Monday, December 19, 2022

Bar discipline committee in Washington DC finds that Rudy Giuliani violated at least one rule of professional conduct

 A bar discipline committee in Washington, D.C., has concluded that Rudy Giuliani violated at least one professional rule in his efforts to help former President Donald Trump challenge the results of the 2020 election — a preliminary finding that could result in the suspension or loss of his law license.

Above the Law has a comment here. Politico has more details here.

Sunday, December 18, 2022

US Supreme Court to decide case on attorney-client privilege -- UPDATED

December 10, 2022

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that raises the issue of whether a communication involving both legal and non-legal advice is protected by attorney–client privilege where obtaining or providing legal advice was one of the significant purposes behind the communication.

The case is called In Re Grand Jury.  You can find a summary and links to relevant documents here.

The ABA has filed an amicus brief (available here) in which it urges the Court to consider client-lawyer communications privileged, even if the purpose of some of those communications is not to request or give legal advice.  The ABA Journal has a short article discussing the case and the brief here.

The blog Presnell on Privileges has a comment here.


UPDATE: Dec 18, 2022

Presnell on Privileges has more commentary on the case here.

What is the minimum number of lawyers needed to eliminate legal deserts in the United States?

In its annual Profile of the Legal Profession for 2020, the American Bar Association defined a legal desert as a county with fewer than one lawyer per 1000 people, which is 75% lower than the national average of four lawyers per 1000.  So how can we address that problem?  Bill Henderson, Professor of Law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law provides some analysis in his blog Legal Analysis.

Friday, December 9, 2022

Thursday, December 8, 2022

More sanctions imposed on lawyers for GOP candidates for filing frivolous suits

In the most recent case, the winners are the lawyers for failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who sued to try to force the state to use paper ballots.  You can read the opinion of the court here, and a comment by Above the Law here.  MSNBC has a comment here.