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Lawyer Sanctioned for Plagiarism

By Mike

An Iowa lawyer copied-and-pasted nine pages from a law review, without attribution, into his brief.  The court was no happy, and thus ordered the lawyer to attend a professional responsibility class at a local law school.  Imagine being a law student in class with this lawyer.  "So, what are you in for?"  "Plagiarism."  Of course, I have seen a great deal of language lifted from my briefs and put into opinions.  Which is usually a good thing - except when it's just a general rule statement rather than an application of the rule to the client's facts.  If the court is as strict with other judges as he is with other lawyers, then there will be a lot of judges going back to school. I am not, of course, defending the lawyer's conduct...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime & Federalism on September 07, 2007 (boomark / email).