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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

Gross Misjudgment

Posted on June 26, 2009
An attorney was suspended for five years by the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department for a number of ethical violations. He had, among other things, jointly represented a husband and wife in drafting a separation agreement...

No Ordinary Employee

Posted on June 25, 2009
The Delaware Supreme Court imposed a public reprimand of an attorney for problems with the operation of his escrow account. The problems were discovered in the course of a random audit of the account by the bar. It was thus...

When Is Judicial Delay Sanctionable?

Posted on June 25, 2009
A very interesting decision of the New York Commission on Judicial Conduct addresses the question of when delay in issuing decisions by a judicial officer constitutes a basis for discipline. The judge had transitioned from part-time with a law practice...

Upping The Ante Part Two

Posted on June 25, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court rejected discipline proposed by its Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Dispcipline and indefinitely suspended an attorney for neglect of several matters and failure to respond to a bar investigation. The attorney, who also is admitted...

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A Friend In Need

Posted on June 25, 2009
The New York Commission on Judicial Discipline closed a matter as a result of the resignation of a town court justice. The justice is barred from future judicial service. The non-lawyer justice had stipulated that he presided over a small...

Upping The Ante

Posted on June 25, 2009
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals imposed the substantially different discipline of a 30 day suspension in a reciprocal matter from Virginia. The attorney had made false statements in a certificate of service and in open court and misleading....

"An Isolated Series Of Bad Choices"

Posted on June 25, 2009
An Arizona attorney who had been convicted of extreme DUI, leaving an accident scene and endangerment as a result of an accident with a motorcyclist was the subject of a bar discipline proceeding. A hearing officer's proposed dismissal of the...

No Clients, No Conflicts

Posted on June 24, 2009
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed the recommendation of a hearing panel subcommittee (HPS) of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board to dismiss disciplinary charges that arose from a tragic car accident. Jonathan McRobie was charged with criminal offenses as...

"Without Credible Supporting Evidence"

Posted on June 24, 2009
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Ohio has indefinitely suspended the law license of Cleveland attorney Merrie Maurine Frost for multiple disciplinary infractions arising from her filing of false and unsupported accusations of...

Client Is Trustee

Posted on June 24, 2009
The Oklahoma Supreme Court reversed a holding of the Court of Civil Appeals and held that a law firm had a lien on a counsel-fee award entered by the trial court to the former client in a divorce case. After...

Post-Caperton Judicial Education

Posted on June 23, 2009
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court: An Indiana University law school professor will offer his perspectives on judicial disqualification and recusal issues ? including a recently decided U.S. Supreme Court recusal case ? at the closing session...

The Dangers Of Mediation

Posted on June 23, 2009
A mediation conducted by a mediator employed by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service at the Hampton Inn in Beckley, West Virginia was abruptly interrupted when a 33 pound light fixture fell on the mediator's head, causing serious injuries. The...

Reinstatement Proposed For Attorney Disbarred For Child Enticement

Posted on June 23, 2009
An Illinois hearing board has recommended the reinstatement of an attorney who was disbarred in 2003. The basis of the disbarment was a conviction in Wisconsin for a single count of child enticement. He had been engaged in an internet...

Operation Slither

Posted on June 22, 2009
Not a legal profession case, but of possible interest is a decision isued last week by the Utah Supreme Court. The plaintiff is an amatuer herpetologist with an interest in rubber boa snakes (which are real, not made of rubber)....

Rapid Growth, Failure To Supervise, Results In Suspension

Posted on June 22, 2009
An Arizona hearing officer has recommended a suspension of 30 days followed by probation for one year for an attorney in a matter that had originated in notification to the Bar of a series of trust account overdrafts. The lawyer...

Disbarment In Texas

Posted on June 22, 2009
An attorney who was convicted on his guilty plea to possession of child pornography was disbarred by the Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals. The attorney had defaulted on the disciplinary charges. The board imposed the sanction in light of the...

New Rules For Ohio Judges

Posted on June 22, 2009
From the web page of the Ohio Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Ohio today announced the adoption of several amendments to the Rules for the Government of the Judiciary (Rule II) that concern grievances filed against Supreme Court justices...

Classic Conflict Leads To Reprimand

Posted on June 22, 2009
The web page of the Massachusetts Bar Counsel reports the following public reprimand for a classic conflict of interest in representing a driver and two injured passengers in a collision case: In the fall of 2005, the respondent was retained...

Arson Of Family Store Draws Interim Suspension

Posted on June 22, 2009
After issuing a show cause order, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently imposed an interim suspension of a attorney convicted of arson endangering persons. The underlying conduct as reported by PennLive.com: An admitted arsonist has been sentenced to up to 23...

Reciprocal Discipline For Nurses

Posted on June 21, 2009
The full Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected as premature a nurse's objections in a reciprocal discipline licensing proceeding. The opinion: In a reciprocal discipline proceeding, the Board of Registration in Nursing (board) indefinitely suspended Penelope Lankheim's license to practice as...

Lawyer and Financial Crisis Lessons from the Sieur de Champlain

Posted on June 20, 2009
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw My life partner now of thirty years, Alene, knows me too well. She just finished David Hackett Fischer's (left) massive biography, Champlain's Dream, and walked into the office to show me Fischer's last couple of pages,...

Reconventional Demand

Posted on June 20, 2009
A lawyer withdrew from representing a client in litigation involving her ex-husband due to his personal relationship with the client (they are now married). The ex-husband filed a bar complaint against the lawyer. The lawyer retained an attorney (hereinafter "respondent")...

No Fees For Representing Yourself

Posted on June 19, 2009
An attorney who had sued for inspection of public records and prevailed is not entitled to attorney fees for representing himself, according to a decision of the Oregon Court of Appeals: The ordinary meaning of "attorney fee," then, is the...

From Missouri To Kansas

Posted on June 19, 2009
An attorney who had failed to respond to a series of bar complaints was disbarred by default in Missouri. The Kansas Supreme Court imposed an indefinite suspension as reciprocal discipline. The court found that a default in Missouri was a...

Not Even Close

Posted on June 19, 2009
The New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department imposed a three-year suspension as reciprocal discipline based on findings of misconduct in California. The court affirmed a referee's conclusion that the lawyer had not "come close" to establishing an...

The Sounds Of Suing

Posted on June 18, 2009
A dismissed legal malpractice suit was reinstated by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department. The court held that the law in the area was sufficiently settled to sustain the claims of the former client: Plaintiffs allege...

Depression Does Not Explain Dishonesty

Posted on June 18, 2009
An attorney who had violated ethics rules as alleged in 28 counts was suspended for nine months by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The suspension will be extended if the lawyer fails to submit an evaluation of mental health issues. The...

Thinking About the Financial Crisis - It's Scary When We Don't Know What We Don't Know

Posted on June 18, 2009
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw At the end of April, I attended a fascinating day-long symposium organized by fellow blogger Dave Hoffman and two of his colleagues at Temple, Jonathan Lipson and Peter Huang, on issues of complexity arising in the...

Flight To Bar Discipline

Posted on June 18, 2009
An Illinois hearing board has recommended discipline based on the following admitted facts: On November 25, 2005, Respondent was on United Airlines flight number 1502 from Orlando, Florida to Washington D.C. At some point during the flight, Respondent engaged in...

Better To Be Negligent

Posted on June 18, 2009
The Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed a finding that a lawyer's misappropriation had been negligent rather than intentional and, as a result, imposed an indefinite suspension rather than disbarment. The court also affirmed findings of misconduct that stemmed from a...

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