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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

Shifting Factual Claims

Posted on April 10, 2009
An interesting case decided on Wednesday by the Indiana Supreme Court "[arose] from an order of adoption granted to a New Jersey resident for children brought to Indianapolis for their birth to a South Carolina woman who had been inseminated...

Reciprocal Suspension For Stalking

Posted on April 10, 2009
An attorney suspended for six months with fitness in New Jersey was suspended for two years as reciprocal discipline by the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department. The attornay also must obtain reinstatement in New Jersey before...

Disbarment For Trust Account Violations

Posted on April 10, 2009
The Nebraska Supreme Court disbarred an attorney who had accepted monthly $275 payments from a client in order to negotiate with and pay the client's creditors. The lawyer did not deal with the creditors. The amount to be held exceeded...

When Are Profitability Measures Unethical?

Posted on April 10, 2009
An interesting, lengthy (126 page) hearing officer report and recommendation from Arizona considers ethics charges against three lawyers for the operation of a so-called "consumer law" firm that targeted unsophisticated clients. The firm had approximately 33,000 clients over a three...

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File Return In Arkansas

Posted on April 09, 2009
In an appeal from a reprimand imposed by the Professional Conduct Board, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected the attorney's argument that he had not violated Rule 1.16(d) by declining to return a client's file on request of the former client's...

A Matter Of Trust

Posted on April 09, 2009
Yesterday I posted a comment about a consent disposition in the District of Columbia that had generated some controversy and a dissent. Today, the Minnesoata Supreme Court shows how consent to discipline works in a disciplinary sytem that is experienced...

Privilege Waived

Posted on April 09, 2009
An employee of a paper mill sought workers compensation benefits from his employer and claimed that he was unaware of the basis of the claim until he had consulted with a lawyer. This late-blooming realization was asserted as a reason...

No Duty To Supervise In California?

Posted on April 09, 2009
Courtesy of Legal Ethics Forum, here is a link to a statement describing the basis for criminal charges against a former employee of the California State Bar alleging embezzlement of over $675,000 from Bar funds. According to the affidavit, the...

Reckless Disregard

Posted on April 08, 2009
The Wyoming Supreme Court suspended an attorney for two months for violating Rule 8.2(a) by recklessly making false accusations against a judge presiding over a domestic relations matter. The charges of misconduct were predicated on the following language in a...

A Controversial Consent Disposition

Posted on April 08, 2009
As newly-allowed negotiated dispositions begin to work their way through the D.C. bar disciplinary system, cases are emerging that demonstrate the problems as well as the benefits of the process. A recent hearing committee report accepts a consent to a...

Avoiding Obligations Leads To Indefinite Suspension

Posted on April 08, 2009
The web page of the Ohio Supreme Court reports the indefinite suspension of an attorney: The law license of Columbus attorney Michael McCord has been indefinitely suspended by the Supreme Court of Ohio for multiple acts of professional misconduct. In...

Uncovered

Posted on April 08, 2009
An Arizona hearing officer has recommended the disbarment of an attorney for misconduct in several matters. The lawyer was no stranger to the bar discipline system. He had been the subject of two informal reprimands, censure with probation, and had...

Clerks III: Disbarred For, Among Other Things, Phone Behavior With Judge's Law Clerk

Posted on April 08, 2009
The Fifth Circuit Civil News per Robert McKnight found and reported today on this interesting Fifth Circuit decision (link): The Court also released this notable unpublished decision: In re Moity, No. 08-30826 (5th Cir. April 7, 2009) (Smith, Stewart and...

DeFabritiis on Client Correspondence

Posted on April 07, 2009
Posted by Jeff Lipshaw My colleague, Sabrina DeFabritiis (Suffolk, left), has posted Clarity, Organization: Watchwords for Client Correspondence on SSRN. Here's the abstract: This article focuses on the importance of clarity and organization in client correspondence by attorneys...

The Neverending Story

Posted on April 07, 2009
A decision today from the New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department in the saga of Milberg Weiss. The court concludes that claims in arbitration should be consolidated: The Milberg law firm and some of its former partners...

Henderson, Zorn & Czarnezki Reply To Baker On Whether Low Judge Salaries Dilute Talent

Posted on April 07, 2009
Posted by Alan Childress William Henderson (Indiana--Bloomington), Christopher Zorn (Penn State, Poly Sci., shown below at right but left) and Jason Czarnezki (Vermont Law School) have published to SSRN their empirical and interesting article "Working Class Judges...

An Anonymous Phone Call

Posted on April 07, 2009
The South Carolina Supreme Court imposed a reprimand and other requirements in a bar discipline matter initiated by an anonymous phone call. the attorney and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel ("ODC") entered into a stipulation by which the attorney admitted...

Ex Mero Motu

Posted on April 07, 2009
The North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a criminal conviction in a murder case, rejecting the contention that the trial judge failed to intervene in the prosecutor's closing argument: Defendant contends that the trial court erred by failing to intervene...

Incarceration Reimbursement

Posted on April 07, 2009
A law firm appealed the grant of summary judgment in favor of the State of Missouri in a matter arising out of a drug arrest. The sheriff had seized $4,421 from the defendant at the time of arrest. The state...

Another Milberg Weiss Disbarment

Posted on April 06, 2009
The Delaware Supreme Court accepted and ordered the consent disbarment of an attorney who had provided legal services in that jurisdiction. The attorney was formerly with Milberg Weiss and had been found guilty of criminal charges. The attachments to the...

Probation For Failure To Supervise

Posted on April 06, 2009
A Louisiana hearing board has recommended a stayed six month suspension of an attorney who had failed to supervise a non-lawyer employee, resulting in misappropriation of nearly $15,000 of entrusted funds. The attorney had been seriously ill and hospitalized for...

Prosecutorial Misconduct From Start To Finish

Posted on April 06, 2009
As has been noted on this blog and elsewhere, there appears to be an emerging trend of bar prosecutions against prosecutors. An Arizona hearing officer recently recommended a 30 day suspension of a deputy county attorney for misconduct in a...

Balancing Sanction Factors

Posted on April 06, 2009
In a case initiated by a trust account overdraft that was exacerbated by the lawyer's false claim that the problem stemmed from bank error, the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department imposed a one-year suspension. The bar...

All Due Respect

Posted on April 06, 2009
In response to a remand order of the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, a hearing committee that had been diected to hear mitigating evidence noted "[n]otwithstanding the instructions of the Disciplinary Board, and with all due respect to it, the Hearing...

No Second Bite

Posted on April 06, 2009
The North Dakota Supreme Court imposed a one-year suspension as reciprocal discipline for a sanction of the Minnesota Supreme Court. The attorney had improperly used an escrow account to shield assets from creditors. The North Dakota court rejected the suggestion...

No Obstacle To Reinstatement

Posted on April 03, 2009
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reinstated an attorney who had been suspended for two years in 2005. The attorney had mishandled an estate matter, charged excessive fees to the estate and had demanded loans from the estate without security or set...

Fee Award Upheld

Posted on April 03, 2009
The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department upheld a judgment for legal fees and dismissed malpractice counterclaims. As to fee entitlement: The record shows that in December 2003, each defendant signed an agreement with [law firm]plaintiff, acknowledging...

Malpractice Not A Compulsory Couterclaim In Lien Action

Posted on April 03, 2009
In a decision released today, the Kansas Supreme Court addressed issues relating to the collateral consequences of an action to enforce an attorneys lien in Missouri : Jerome S. Tilzer, individually and as plaintiff ad litem for Rita Tilzer, Todd...

Cause For Depression

Posted on April 03, 2009
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court imposed disbarment in a matter involving misappropriation of entrusted funds. The Disciplinary Board had found that the evidence failed to establish that the misconduct was caused by depression brought on by the strained relationship between his...

Not Lawyer Or Broker

Posted on April 03, 2009
An attorney admitted in Nebraska and South Carolina was contacted by the attorney of a person who wished to sell real estate in Costa Rica. The seller agreed to pay a 4% finder's fee to the attorney if he was...

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