ABA Journal

Ethics

8040 ABA Journal Ethics articles.

Ethics lawyer who was fired over tweets about Islam can pursue damages, 6th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has ruled that a Tennessee legal ethics lawyer who was fired for tweeting about Islam can seek damages against his former supervisor.

Associate uploaded over 7,900 documents to external Dropbox before quitting, Littler alleges

Littler Mendelson has obtained a protective order shielding sensitive information after accusing a “disgruntled” associate of uploading more than 7,900 documents to an external Dropbox in February.

86-year-old lawyer caught on video groping multiple clients avoids disbarment

An 86-year-old Missouri lawyer has been suspended, but not disbarred, for groping five clients and touching another on the buttocks—all incidents that were caught on video.

Former BigLaw attorney gets 1-year suspension for trading on information learned as conflicts counsel

A former Cozen O’Connor attorney has agreed to a one-year suspension of his law license in Pennsylvania for using information that he learned as a conflicts attorney to buy stock in advance of a merger.

Suit by Fox News producer alleges BigLaw lawyers and others pressured her to give evasive testimony

A Fox News producer alleges in a lawsuit filed Monday that she worked in a “misogynistic environment” at the network and received worse legal representation than male employees as she prepared for deposition testimony in the defamation case filed by Dominion Voting Systems.

Preventive Law: Helping your clients before push comes to shove

Rare is the client who looks to litigators, alternative dispute resolution specialists or even corporate counsel as the “go to” persons for providing services that will prevent disputes. Most attorneys serve their clients by representing them in disputes that are already or soon to be underway, with a focus on billable negotiation, mediation, arbitration or litigation representation. When it comes to employee and manager education, skills training and systemic dispute prevention, business leaders look not to their attorney advocates but to a potpourri of human relations consultants, trainers and behavioral science experts.

Georgia lawyer who bragged of shutting down ‘stolen election shenanigans’ is found guilty in Jan. 6 case

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., found a Georgia criminal defense lawyer guilty of several charges Monday for entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and pounding on doors with other rioters before making it to outside the office of Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Arrests without formal charges or convictions no longer have to be disclosed by would-be lawyers in New York

The New York Supreme Court’s appellate division is whittling down the types of justice system involvement that would-be lawyers have to disclose when applying for bar admission. The changes are intended “to better promote equity and fairness in the character and fitness interview process.”

Law firms can’t be sanctioned for multiplying cases ‘vexatiously’ in federal court, 5th Circuit says

A provision of federal law that allows sanctions for multiplying legal proceedings “unreasonably and vexatiously” applies to lawyers but not their law firms, a federal appeals court has ruled.

State bar finds ‘shocking past culture of unethical and unacceptable behavior’ in its handling of Girardi complaints

Disbarred trial lawyer Tom Girardi’s efforts to buy relationships and exercise influence at the State Bar of California likely caused some ethics complaints against him to be improperly closed, according to an outside review released Friday.

Lawyer who asserted Trump ‘won in a landslide’ on national TV censured for stolen election claims

A senior legal adviser to then-President Donald Trump has agreed to a public censure while admitting that her false claims about election fraud violated lawyer ethics rules.

Lawyer convicted for stealing over $26M gives up law license; money was spent on gambling, jets, ‘social companions’

A former managing partner convicted in 2018 for stealing more than $26 million from his law firm and closing business has given up his Georgia law license.

Tweets saying demonstrators should be shot and MSNBC anchor’s home should be burned lead to ethics charges

A Los Angeles lawyer is facing ethics charges for Twitter posts calling for the shooting and summary execution of protesters following the 2020 death of George Floyd while in police custody.

Using data, law prof finds many disciplined lawyers represent consumers—with no oversight

A new working paper claims that for attorneys with records of public discipline, many are sole practitioners who opened firms following lawyer regulation decisions.

Law firm accused of 856 insurer misrepresentations is suspended from practice in federal district court

Houston-based law firm McClenny, Moseley & Associates has been suspended from practice in a Louisiana federal court because of a judge’s concerns about its purported representation of clients with claims related to Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Ida.

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