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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

Cyberspace Artifact Not Misappropriation Of Name

Posted on May 05, 2009
A law firm settled litigation with two departing partners that had been initiated in the wake of the break up. Thereafter, the firm sued the partners for alleged breach of the terms of the settlement. The departing partners claimed breach...

Henderson on Big Firm Woes

Posted on May 04, 2009
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw Brian Leiter started a comment thread on the status of big law firm hiring freezes, pay contractions, downsizing, and other indicia of the downturn. Our Bill Henderson responded to Brian's call as follows: I have been...

Executions And Medical Discipline

Posted on May 04, 2009
The North Carolina Supreme Court has held that a statement from the Medical Board condemning the presence of a physican at an execution was properly enjoined. Physcians may be present without threat of disciplinary action: This case presents four issues:...

Duty To Notify Client Of Suspension

Posted on May 04, 2009
An attorney who had accepted a custody case shorttly before his December 12, 2006 suspension for 60 days by the North Dakota Supreme Court drew a second 60 day suspension by the court for the misconduct. After recieving the first...

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Voluntary Discipline Petition Rejected

Posted on May 04, 2009
The Georgia Supreme Court followed the State Bar's recommendation to reject an attorney's petition for voluntary discipline. The attorney had admitted escrow rule violations and sought "no more than a public reprimand as discipline for his admitted violations...

Twice Disbarred

Posted on May 02, 2009
From the California Bar Journal reporting a recent disbarment: Goldberg was disbarred in 1982 after pleading no contest to grand theft, was reinstated in 1991 and resumed practice in 1998 or 1999. The State Bar Court found in the new...

Is A 35 Day Month Like A Billing Day That Exceeds 24 Hours?

Posted on May 01, 2009
The New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department concluded that summary disbarment was appropriate for a federal felony conviction based on the following admitted facts: The plea minutes reveal that the respondent served as vice-president and general counsel...

Sign Of the Times

Posted on May 01, 2009
The Vermont Supreme Court suspended a judge for six months for a conflict of interest and writing a letter for newspaper publication that contained false assertions. The court rejected the judge's attack on the findings of fact of the Judicial...

A Step Over A Fine Line

Posted on May 01, 2009
The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed a district court's order that imposed a $25,000 sanction against an attorney who had brought a class action on behalf of homeowners against a manufacturer of roofing shingles and its president. The case involved claims...

Prohibited Contacts With Employees Draws Reprimand

Posted on May 01, 2009
An Illinois hearing board has reprimanded an attorney who also has a pharmacy license for unauthorized communication with a represented party and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. The attorney initiated contact with Bayer Corporation through a consumer help...

Caught In Revolving Door

Posted on May 01, 2009
A Tennessee attorney received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility for violating Rule 1.12 (a), the revolving door rule for judges. As a juvenile court judge, the attorney presided over a child custody matter. While the case...

Pattern Of Misconduct Results In Disbarment

Posted on May 01, 2009
The California Bar Journal reports on a recent disbarment case: During a 16-year period since [the attorney's] 1977 admission to the bar, he committed 43 ethical violations involving 12 clients. In the most recent matter, he represented a woman in...

Promises Promises

Posted on April 30, 2009
A complaint by an associate of a law firm that had claimed damages against individual partners based on allegedly false representations regarding his partnership prospects was reinstated by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department: Order, Supreme...

Sex For Fees Disbarment

Posted on April 30, 2009
The Florida Supreme Court disbarred an attorney for various acts of professional misconduct including entering into a fee agreement that allowed the client a $200 credit for each time she had sex with him and a $400 credit if she...

Sanction Proposed For Volunteer Arbitrator

Posted on April 30, 2009
Here's a recommendation for discipline under circumstances that I have not previously encountered: The attorney was adnitted in 2003. In 2005, he volunteered to serve on the Arizona State Bar Arbitration Committee. He initialally failed to schedule a matter assigned...

Prescription for Suspension

Posted on April 30, 2009
The Minnesota Supreme Court has imposed a 30 days suspension followed by two years of unsupervised probation in a matter where the attorney had given an incarcerated client prescription medication in violation of jail regulations and accepted money that he...

Absence Of Malice

Posted on April 30, 2009
The New York of Appeals held that a defamation action against the New York Post was properly dismissed on summary judgment. The Post had reprinted portions of a lengthy article from the Los Angeles Times about a license revocation action...

Permanent Disbarment For Tax Crimes

Posted on April 30, 2009
The Ohio Supreme Court web page reports: The Supreme Court of Ohio today permanently [a] disbarred Dayton attorney... for multiple violations of state attorney discipline rules arising from her failure to file returns or pay federal, state or municipal income...

Death Escrow Violations Lead To Conviction, Suspension

Posted on April 29, 2009
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court imposed a retroactive suspension of a year and a day in a matter where the attorney had been convicted (and subject to interim suspension) of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud. The Disciplinary Board...

Client In Coma Requires Mistrial

Posted on April 29, 2009
A trial court improperly denied defense counsel's motion for a mistrial after his client had attempted to commit suicide and had been hospitalized in a coma. The trial on child rape and molestation charges was going into a third day...

Attorney Reinstated, Misconduct Was Result Of Sexual Assault By Prospective Client

Posted on April 29, 2009
The Mississippi Supreme Court has granted the petition for reinstatement of an attorney who had been on disability inactive status as well as 180 day suspension. The attorney was "brutally sexually assaulted" by the prospective client during a Sunday afternoon...

Pro Se Plaintiff Permitted To Add Partners In Malpractice Suit

Posted on April 29, 2009
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department affirmed a trial court order permitting a pro se plaintiff in a legal malpractice action leave to add four additional law firm partners as defendants: Plaintiff pro se served an...

Substantially Similar

Posted on April 28, 2009
An attorney was summarily disbarred by the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department. The court described the basis on its decision to disbar as a result of a federal felony conviction: During his plea allocution respondent admitted...

Failure To File Leads To Suspension

Posted on April 28, 2009
The South Carolina Supreme Court imposed a 90 day definite suspension of an attorney who had self-reported that he had failed to file state and federal income tax returns from 2000 to 2007. The lawyer noted that no criminal prosecution...

Naming Names

Posted on April 28, 2009
Courtesy of the very fine Florida ethics web site sunEthics is an interesting case involving improper closing argument by a prosecutor in a murder case. The Florida Third District Court of Appeal concluded that the evidence of guilt was overwhelming....

Suspicious But Not Unethical

Posted on April 28, 2009
A Louisiana hearing committee found "clear and convincing evidence of a cavalier manner of handling legal fees and delineation of representation" but no disciplinary violations in a case where the lawyer was charged, among other things, in assisting and failing...

"Do The Right Thing"

Posted on April 27, 2009
The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has recommended a one-year stayed suspension for unauthorized practice of law and representing a client without the authority to do so. The attorney had (as in many cases we have recently reported from various jurisdictions)...

Spouse's Business Transaction Violates Rule

Posted on April 27, 2009
A Colorado attorney was publicly censured based on his conditional admission that he had "negligently failed to terminate an attorney-client relationship when he learned that his wife was involved with a business transaction with his client. He therefore effectively entered...

Conviction Affirmed For Murder Of Priest

Posted on April 27, 2009
A decision today from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the conviction of a defendant already serving a life sentence who had murdered a priest convicted of child molestation. The defendant is described as follows: The defendant founded his own...

Right To Fire Retained Counsel

Posted on April 27, 2009
The Tennessee Supreme Court has held that retained counsel who has been discharged by the client must inform the court of the client's directive as soon as discharged: "since our earliest days, our system of justice has been reluctant to...

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