Ethics

Dear Son: I Stole From Firm Clients

When attorney Christopher Hoyt began reading the letter from his father earlier this month, it was clear he wasn’t going to be having a good day. “I have embezzled funds from my clients,” his father, Clinton, Conn., attorney Jonathan Hoyt, wrote in the July 7 missive. It includes advice on…

Jul 30, 2007 11:06 PM CDT

Jury’s Out on Drug Court Judge’s Legacy

A community in suburban Chicago is divided over a drug court judge who saw amazing successes, a record that some say is the result of bullying and improper tactics. Supporters say Judge Jim Doyle worked tirelessly to nudge drug-addicted suspects to reform, helping turn around the lives of thieves and…

Jul 30, 2007 4:16 PM CDT

Nev. Judge to Appeal Suspension

The lawyer for controversial Las Vegas Judge Elizabeth Halverson promises an appeal of her interim suspension. William Gamage did not offer comment on the details of his client’s case, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The suspension will remain in effect pending a decision on whether to formally charge the judge…

Jul 27, 2007 8:28 PM CDT

Ex-DA Apologizes, More Fully

The former district attorney for Durham County, N.C., apologized yesterday as a judge considers whether to hold him in criminal contempt of court. Newsday says it was the first “complete and unqualified” apology by Michael Nifong. The disbarred DA acknowledged there was “no credible evidence” that three former Duke lacrosse…

Jul 27, 2007 2:35 PM CDT

NJ Firm Bows Head re Unadmitted Atty

In a rare sanction of a law firm that names no individual partner names, the New Jersey Supreme Court has reprimanded Newark-based Sills Cummis Epstein & Gross for allowing an associate not admitted to the state bar to work on transactional matters for seven years. There are conflicting accounts of…

Jul 27, 2007 12:03 AM CDT

US Attorney to Judge: No Scruggs Case

A federal prosecutor in Alabama has declined a federal judge’s suggestion that she should prosecute Richard Scruggs, a prominent Mississippi plaintiffs lawyer, for contempt of court. U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said yesterday in a letter to U.S. District Judge William M. Acker Jr. that “following a serious and thorough review…

Jul 26, 2007 5:43 PM CDT

Scott Turow: Ban Billable Hour

When Scott Turow’s daughter mentioned that she might want to be a litigator, his reaction was not positive. At the time the best-selling author quit his former job as a prosecutor to enter private practice in Chicago in 1986, attorneys at big firms were expected to bill perhaps 1,800 hours…

Jul 26, 2007 5:52 AM CDT

Nev. Judge Suspended, Poses ‘Substantial Threat,’ Commission Finds

A controversial Nevada judge was suspended today by the state Commission on Judicial Discipline, which found that Elizabeth Halverson “poses a substantial threat of serious harm” to the public and the administration of justice. In a final order of interim suspension filed today, the commission suspended the judge with pay,…

Jul 26, 2007 12:55 AM CDT

New Claim: Justice Hecht Fee Discount

A new ethics complaint has been made about Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht. He allegedly was given a discount on the legal fees he paid in a successful defense of an earlier ethics complaint, and a Travis County prosecutor is investigating this new complaint, reports the KWTX television station.…

Jul 25, 2007 8:55 PM CDT

Observers Agog Over Nev. Judge Saga

Halfway into her first year on the bench, Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Halverson is one of the best-known jurists in Nevada. Although a law school classmate praises her as an attorney capable of Harvard Law Review-quality work, it isn’t her legal intellect that’s attracting all the attention. Instead, Halverson…

Jul 25, 2007 6:25 PM CDT

Judge: No Release from KPMG Defense

Lawyers for a defendant in the KPMG tax shelter fraud case signed on and can’t now sign off until the case reaches a final conclusion, a federal court judge says. Although he was initially paid $400,000 by the Big Four accountant, attorney Robert Fink is concerned the ongoing representation of…

Jul 24, 2007 11:08 PM CDT

Arrested Attorney Gambled Away $800 K

A run of good luck has apparently ended for a graduate of Yale Law School who has been a member of the Connecticut bar for more than 40 years and reportedly until now has had an unblemished record as a trusts and estates attorney. Richard C. Hannan Jr. was arrested…

Jul 23, 2007 10:37 PM CDT

Downward Spiral for Minn. Attorney

Only a few years ago, Robert Weisberg seemingly was a successful Minneapolis personal lawyer and businessman. Now, the 45-year-old has a newly shuttered newsstand chain business and an empty law office, as of December, when other attorneys walked out. Plus, he is defending not only an attorney discipline complaint that…

Jul 23, 2007 7:30 PM CDT

Guyana Press Chat Breaks ‘Local’ Rule

A lawyer who spoke to reporters in Guyana about a New York case he was handling broke a local rule barring lawyers from making comments that could interfere with a trial, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry, of the Eastern District of New York, found…

Jul 23, 2007 4:14 PM CDT

N.J. Justice Censured

A justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court has been censured by his colleagues for interceding with police and the courts in a delinquency case against a youth accused of bullying his son. The court said Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto’s actions created an appearance of impropriety, the New Jersey Law Journal…

Jul 23, 2007 1:43 PM CDT