Missouri Supreme Court to review case of judge who had her clerks handle cases while she was on vacation

Back in June I posted a note about a report that a Judge in Missouri was under investigation for allegedly allowing her clerks to handle litigation matters as she vacationed in China last year. Go here for the story.  Since then, the State's Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline recommended the judge be removed from office and now the Missouri Supreme Court will review the case.  The ABA Journal has the latest here.

Top Stories of 2012 - Canada edition

Here is a list to the top stories in Legal Ethics in Canada for 2012, as compiled by friend of the blog Prof. Alice Wolley.

Thanks to John Steele and the Legal Ethics Forum for the link.

Top stories of 2012

The Legal Ethics Forum has posted its annual top stories of the year list here.

New ABA Commission 20/20 proposals

The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 recently filed four resolutions and reports for the ABA House of Delegates to consider at its February 2013 midyear meeting.   Over at Legal Ethics Forum, Professor Andrew Perlman has posted summaries of the proposals and links to the relevant documents.  The proposals address issues relating to the increasing globalization of the legal marketplace and, with one exception, focus on issues arising for foreign lawyers seeking to practice in the U.S. (i.e., inbound foreign lawyers). 

Your Client Has Obtained Privileged Documents Belonging to the Adversary. What Do You Do Now?

Over at the Legal Ethics Forum, Nicole Hyland asks "Your client has obtained privileged documents belonging to the adversary. What do you do now?"  Go here for her answer and comments.

Should Justice Scalia recuse himself from cases related to gay marriage? part 2

A few days ago, I posted a note with links to several articles on whether Justice Scalia should recuse himself from cases related to gay marriage.  Today, Professor Richard Painter replied to some of the criticism in those articles in The Legal Ethics Forum and other forum participants posted comments to his reply.  Take a look at the discussion by going here.

National Law Journal survey on hourly fees

The National Law Journal has published a survey of hourly fees based on information provided by 55 of the nation's largest firms.  The full survey results are available here.  Among other things, it shows that the highest billing rate is $1,285 an hour and that the median hourly billing rate for partners is $501 and for associates is $317.

60 Minutes (the tv show) segment on wrongful convictions

Last week, the TV show 60 minutes devoted one of its segments to the problem of wrongful convictions.  The show was mostly about police interrogation techniques in Chicago which has allegedly produced twice as many cases of false confessions (leading to wrongful convictions) than any other city in the US.  However, there is a section of the show that discusses the role of prosecutors.  The interview with Chicago's Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez is particularly troubling.  She is simply not willing to admit to the possibility that mistakes were committed.  I don't think she comes out looking particularly well, but you can judge for yourself.  The segment appears below in its entirety, or you can watch it in the 60 Minutes website where you will also find more information.

UPDATE:  The ABA Journal and the Chicago Tribune are reporting that Alvarez sent a letter to CBS complaining that she was unfairly portrayed in the clips chosen for the show.
 

Should Justice Scalia recuse himself from cases related to gay marriage?

The question of how to determine when a Supreme Court justice should recuse him or herself has been in the news a lot this year. It was part of the conversation leading up to the appeal on the Obama administration's health care reform, for example, and many have argued the Court should adopt rules on the subject. I reported on this here, here and here.

The question is now back in the news. Over the last few days, at least three articles were published calling for Justice Scalia's recusal. The articles were published in The Daily Beast, The Chicago Tribune and The Huffington Post.

Obama administration drops attempt to regulate the representation of Guantanamo detainees

Back in September, I wrote about the Obama administration's attempt to interfere and regulate the representation of Guantanamo detainees. See here. Some time later, a federal court refused to go along. See here. Now comes news the administration has dropped its appeal. Go here for the full story.

UPDATE 11 pm: The SCOTUS Blog has more on the story here.