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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

Lenghty Process

Posted on October 20, 2008
One of the recurring issues faced by bar prosecutors relates to the timing of disciplinary charges. Particularly in client neglect situations, the complaints tend to trickle in to bar counsel over a period of time. When charges are brought, all...

Clerk Was Crime Victim

Posted on October 17, 2008
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed a conviction on a guilty plea to a number of serious offenses. The defendant was one of a group "knocking down mailboxes and otherwise enjoying themselves" who decided to burn down a barn....

New Admission Rules Proposed In North Dakota

Posted on October 17, 2008
The North Dakota Supreme Court has proposed amendments to its bar admission rules. The court notes: The overall goals of the State Board of Law Examiners in proposing the amendments were cleaning up inconsistent language, conform the rules to the...

Internal Investigation Evidence Did Not Improperly Convey Opinion On Guilt

Posted on October 17, 2008
The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions of two former Tyco executives "for crimes associated with corporate wrongdoing." The court rejected the contention that the "admission of an attorney's testimony concerning certain facts related to a corporate internal...

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Payment Without Performance

Posted on October 17, 2008
An attorney who had accepted fees but failed to perform services was suspended for two years by the Ohio Supreme Court. The court's web page reports: The Supreme Court of Ohio has suspended the law license of Columbus attorney Madry...

Failure To File Leads To Suspension

Posted on October 16, 2008
A joint petition for a suspension of one year was approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The attorney admitted that he had failed to file federal income tax returns for the period 2001-2005, resulting in a criminal conviction. The unpaid...

Mississippi Welcomes You

Posted on October 16, 2008
The Mississippi Supreme Court has adopted a new admissions rule that returns to a regime of reciprocity rather than a one-day examination. The order and rule are linked here. (Mike Frisch)

"An Unresolved Question Of Fact"

Posted on October 16, 2008
A physician who served as chair of the emergency department at a hospital began to suffer from a delilitating spinal condition. He and his fellow doctors negotiated a new employment contract after meeting with a lawyer regarding the new contract....

Practicing While Suspended

Posted on October 16, 2008
A lawyer who was suspended for three months based on findings of "non-venal" conversion and other misconduct was charged with violation of the suspension order. The lawyer had held himself out as eligible to render legal services and had acted...

No Contest, No Report

Posted on October 16, 2008
The Florida Supreme Court approve a referee's findings of misconduct but rejected as unduly lenient a proposed 90 day suspension. Rather, the court imposed a suspension of 18 months followed by three years probation. The attorney had entered no contest...

No Winning Ticket

Posted on October 16, 2008
A Massachusetts lawyer was suspended for a year and a day in connection with two matters. One involved his self-representation in a landlord-tenant matter involving his failure to make rental payments. He disobeyed court orders and appeared in court late...

Understanding the Financial Crisis

Posted on October 16, 2008
[By Bill Henderson, cross-posted on ELS Blog] Like everyone else, I am struggling to get my head around exactly what happened to produce our current financial crisis. That is a precondition of anticipating the longer term consequences. In a single...

Thicker Than Water

Posted on October 15, 2008
We had previously reported on ethics charges filed against a Tennessee judge alleged to have used his office to benefit a private probation service run by his brother-in-law. The charges have resulted in a settlement order by which the judge...

"Indignantly Submitted"

Posted on October 15, 2008
The Illinois Hearing Board imposed a public censure on an attorney who had filed an inappropriate pleading in a litigated matter. The board described the misconduct as follows: Harrison represented Pedro Rey in a criminal matter. Rey?s case was assigned...

Duty To Report

Posted on October 15, 2008
The Massachusetts Committee on Judicial Ethics recently opined that a judge is obligated to report to the Board of Bar Overseers conduct of an attorney who is counsel in several matters before the judge, including a domestic relations matter where...

Getting Mad, Not Getting Even

Posted on October 14, 2008
When a lawyer who is the subject of a bar complaint sues the complainant in retaliation, such a suit may form the basis for a separate disciplinary charges. A lawyer admitted in 1962 was suspended for a year and until...

Nix To Turkey Hunt

Posted on October 14, 2008
A recent opinion of the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee in Florida: Judge knew all 5 siblings in a family before they ended up in litigation over a family trust. Judge presided over the litigation, which was concluded in 2004. Recently...

Suspension For Fraud Conviction

Posted on October 14, 2008
The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended an attorney for three years in the wake of a criminal fraud conviction. The court described the facts that established the criminal conduct: The plea agreement said that between November 2002 and November 2003, Attorney...

Avoidance Syndrome

Posted on October 14, 2008
The web page of the Ohio Supreme Court summarizes a disciplinary case decided today: The Supreme Court of Ohio has suspended the law license of [an] attorney for two years, with 18 months of that term stayed on conditions, for...

Something Rotten In Denmark

Posted on October 13, 2008
A public reprimand--the most severe sanction that could be imposed in light of the resignation from office--was imposed by the South Carolina Supreme Court on a`magistrate for two instances of misconduct. One matter involved the following misconduct: On August 19,...

"Magic" Explanation Rejected

Posted on October 13, 2008
The South Carolina Supreme Court imposed a two-year suspension in a`bar discipline matter involving charges of misconduct in six matters. The attorney had contended that two findings of fact should be rejected. The court agreed that there was insufficient evidence...

Convictions Lead To Suspension

Posted on October 13, 2008
The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has recommended a suspension of one year and one day of an attorney, currently on inactive status, for her conviction of making threatening telephone calls and stalking, the revocation of probation and court orders in...

Greed, Fear, and Morality: Walking and Chewing Gum?

Posted on October 12, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw I'm off to Springfield, Massachusetts at the end of the week to participate in the Entrepreneurship in a Global Economy symposium at Western New England College's Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship. I will be...

I Now Pronounce You...

Posted on October 12, 2008
A recent judicial ethics opinion from Massachusetts holds that a judge may serve as a justice of the peace for the sole purpose of conducted a marriage ceremony: Performing marriages does not implicate any policy making role, has no political...

Prospective Sanction

Posted on October 12, 2008
An attorney who was convicted of a number of criminal offenses in New Jersey relating to the conversion of a $75,000 settlement was suspended for three years by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department. The conviction...

The Final Straw to Gov. Sarah Palin re Trooper Taser

Posted on October 10, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress The official AK Branchflower report is just out and linked here. Lost in all the legal verbiage and important findings will be this isolated finding. It is one of those Doh! moments we have had in...

Financial Crisis, Governance, and Stock Performance

Posted on October 10, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw I was working away this morning and trying not to look at the Dow when a thought struck me. Back when I was fighting the governance wars from the inside, arguing from the board's standpoint why...

No Misconduct In Liens To Secure Fees

Posted on October 10, 2008
A very interesting hearing officer report just filed in Arizona directs that ethics charges be dismissed in a case where the attorney had been charged with violating ethics rules and state statutes "by taking liens against client's real property to...

Looking For Mr. Hyde

Posted on October 10, 2008
An Illinois hearing board has recommended that an attorney convicted on three occasions of driving under the influence be suspended for one year and until further court order. The Administrator had the attorney submit to a medical/mental health evaluation that...

The Drift Toward Pure Numbers Admissions

Posted on October 10, 2008
[by Bill Henderson, cross-posted to ELS Blog] Law schools are part of a production function for entry level lawyers. Therefore, if law schools alter their admissions practices, the character and complexion of the law school applicant pool can shift in...

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