseachers proclaimed this counterintuitive. They did not attend my middle school. Apparently we had a double-blind controlled study going on at...

No Vicarious Liability For Alleged Negligence

Posted on November 06, 2008
The dismissal of a legal malpractice claim against an attorney and his former law partners was affirmed by the Washington Court of Appeals Division III. The client had consulted with the lawyer while in the partnership but had been retained...

Dealings With Former Sister-in-Law Leads To Disbarment Recommendation

Posted on November 06, 2008
A Louisiana hearing committee has recommended the disbarment of a lawyer for misconduct in the wake of his brother's death in Saudi Arabia while employed by Halliburton. The violations were brought to the attention of disciplinary authorities by the lawyer's...

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