Professional Responsibility Blog

Every now and then, a case (or news item) comes along that makes you question just how strong those "values of the profession" tha...

Law.com is reporting today that for more than two years, the California State Bar has been endorsing tougher and more aggressive prosecutori...

When is attorney misconduct so egregious that it warrants dismissal of the client's case? That was the question for the 7th U.S. Circuit...

Saying a federal prosecutor engaged in misconduct by asking jurors to rely on false testimony by a government witness, a judge has ordered a...

Time sheets during a "good economy" ... Time sheets in a "bad economy" Thanks to David Mills of Courtoons .

The Supreme Court of Ohio ruled today that Cincinnati-based Foreclosure Solutions L.L.C. and the company’s owner, Timothy A. Buckley engaged...

Although the rules of conduct include a rule that requires competence, it is not all that common to see discipline imposed for a single inst...

Here is a an article in today's Wall Street Journal Blog on different ways in which companies are trying to avoid having to agree to pay...

Only 25 percent of Americans have a positive view of the legal field, according to a new Gallup survey . Go here for the story.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out former Brocade CEO Gregory Reyes' criminal conviction for backdating stock options ...

Readers of this blog and my students know how I would answer this question. The Legal Profession Blog is reporting today on a case where an ...

I have heard colleages of mine complain that the concept of "moral turpitude" is not very clearly defined as a standard to determi...

A federal judge has struck down two Louisiana rules of professional conduct that attempted to regulate Internet advertising. The opinion is ...

Not too long ago, I posted a note about a lawyer who got disbarred for not taking his role as a juror seriously. See here. Now comes news...

Here is another version of the story I reported earlier today about the public defender's office in California refusing to take cases fo...

Blackmail is not a form of zealous advocacy. This is a simple principle apparently too difficult to understand for an attorney in Nebraska ...

The ABA Journal.com is reporting today that the public defender’s office in Alameda County, Calif., is telling judges that it can no longer ...

Prof. Jonathan Turley is reporting today that a County Attorney in Kansas was suspended from practice for six months after he showed pictur...

As is well known by now, earlier this year the ABA approved an important amendment to Model Rule 1.10 which recognizes "screening"...

A lawyer who works for the big firm Goldman Sachs has been accused of trying to arrange a sexual encounter with an undercover investigator p...

Legal Ethics.com is reporting today that the ABA is about to undertake a new comprehensive review of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct...

New Jersey's Committee on Attorney Advertising held a hearing Monday to decide whether legal ethics rules were violated by the placing o...

The California Supreme Court has disbarred an attorney who reportedly changed his vote during jury deliberations simply to end a tie because...

Suppose the judge calls for a hearing and you are not prepared. Here is what you should NOT do: do not tell the judge you can't make it ...

The Legal Profession Blog is reporting today that the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board has proposed the adoption of Opin...

In my Professional Responsibility course, we spend a bit of time talking about "trial tactics." Here is a story that falls in tha...

Go here for another update.

Here is yet another comment on Judge Sotomayor's possibly misleading use of a firm name by Eric Turkewitz, the blogger who actually brou...

The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department has imposed a three month suspension in a matter involving two instances o...

Almost a month ago, I posted a note about a story regarding Judge Sotomayor's use of the phrase "and associates" in her firm n...

Mike Frisch of the Legal Profession Blog wrote today on a case in which the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed a five month suspension impose...

Should a candidate be denied admission to the bar because of too much debt? Yes, says a panel in New York. Full story here. I understand it...

After seeing two cases in less than three months where the Department of Justice asked the court to dismiss indictments after allegations th...

The Illinois Supreme Court announced yesterday it has (finally) adopted a new set of rules mostly based on the ABA Model Rules of Profession...

The Legal Profession Blog is reporting today on yet another case of prosecutorial misconduct - improper arguments during the closing in a mu...

A Brooklyn judge has reversed a conviction because the defendant's attorney (Michael Harrison) repeatedly fell asleep at trial, allegedl...

The Legal Profession Blog is reporting today on a decision from the Maryland Court of Appeals that raises an interesting question regarding ...

The Legal Profession Blog is reporting today that the Idaho Supreme Court has affirmed a defendant's murder conviction even though the ...

Again, taking a break from grading exams to post this new installment to our on-going series on "how NOT to practice law." So, her...

Suppose an attorney prepares a bill and sends it to a client. Then suppose the client asks the lawyer to review it, explain some items or re...

I am taking a break from grading exams to catch up with blogs, news and other stories. About a month ago, I reported that the Illinois Appel...

A couple of months ago, I commented on a decision of the Supreme Court of Ohio which found that a lawyer had violated a number rules of pro...

You may have noticed I have not been posting any news recently. I have been busy trying to finish grading final exams and tomorrow I am taki...

Tort Deform Blog has published a short comment on the crisis regarding lack of access to legal representation in civil cases. Among other th...

I have posted before on the debate regarding whether the drafters of the "torture memos" should be disciplined for violations of e...

Here is a link to a good article on Pres. Obama's decision to resume the use of Bush era military tribunals by Joanne Mariner, the Terr...

The Obama administration has announced it will restart the controversial Bush military tribunal system. The tribunal system has been widely ...

Here is a link to an interesting article on the debate over hourly fee rates. As the article states, "the imminent demise of the billab...

In a rare victory for criminal defendants, the Chicago Daily Bulletin reports that the 5th District Appellate Court of Illinois has reverse...

I have blogged before about the problems in our criminal justice sytem due to the inadequate funding for programs that provide representati...

Assume a firm has an account with an online research service like Westlaw or Lexis according to which the firm pays a flat fee for using the...

In a recent story published in the ABA Journal.com, Debra Cassens Weiss states that "A new study claims bankruptcy lawyers are billing ...

I spend some time in class looking at the disparities in sanctions imposed for different types of offenses. Inevitably, we conclude that the...

Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that confidentiality rule that blocks any participant in an attorney disciplinary proceeding from publicly...

Earlier this month the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that a sole practitioner violated numerous ethics rules by using misleading firm names th...

Not too long ago I posted some comments on recent cases involving improper arguments by prosecutors (see here and here . Also, see here fo...

A few days ago I posted a note on a case called Pottawattamie County v. Harrington which raises the issue of whether prosecutors should be ...

A few days ago I reported on the case of a lawyer who was disciplined for, among other things having altered grades in a law school transcr...

Model Rule 1.8 (and its state equivalents) do not ban a lawyer from engaging in business transactions with clients. However, it is clear th...

An Illinois Hearing Board has recommended a three year suspension in a case involving an attorney who had failed to disclose information in ...

Here is a new case that involves the often debated issue of whether an attorney should be sanctioned for conduct not related to the practice...

The Legal Profession Blog is reporting today on a case out of Ohio in which a lawyer forged the signature of a judge on a draft judgment ent...

There is a lot of literature out there criticizing our criminal justice system for, among other things, not doing enough to protect the righ...

Here is another entry into our list of ways not to practice law : offer to exchange legal services for stolen property. Story here.

Debra Cassens Weiss of the ABAJournal.com reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear a case involving prosecutor immunity from ...

Two-thirds of Americans polled by the ABA support federal funding to help Americans who need legal assistance. Story here.

A few days ago I posted about a lawyer who was disbarred for not paying student loans. Today, the ABA Journal.com is reporting that the App...

Illinois Rule of Professional Conduct 4.2 generally prohibits a lawyer who is representing a client from dealing directly with others who ha...

I have long been a proponent that sanctions must mean something. Mere slaps on the wrist do more harm than good. See here , for example. Whe...

Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said on Tuesday he would require additional training for prosecutors to reinforce their understanding of r...

Back in January I reported on the proposed disbarrment of an attorney for having engaged in bank robbery (duh!). Yesterday, the Supreme Cou...

A 43 year old man going by the name Perry Mason, was arrested in Houston for practicing law without a license. Full story (very short) here...

Here is another wake up call for our students: pay your loans! The National Law Journal is reporting today that the Texas Court of Appeals ...

The Justice Project has released a report on prosecutorial misconduct. The report is available here. It starts: "Prosecutors are argua...

The ABA Journal.com is reporting today that the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the punishment barring lawyer...

The ABA Journal.com is reporting today that a report by a group reviewing Florida bar admission standards has called for a number of changes...

About a month ago, I posted a note on the fact that the ABA made a pretty major mistake in drafting the recently approved amendment to Mode...

Irked by a Wisconsin lawyer's failure to proofread his pleadings, among other errors, a state appeals court has suggested that the lawye...

In a strongly worded, 50-page opinion (available here ), U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold has reprimanded federal prosecutors and ordered th...

The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently affirmed a criminal conviction in a murder case, rejecting the contention that the trial judge...

A provision in New York’s $131 billion state budget bill passed last week calls for a cap on the number of criminal cases each New York City...

Two New Jersey trial judges are in hot water for belittling litigants with discourteous, undignified and discriminatory remarks from the ben...

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether a fee awarded under a federal fee-shifting statute can ever be enhanced based s...

The Justice Department is once again being threatened with contempt of court after United States District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan found t...

There appears to be an emerging trend of bar prosecutions against prosecutors -- which is definitely a good thing, by the way. Here is ano...

Most states' rules of professional conduct state that they are not meant to illustrate duties in tort law, but that many (perhaps most) ...

Here is a link to a comment by Prof. Monroe Freedman on the appalling situation of ineffective assistance of counsel that so many indigent ...

Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy agency, has filed a lawsuit against The Florida Bar challenging the constitutionality of its ba...

A couple of months ago I posted a note about a case where, after a judge ordered a lawyer off a case and banned from getting any fees (beca...

Here is a link to an article that discusses the indictment, trial, conviction, and sentencing of Berkeley Nutraceuticals’ former in-house co...

The most recent ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Responsibility has a good article summarizing the state of the law related to an...

The District of Columbia bar's ethics committee issued an opinion this month that concludes that attorneys may charge a reverse continge...

Way back when I started this blog, I posted a photo that started a big controversy over advertising in Chicago. It depicted the semi nude bo...

Here is an interesting case that discusses an issue I had never seen before.An attorney, representing a plaintiff in a medical malpractice a...