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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

May 1 Conference in Chicago on the Business of Legal Practice: Death to Billables? Cynicism in Business Advising?

Posted on April 11, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress I posted this announcement two weeks ago on a symposium by DePaul's law school, to be held on May Day in Chicago, about the ethics of the business of practicing law. One of the hot topics...

Not Unjust And Not Enough

Posted on April 11, 2008
The New York Appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department imposed harsher reciprocal discipline in a case where the attorney had been suspended for 90 days in Michigan. The attorney had, among other things, accepted a settlement contrary to the...

No Payment Of Non-Indigent Legal Fees

Posted on April 11, 2008
The Iowa Supreme Court held that a district court had exceeded its authority in ordering the state public defender to pay the fees of a lawyer appointed to provide legal services to a non-indigent litigant who had been deployed to...

What is the Average MPRE Score and What Percentage Passes? ... And Where Does Your Score Fall?

Posted on April 11, 2008
[The MPRE is required in most jurisdictions before admission to the bar, and each state mandates its own passing score, usually between 79 and 86, out of a scaled 150 possible. Jeff posted last year on some useful observations on...

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Love (But Don't Represent When There's A Conflict) Thy Neighbor

Posted on April 10, 2008
The Maine Board of Bar Overseers reprimanded a lawyer who had represented both his neighbors and a local bank. The attorney stipulated that he should not have undertaken to represent the neighbors in re-financing their residential property as his "personal...

Technologically Challenged Lawyer Suspended

Posted on April 10, 2008
An attorney was suspended for three months by the Supreme Court of Kansasas a result of two complaints. In a bankruptcy matter, the following misconduct took place: "Beginning September 1, 2004, pursuant to a rule change, the United States Bankruptcy...

Reinstatement Process Invites Public Comments

Posted on April 10, 2008
Here's an idea that I wholeheartedly endorse: public notice of a petition for reinstatement to practice by a suspended or disbarred attorney. The Virginia State Bar has a post that describes the misconduct and invites the public to comment on...

Postgraduate Education

Posted on April 10, 2008
The Minnesota Supreme Court ordered that a previously suspended attorney be conditional reinstated. The condition? The lawyer must take and pass the professional responsibility portion of the state bar exam. In an unrelated matter, the court imposed a public reprimand...

A Courtroom Is Not The Jay Leno Show

Posted on April 10, 2008
Abovethelaw has a post concerning a public admonishment of a judge of the Orange County California Municipal Court. Among the high (or low) lights: holding up a hand-lettered "overruled" sign in ruling on plaintiffs' objections, encouaging defense counsel to "give...

New Rules For Louisiana Judges

Posted on April 10, 2008
The Louisiana Supreme Court has amended its Code of Judicial Conduct regarding compensation, gifts, loans, bequests, favors and other things of value. The new rule, effective January 1, 2009, requires annual reporting of all compensation and expenses received by a...

Global Law Symposium at Georgetown Law

Posted on April 09, 2008
Georgetown Law's Center for the Study of the Legal Profession is sponsoring a symposium on The Future Of The Global Law Firm on April 17-18, 2008 at the law school. As reflected in the attached conference description, "[t]he goal of...

The Chain Of Command

Posted on April 09, 2008
A report in The Detroit News states that a complaint has been filed with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission seeking a bar investigation of the Wayne County Prosecutor for failure to supervise an assistant prosecutor who is the subject of...

Eventually Cooperative

Posted on April 09, 2008
The Wisconsin Supreme Court accepted a stipulated disposition and imposed an agreed-upon two-year suspension in a matter involving "lack of diligence, misrepresentation and other violations." The attorney had a record of prior discipline. The court explains: "We conclude the misconduct...

"Needless and Standardless Litigation"

Posted on April 09, 2008
In a lawsuit between three firms involved in the settlement of a medical malpractice action for $6.7 million, the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department held that a lawyer who had "actually contributed to the legal work"...

An Unusual Retainer Agreement

Posted on April 08, 2008
A case from the Florida Supreme Court that declared a state statute invalid involved a retainer agreement with an interesting twist-- "[i]n the event a dispute arises...the Client and Lawyer shall not make arbitrary decisions, but shall make decisions based...

Too Lenient

Posted on April 08, 2008
The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the public reprimand recommended by a referee was unduly lenient and imposed a nine-month suspension. The court accepted the conclusion that the lawyer had not violated ethics rules by failing to turn over $230,000...

Pretexting And Criminal Defense

Posted on April 08, 2008
The web page of the National Organization of Bar Counsel has a very interesting summary of a report in a Wisconsin bar discipline case involving subterfuge by a lawyer defending a criminal case. The lawyer represented a client charged with,...

Overwhelming Evidence

Posted on April 07, 2008
Three Colorado attorneys were readmitted to practice (summaries linked here, here and here) by order of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge. Although the posted summaries are brief, in each case there was found to be "overwhelming" evidence of character reformation such...

Second Offense Less Serious

Posted on April 07, 2008
An Illinois hearing board has recommended a public censure of an attorney who had previously been suspended for six months for ethics violations. The board explains: "Respondent?s prior misconduct involved more egregious facts than the present case. The most significant...

Second Chance

Posted on April 07, 2008
An attorney who had been placed on probation in February 2006 for neglect and failure to return an unearned fee failed to participate in Ethics School, pay costs and communicate with the probation monitor. After the disiplinary board recommended revocation,...

No Disbarment In Light Of Recovery From Addiction

Posted on April 07, 2008
The Louisiana Supreme Court imposed a three year suspension, nunc pro tunc to December 8, 2000, in a disciplinary matter involving an attorney with "a long history of alcohol and drug abuse" who had been on disability inactive status since...

When Lawyers Split Up

Posted on April 07, 2008
A dispute between two lawyers who had been associated with each over entitlement to fees in two cases after the junior lawyer had departed was addressed in a lengthy opinion of the Nebraska Supreme Court. The attorneys had a complex...

A Guide To The D.C. Rule Revisions

Posted on April 06, 2008
I have now had the opportunity to study the new Rule XI (rules governing bar disciplinary procedure) that were issued last Thursday by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Overall, it appears to me that the court did not...

Theft Of Foundation Funds Leads to Resignation

Posted on April 04, 2008
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department accepted an attorney's resignation and ordered that he be struck from the rolls. The attorney was under investigation for conduct described in the court's order: "Respondent...acknowledges that he is under...

Another Prosecutor Charged

Posted on April 04, 2008
An article in the Detroit Free Press reports that the head of the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office drug unit has been charged with ethical violations by the Attorney Grievance Commission. The article states: "The grievance commission, the state Supreme Court's...

Less Than Disbarment

Posted on April 04, 2008
The New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department granted a motion to reargue an order of disbarment and imposed a five-year suspension in a matter involving conversion of client funds on multiple occasions, failure to maintain required records,...

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Posted on April 04, 2008
A Nebraska lawyer who had advanced sums to an unemployed personal-injury client "for such things as transportation and vehicle expenses, insurance premiums, and rent" was suspended for 60 days by the Nebraska Supreme Court. Nebraska had modified its rule effective...

D.C. Shows Well

Posted on April 04, 2008
The new feature of giving access to hearing committee reports on the District of Columbia Bar's web page is already paying dividends. A report just posted shows the disciplinary system at its best--a thoughtful and comprehensive analysis of a contested...

The Fruits Of Unethical Behavior

Posted on April 03, 2008
In a 4-3 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court indefinitely suspended an attorney who had caused an elderly client to transfer her assets into joint and survivorship accounts in both their names without informed consent, concealed estate proceeds after the client...

Increased Sanction For Domestic Violence

Posted on April 03, 2008
In a reciprocal discipline matter where New Jersey had imposed a public censure for an attorney's act of domestic violence against his wife, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals imposed a suspension of 60 days. The attorney had contested...

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