Legal Profession Blog: Academic

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Academic Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

Client Interests Live On For Conflicts Purposes

Posted on July 30, 2010
In a case of first impression, the Oregon Supreme Court held that an attorney violated the former client conflict-of-interest rules notwithstanding the death of the client. The attorney had represented a client in a loan transaction. After her death, he...

From Censure To Disbarment

Posted on July 30, 2010
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered the disbarment of an attorney whose bar discipline started with a public censure. In Pennsylvania, the attorney must personally appear to be censured. When the attorney failed to appear, a second proceeding was brought...

The Do's And Dont's Of Judge's Do's And Dont's Seminar

Posted on July 30, 2010
A judge may properly conduct a seminar on the "do's and dont's" of practice, according to a recent opinion of the Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. The committee recited the facts set forth in the request for the opinion: The...

Attorney Charged With Failure To Repay Student Loans

Posted on July 29, 2010
The Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint alleging that an attorney failed in bad faith to repay his student loans for a graduate business degree obtained after he graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1994. From 2006-2006,...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

All In the Family

Posted on July 29, 2010
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has reinstated a disbarred attorney over the objections of Bar Counsel. The court described the misconduct that led to the sanction: ...the petitioner's misconduct...as reflected in the indictments to which he pleaded guilty, occurred in...

No Disbarment For Boorish Behavior

Posted on July 29, 2010
The New Jersey Supreme Court today imposed a one-year suspension that will continue until the attorney complies with certain conditions in a case that "dealt mainly with charges of sexual bartering." The attorney had been previously disciplined four times for...

Anger Mismanagement

Posted on July 29, 2010
A Greenville, Tennessee attorney was suspended for 33 months with 45 days of active suspension and probation for the remaining time. The attorney must remain compliant with the Lawyer Assistance Program during the period of probation. The offense: .....

Four Lawyers And A Divorce

Posted on July 29, 2010
The Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint alleging misconduct on the part of attorney who represented an administrative law judge in a marriage dissolution. Both parties in the divorce case were lawyers. The complaint charges that, after over a year...

Don't Mess With Texas

Posted on July 28, 2010
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department affirmed the denial of a motion to move a legal malpractice action to Texas. The case involves allegations that the defendant law firm identified the wrong entity entitled to payment...

Release Me

Posted on July 28, 2010
The Maryland Court of Appeals has suspended an attorney for 90 days for misconduct described in the headnote to the decision: While representing Garcia on an unrelated matter, [the attorney] was approached by Dianne L.Coston, the grantor of a mortgage...

Report But No Recommendation

Posted on July 28, 2010
The District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility has issued its report in the G. Paul Howes matter. The case involves findings that the attorney, while an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting high-profile drug and murder conspiracy cases, improperly used...

A Private Matter

Posted on July 28, 2010
The Maryland Court of Appeals has held that fees awarded in debt collection matters are not determined by the lodestar method. Homeowners associations had sought review of fee awards arguing that the method was appropriate. The court here disagreed, noting...

Chief Deputy Clerk Gets Pretrial Diversion

Posted on July 27, 2010
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed an appeal in a case in which a county circuit court chief deputy clerk was charged with providing information to bonding companies in exchange for cash payments. The information allegedly provided was a...

PTSD Mitigation

Posted on July 27, 2010
An attorney whose serious misconduct was attributed to post traumatic stress disorder in the wake of 9/11 was suspended for one year by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department. The Departmental Disciplinary Committee had sought a...

No Sanction For Campaign Contributions

Posted on July 27, 2010
The New Jersey Supreme Court has held that a part-time municipal court judge is not subject to discipline for his law partner's political contributions from the law firm's joint business account. The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct ("ACJC") had recommended...

License Revoked After 57 Years In Practice

Posted on July 27, 2010
There is something deeply depressing about a bar discipline matter that results in the ultimate sanction of disbarment of an attorney after 57 years of practice. The Wisconsin Supreme Court accepted the consent revocation of an attorney who had engaged...

Law Library Thefts Lead To Disbarment

Posted on July 27, 2010
The web page of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers reports on a recent discipline case: The respondent...was admitted to the bar on June 19, 1985. In 2006 and 2007, he was an employee of the Lawrence law library. Between...

Every Mother's Son

Posted on July 27, 2010
The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of a suit brought against an attorney under the following circumstances: Appellant filed the underlying lawsuit against Respondent arising out of his representation of her husband, Lewis M. Argoe, Jr...

After Golf

Posted on July 27, 2010
A recent complaint filed by the Illinois Administrator alleges ethical violations based on the following facts: On May 28, 2008, while playing golf near Portage, Michigan, Respondent consumed four beers and four shots of bourbon. Respondent entered his automobile after...

"Of Counsel"

Posted on July 26, 2010
An ethics opinion from Nebraska deals with ethics of the use of the "Of Counsel" designation. The summary: An attorney may only be listed on firm letterhead and in firm advertisements as "Of Counsel" where there is close, ongoing, regular,...

In The Name Of the Parents

Posted on July 26, 2010
A Colorado attorney was disbarred who had "knowingly signed his parents' names on loan documents, gave them to his secretary to notarize, and tendered the signed documents to the bank. He also knew or should have known that the bank...

After Failed Witchcraft, Client in Love With Attorney Sought Hit Man to Murder His Wife

Posted on July 26, 2010
The New Hampshire Supreme Court recently affirmed a conviction for criminal solicitation to commit murder. The defendant was the client of an attorney in a workers' compensation matter. After retaining the attorney in late 2004 or early 2005, she ...developed...

Discretionary Call

Posted on July 26, 2010
The South Carolina Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee opines on the following question: A circuit court judge inquires into the propriety of presiding in a civil case under the following circumstances. Lawyer A has a case pending before the judge. The...

Censure Proposed For Gifts From Client

Posted on July 26, 2010
The Illinois Review Board has rejected the Administrator's call for a three-month suspension and recommended a censure of an attorney who accepted $90,000 in gifts from an elderly client shortly before the client's death. The pivotal finding of the Hearing...

Florida Attorney Reprimanded For Kentucky Advertisement

Posted on July 23, 2010
Lex18.com reports that a Florida attorney was reprimanded for advertising for clients after an air crash in Lexington: The Kentucky Supreme Court has reprimanded a Florida lawyer who placed an ad in a Lexington newspaper soliciting clients after the crash...

Webley on the Different Styles and Attitudes of UK Lawyers vs. Mediators in Divorce Disputes

Posted on July 23, 2010
Posted by Alan Childress Lisa Webley is a Reader at the law school of Westminster and a research fellow at the University of London Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (where she also got her PhD); she was just now at...

Zealousness No Defense To Contempt Charge

Posted on July 23, 2010
A finding of criminal contempt based on a defense attorney's questions to a winess in violation of a court order was affirmed by the Vermont Supreme Court. The attorney was defending a rape case. The court concluded: There can be...

Former County Attorney Stripped Of Law License

Posted on July 23, 2010
The former County Attorney of Cherokee County has been disbarred by the Kansas Supreme Court as a result of his federal criminal conviction. KAKE ABC 10 reported on the charges: The Cherokee County Attorney has been indicted for extortion -...

No Reason To Disqualify

Posted on July 23, 2010
The New Jersey Appellate Division reversed an order disqualifying counsel in a divorce case, concluding that "disqualification of plaintiff's attorney was not an available remedy for violation of Rule 5:3-5(b), which prohibits an attorney from taking a mortgage to secure...

Enough Is Enough

Posted on July 23, 2010
The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has ordered the dismissal of disciplinary charges against an attorney notwithstanding its conclusion that the attorney had violated three disciplinary rules in a matter litigated in the federal courts: We have before us an attorney...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Update on AILF's Legal Action Center Visa Bulletin Litigation (Updated 7/10/07)
The following is the latest update from AILF regarding its pening ...

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center Legislative Forecast
The ILRC Forecast on Immigration ReformJudith Golub, Executive Dir...

The Christian Legal Society and "discrimation": Response to Susan
In response to Susan's post, I'm inclined to think that, yes, the ...

Stacy Scnheider Legal Commentator Apprentice

Catholic Legal Theory and life and death
Tom Berg’s question regarding the propriety or not of capital pu...