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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

More Moles for Metadata: This Time It Is Photos

Posted on March 07, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress This blog and also Legal Ethics Forum (and here) have done several posts on the issue of metadata hidden in word processing files, and especially the ethical rules covering the sending or mining of metadata and...

MJP In Connecticut

Posted on March 07, 2008
Connecticut has adopted a rule governing Multi-Jurisdictional Practice that grants to non-Connecticut lawyers the same opportunity to "provide legal services on a temporary basis" under Rule 5.5 that the state where that lawyer is admitted provides to members of the...

Jail Budget Problems And The Right To Counsel

Posted on March 07, 2008
As a result of budget problems, the Maricopa County Sheriff announced a new set of limitations on privileged visitation hours (visits by attorneys, legal staff and probation officers) with jail inmates. The public defender challenged the limitations as an infringement...

Privity Rule

Posted on March 07, 2008
The Minnesota Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision that had allowed a malpractice suit against Dorsey & Whitney on a theory that a non-client of the firm in a complex loan transaction was a third-party beneficiary of the firm's...

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A Bibliography of Comparative Law, Including Middle Eastern and African Sources, by Patrick O'Donnell

Posted on March 07, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress Anyone who reads blogs knows that Patrick O'Donnell, who also teaches philosophy at Santa Barbara City College, is a prolific and insightful commenter. Jeff's prior post on his bio is here. Patrick is allowing us to...

Not Disbarment

Posted on March 07, 2008
An attorney who had been suspended for at least six months was accused of and admitted additional misconduct including misappropriation. The attorney and disciplinary counsel stipulated to a five year indefinite suspension rather than disbarment. The stipulation was filed with...

No Excess Fee

Posted on March 07, 2008
An attorney who entered into a contract with the public defender to handle a post-conviction matter sought a fee in excess of the agreed-upon amount of $1,500. The public defender appealed the order granting the excess fee. The Iowa Supreme...

Reinstatement Denied Where Restitution Not Made

Posted on March 07, 2008
The Nebraska Supreme Court denied an application for reinstatement of a disbarred attorney. The attorney had been suspended for a false representation and then disbarred in 1997 for an income-tax conviction. Counsel for Discipline had opposed reinstatement notwithstanding a favorable...

Malpractice Claim Dismissed

Posted on March 07, 2008
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department held that a claim of legal malpractice was properly dismissed when the plaintiff failed to submit an expert affidavit to counter the affidavit filed on behalf of the defendant law...

Childress on Overview of Lawyers and the Legal Profession, in the U.S. and Comparatively

Posted on March 06, 2008
Posted by Steven Alan Childress I have recently posted to SSRN this 5000-word summary on the legal profession. It appeared as the entry "Lawyers," in volume 2 of David S. Clark, ed., Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global...

Hold On To That Statute Book

Posted on March 06, 2008
There is an interesting decision by the Montana Supreme Court in litigation brought by the state public defender to compel a judge to appoint the public defender's office as counsel in a criminal case. The defendant had initially twice declined...

Qualcomm Sanctions Order Vacated

Posted on March 06, 2008
Courtesy of Legal Ethics Forum comes breaking news that the District Court has vacated the sanctions order in the Qualcomm case because the "introduction of accusatory adversity between Qualcomm and its retained counsel regarding the issue of assessing responsibility for...

What's Up?

Posted on March 06, 2008
Not a legal profession case, but worthy of note, is a decision issued today by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. The court held that, when a police officer said "What's up, Maurice?" to a person under arrest, such a...

Sore Loser

Posted on March 06, 2008
An Iowa county attorney who was defeated in her bid for reelection was reprimanded for removing office files in pending and closed criminal cases and making misrepresentations to an employee of the newly-elected county attorney. The reprimanded former prosecutor also...

Judicial Immunity

Posted on March 06, 2008
In a 7-0 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court held that a judge who acted in excess of his jurisdiction in entering an order in an eviction matter was immune from civil liability. The court's summary, which links to the decision,...

In-House Counsel Rule

Posted on March 06, 2008
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has adopted a new provision, effective June 1, that allows for in-house counsel to represent a single organizational client in Massachusetts without admission to the Massachusetts bar. Attorneys who wish to practice pursuant to the...

Mandatory Malpractice Insurance- Not Yet

Posted on March 06, 2008
The web page of the Virginia State Bar reports that: "The Virginia State Bar Council voted 44 to 7 during its March 1 meeting in Richmond to delay publication of a proposal that would require all Virginia lawyers to carry...

Presumption Overcome

Posted on March 06, 2008
The Nevada Supreme Court held that an attorney had overcome the presumption of undue influence when his lawyer partner drafted a trust instrument that named him as a beneficiary. The court also held that, even if the conduct violated the...

American Rule

Posted on March 05, 2008
A contract contained a provision that "[a]ll costs and expenses of any suit or proceeding shall be assessed against the defaulting party" was not broad enough to encompass recovery of attorney fees, according to a decision of the Court of...

Judge Not Thy Sister-In-Law

Posted on March 05, 2008
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct censured a town court justice who failed to make timely deposits of court funds, failed to report and remit funds in a timely manner and failed to keep a complete and accurate...

Pay The Dues

Posted on March 05, 2008
There seems to have been a recent upsurge in bar discipline cases brought against attorneys who have not paid their annual bar dues or have otherwise failed to maintain their good standing as an active bar member. The Illinois ARDC...

Prosecutor Reprimanded

Posted on March 05, 2008
An assistant prosecuting attorney for Wayne County Michigan was reprimanded by consent for the following described misconduct: "he failed to follow department guidelines for dismissing a felony firearm charge in one matter; and failed to follow his supervisor's preauthorizations for...

Charges Of Unauthorized Practice

Posted on March 05, 2008
The Illinois ARDC has filed charges of ethical misconduct against an Illinois lawyer who allegedly engaged in unauthorized practice in Michigan. The complaint alleges that the attorney was retained to pursue a medical malpractice case on behalf of a Michigan...

Conventions the Way They Used to Be

Posted on March 05, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Somebody recently likened the Clinton campaign's ability to cling to life to that of Rasputin, the famous and resilient mad monk of the last days of the Romanovs. I woke up yesterday morning, looked at the...

Is "I Will Sue You Into Bankruptcy" a Permissible Coda to a "Govern Yourself Accordingly" Letter?

Posted on March 04, 2008
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports that the lawyer for Denver Nuggets Coach George Karl sent a "govern yourself accordingly" letter to a fan running the firegeorgekarl.com blog. While the Law Blog focuses on the...

Continuous Representation Tolls Statute Of Limitations

Posted on March 04, 2008
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department reinstated a legal malpractice case. The ongoing representation by the lawyers in the underlying case tolled the statute of limitations: "The complaint here went beyond mere allegations that defendants continuously...

Lipshaw on Models and Games for Ethicists and Attorneys

Posted on March 04, 2008
Posted by Alan Childress Legal Scholarship Network sent me an email today of a recent issue of SSRN's journal on Law & Soc'y: Legal Prof., edited by Indiana's Bill Henderson. It includes an abstract and link to the article posted...

Can't Sue The Arbitrator

Posted on March 04, 2008
The New Jersey Appellate Division held that an arbitrator is immune from suit ("Immunity trumps liability") for actions taken during a "protracted and contentious" arbitration. The case involved a dispute between a contractor and a homeowner. After the arbitrator has...

Duty To Self-Report

Posted on March 04, 2008
A recent article on the web page of the California State Bar describes the duty, imposed by the legislature, of California lawyers to self-report specified information to the bar's disciplinary counsel. The article is authored by Chief Disciplinary Counsel Scott...

Sharing Responsibility

Posted on March 04, 2008
There is a very interesting bar discipline case decided today by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The court issued a public reprimand in a case involving an attorney retained by a husband and wife to remove any inaccuracies on their credit...

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