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

Termination, Not Hints, Triggers Wrongful Discharge Claim

Posted on March 04, 2010
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a former law firm associate's claim of failure to accommodate a disability on grounds that the claim was time-barred. However, the court reversed the dismissal of a related claim...

Web Page Confidentiality Breach Charged

Posted on March 03, 2010
The Illinois Administrator has filed a disciplinary complaint alleging that an attorney divulged confidential information about a former client on his web page. The complaint contends that the attorney was angered when the client discharged him: On or about March...

Gambling, Drinking Leads To Theft, Indefinite Suspension

Posted on March 03, 2010
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Ohio today imposed an indefinite suspension against the law license of [an] Akron attorney...for misappropriating more than $100,000 from her law firm by depositing retainer fees she...

"Obvious Disinterest"

Posted on March 03, 2010
The South Carolina Supreme Court disbarred an attorney for misconduct in connection with his high volume bankruptcy practice. The court noted: We find the Panel's recommended sanction of disbarment is warranted. By his default, Respondent has admitted to committing multiple...

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

Future Ed: New Business Models for U.S. and Global Legal Education

Posted on March 02, 2010
New York Law School April 9-10, 2010 Harvard Law School October 15-16, 2010 Got an idea about the future of U.S. legal education? Think it?s time to go clinical? Or global? Or virtual? Should law be combined with other fields...

The Cabinet Matter

Posted on March 02, 2010
A disciplinary sanction reported in the March 2010 online edition of the California Bar Journal;[An attorney] was suspended for two years, stayed, placed on two years of probation with an actual 30-day suspension and he was ordered to take the...

The "Goat Hacking" Justification for Contract Law

Posted on March 02, 2010
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw A contract law theorist whose work I admire greatly, Nate Oman (William & Mary, Visiting Cornell, left), has posted a new piece in the burgeoning area of "pluralistic" contract theory. For the uninitiated, the poles of...

Trust Account Problems Lead To Reprimand

Posted on March 02, 2010
The South Carolina Supreme Court imposed a public reprimand with conditions on an attorney who had failed to reconcile his trust account records for over twenty years. This can lead to problems, as the court found: For more than twenty...

Sanction For Unauthorized Practice

Posted on March 02, 2010
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court:The Supreme Court of Ohio today imposed a $20,000 civil penalty against Kimberly A. Dalton of Cincinnati and Precision Land Title Agency for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, and issued...

Scrambled Eggs And Malpractice

Posted on March 02, 2010
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals recently held that a trial court order that denied a motion to quash a subpoena on grounds of attorney-client privilege was not subject to an immediate appeal. One law firm had represented a divorcing...

"A Rare Combination Of Circumstances"

Posted on March 01, 2010
The New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Deartmentimposed a public censure in a matter where the attorney had forged and caused to be notarized a document purportedly signed by a client. The court found significant mitigation: In determining...

Sanction For "Reluctant" Misappropriation Finding

Posted on March 01, 2010
The March 2010 edition of the California Bar Journal reports the following disciplinary sanction: [An attorney] was suspended for two years, stayed, placed on two years of probation with a 30-day actual suspension and was ordered to take the MPRE...

Summarily Suspended

Posted on March 01, 2010
The web page of the Virginia State Bar reports on a recent order in a bar discipline case: On February 26, 2010, the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board summarily suspended [an attorney's] license to practice law, based on his February...

The Six C's (Not The Seven Seas)

Posted on March 01, 2010
The Arizona Disciplinary Commission agreed with a hearing officer and has proposed a public censure and probation for one year in a matter where the attorney had received but lost evidence in a homicide case. The evidence was the attorney's...

Stanford Lawyer (Class of 1979) Heads Up Hollywood Negotiations

Posted on February 28, 2010
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw I was flipping through the New York Times Sunday Business section this morning, and saw this article about the upcoming labor negotiations between the motion picture and television industry and the various unions and guilds (writers,...

Representation Of Incapacitated Client

Posted on February 28, 2010
A recent opinion of the Legal Ethics Committee of the District of Columbia Bar holds: A lawyer representing an incapacitated person with a surrogate decision-maker should ordinarily look to the client?s chosen surrogate decision-maker for decisions on behalf of the...

IF NBC Covered the Super Bowl the Way They Cover The Olympics

Posted on February 26, 2010
Posted by Alan Childress We will get back to our tape delay coverage of that exciting Third Quarter in a little while, but currently some of the big plays are being made by Jonathan Vilma, and he is not from...

Incoming 93, Outgoing 7

Posted on February 26, 2010
In an action between two attorneys fighting over the division of a contingent fee, the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department affirmed the lower court's 93-7% split: The client was injured while a passenger in a car...

True Threat?

Posted on February 26, 2010
The Maryland Court of Appeals has vacated a criminal conviction and remanded the matter for a new trial in a case involving an e-mail from the defendant to the website for Governor Martin O'Malley. In evaluating wehether the email constituted...

More Than a Guess

Posted on February 26, 2010
The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board affirmed a panel order reinstating an attorney suspended for an indecent exposure conviction. There had been a series of disciplinary orders involving similar conduct. The board majority noted that there had been testimony presented that...

A Client With Two Disbarred Attorneys

Posted on February 25, 2010
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals today amended a decision entered on February 4. The court remanded a criminal case where the trial court had erroneously denied a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel without an evidentiary hearing. One...

Criminal Contempt Conviction Results In Disbarment

Posted on February 25, 2010
The New York Appellate Division for the Fourth Judicial Department recently disbarred an attorney convicted of two counts of criminal contempt in the second degree: "The charges arose from his contact with a former girlfriend in violation of an order...

A Tribute From Peers

Posted on February 25, 2010
The National Organization of Bar Counsel has given Case of the Month status to the last substantive 2009 decision in an Indiana bar discipline matter as a means of paying tribute to Don Lundberg. An excerpt: The December featured Case...

Unkept Promise, No New Trial

Posted on February 25, 2010
The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a criminal conviction for handgun-related offenses notwithstanding defense counsel's opening statement to the effect that a witness would corroborate the defendant's story. The witness took the Fifth Amendment and defense counsel moved for a mistrial...

Stayed Suspension For Judge's Two Physical Altercations

Posted on February 25, 2010
The web page of the Ohio Supreme Court reports: The Supreme Court of Ohio today imposed a one-year license suspension against [a] Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge...with the full term of suspension stayed on conditions, for violations of the Code...

Bar None

Posted on February 25, 2010
The Florida Supreme Court disbarred an attorney who had been suspended for 91 days in 2004 for inappropriate conduct toward an unrepresented party and dishonesty. The attorney has not been reinstated but while suspended had used her Florida Bar card....

No Expert, No Malpractice Case

Posted on February 24, 2010
The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the grant of summary judgment to the defendant in a legal malpractice case. The court concluded that the absence of expert testimony was fatal to the claims: Davis [the former client] claims Enget and...

Reinstatement After Resignation

Posted on February 24, 2010
The Oklahoma Supreme Court granted a petition for reinstatement of an attorney who had resigned because she no longer had an active Oklahoma practice. The court considered the following facts: The record before us establishes the following facts. Petitioner graduated...

Expert Witness Sanction Report Posted

Posted on February 24, 2010
We recently reported that a disciplinary sanction of a public reprimand with terms had been imposed in Virginia against an attorney for misconduct in testimony as an expert witness. The order has now been posted and is linked here. The...

Conversion And Deceit Result In Suspension Stayed In Part

Posted on February 24, 2010
The web page of the Ohio Supreme Court reports: The Supreme Court of Ohio today suspended the law license of [a] Cleveland attorney...for two years, with the second year of that term stayed on conditions, for settling a personal injury...

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...