Professional Responsibility Blog

Profs. Monroe Freedman and Abbe Smith, authors of Understanding Legal Ethics , a book I often recommend to my students, have written a revie...

In 1996, Congress attached certain rules to the budget of the Legal Services Corp., which funds lawyers for the poor in civil cases, in orde...

Commentators continue to announce the death of the billable hour. This short news item from the Wall Street Journal Law Blog has a bit of ev...

The appellate court of Illinois (second district) has just issued an opinion in which it reversed a conviction because the trial judge frail...

Back in September I commented on the news that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — the state’s supreme court on criminal matters — ruled t...

Here is an interesting fact scenario courtesy of the Legal Profession Blog : a client retained a lawyer to pursue an employment discriminati...

A few days ago, I posted a comment on the issue of whether humiliation is a proper punishment in our criminal justice system or whether it ...

A few days ago, I posted and commented on a video of a deputy stealing a document from a defense attorney in the middle of a court proceedin...

As previously reported, California recently enacted a pilot program that will provide lawyers for indigent clients in civil cases. See my po...

Law.com is reporting today that the California State Bar governors "face the difficult task this week of deciding whether to approve 45...

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports today ( here ) that in a case argued yesterday before the Georgia Supreme Court a defendant argued ...

Last week, Professor Jonathan Turley posted a comment in his website about the fact that some prosecutors are negotiating plea agreements th...

As part of our discussion of misconduct during discovery, last night I told my students the story of how one time a lawyer tried to steal a ...

Recently I noted the issue of whether a lawyer who is included in the publication "Super Lawyers" should be allowed to publicize t...

Last night we spent our entire class time talking about misconduct within the limits of the adversary system and most of that time was spent...

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Pottawattamie County, Iowa v. Harrington, which deals with whether prosecutors should b...

For the first time in almost 20 years, the Texas Supreme Court has proposed comprehensive changes in the state's disciplinary rules for ...

As we get ready (in my class) to start our discussion of examples of misconduct in the process of discovery in civil litigation, here is a l...

A few days ago I reported that the Court of Appeals for the 5th circuit was set to decide whether the presumption that a lawyer who joins a ...

The Administrator of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of Illinois has filed a disciplinary complaint that may generate ...

In most jurisdictions, the rules of professional conduct ban lawyers from providing living expenses for clients involved in litigation at le...

A few weeks ago I reported that California had approved a new program based on the notion that indigent civil litigants have a right to gett...

There has been a lot of literature recently about ethical issues related to social networking. See my posts and links here , here and here ...

Here is a summary of a new article on internal corporate investigations.

Does a lawyer suspended from practice by a state Supreme Court engage in unauthorized practice of law if he continues to represent clients i...

Here is a short comment on Legal Ethics Forum on lawyers and social media. It discusses five basic rules to keep in mind: (1) make sure you...

The Illinois Adminstrator has filed a disciplinary complaint alleging three counts of misconduct against an attorney, one of which relates ...

Yesterday I posted a link to an article suggesting lawyers should re-think the idea of using social media. For the counter-argument, here is...

Here is a link to a short comment by Professor Monroe Freedman on the debate regarding pre trial publicity over the former Governor Blagoje...

Here is a link to an interesting debate as to the duties of an in-house counsel during an internal investigation based on this hypo: Imagine...

Here is a comment on using social media (facebook, twitter, etc) as a way to market legal services and as to why maybe you should consider ...

Here is a link to the Legal Ethics Forum's post and comments on the upcoming 5th Circuit decision about imputed conflicts. Again, as th...

According to the approach of the ABA Model Rules, when a lawyer joins a new firm there is a presumption that the lawyer comes to the new fir...

Here is another addition to our on going series on "how not to practice law": don't know the terms of your own fee agreement...

Law.com is reporting today that the US Justice Department recently outlined a plan to ensure prosecutors play by the rules when dealing with...

Richard Susskind has written a book called "The End of Lawyers?" in which he expresses his views on the state of the legal profess...

Connecticut has enacted a new law that imposes penalties on "runners" (people who rush to accident scenes or hang out in Emergency...

US Bankruptcy Judge Alan Jaroslovsky has had enough incompetent lawyers appearing in his courtroom; so he has given them the following noti...

Here is an article reviewing the effects of Federal Rule of Evidence 502, which was approved just about one year ago.

A judge of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has certified a class of plaintiffs in a lawsuit accusing a Skokie l...

The Delaware Supreme Court has issued a long opinion suspending an attorney for his practice of representing buyers and sellers at the same ...

A couple of days ago I posted a note on the ongoing debate related to an attorney's duties when a client commits (or intends to commit) ...

A couple of days ago I reported that the US Supreme Court was about to hear oral arguments on a case on whether incorrect legal advice about...

The Supreme Court of Ohio today imposed a civil penalty of $6,387,990 against two companies and their co-owners for engaging in the unauthor...

A little less than a month ago, I reported that a federal District Court Judge had issued a warning to attorney Orly Taitz to stop filing “f...

Here is another installment of our public service series "How NOT to practice law." Today's lesson is an old classic: piss ...

Joint defense agreements do not create former-client conflicts of interest, but a lawyer who participates in a joint defense arrangement may...

The Legal Ethics Forum is reporting today that California just enacted a pilot program that will provide lawyers for indigent clients in ci...

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in Padilla v. Kentucky today and Perdue v. Kenny A. tomorrow. Padilla involves an ineffective assist...

Many of you may have seen a publication called " Super Lawyers ." It is actually an advertising supplement to a magazine. You don...

All students of legal ethics are familiar with Professor Monroe Freedman's famous article on the "trilemma" lawyers face when ...

After two years of fact-finding and deliberation, New Jersey's Supreme Court announced Thursday that it will require mandatory continuin...

The Legal Profession blog is reporting today that an attorney was suspended for 60 days, with two years of probation and was ordered to take...

I recently commented on how missing a deadline in litigation is one of the dumbest things a lawyer can do ( here and here ).... Well, now c...

Here is a link to an interesting article on the propriety of criticizing judges.

Here is an interesting case from the Illinois Appellate Court, but before I comment on it, let me say that I have not read the case itself. ...

Assume a firm represented a client for 22 years in litigation over the estate of her husband. During that period, the client paid hourly fe...

A new report by the Legal Services Corp. (the nonprofit agency that receives and disburses congressional funding to legal aid organizations)...

On Wednesday, November 4, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case called Pottawattamie County, Iowa v. Harrington. It wil...

The LegalProfession blog is reporting today that "The king of class actions" has been disbarred. The full story is here.

My students and readers of this blog know how I would answer this question... but here is the story: The Legal Profession blog is reporting ...

About a month ago, a former high-ranking in house attorney for Toyota alleged that the auto maker conspired to illegally conceal and withhol...

In determining that a law firm should not be removed as counsel in a case where several of its lawyers may be called as witnesses, the U.S. ...

Last week in class we covered the difficult issues that arise when attorneys conduct internal investigations for entity clients. Among these...

Florida State bar authorities have fined trial lawyer Sean Conway $1,200 for criticizing a Ft. Lauderdale Judge on a blog, including calling...

Summarizing the discussion during an ABA panel discussion held in Chicago last Thursday, an article published in Friday's Chicago Law Jo...

Earlier today I posted a note about when is a flat fee earned ( here ). I then came across this short comment ( here ) regarding how discip...

On Wednesday, a California appeal court upheld a sanction of more than $6,600 after finding that the plaintiffs in a property dispute had en...

A couple of days ago I mentioned in class the possibility that a client could sue an attorney arguing negligence in handling a settlement of...

There has been a lot of discussion recently on the increasing popularity of "flat fees." So, it is important to understand the pos...

Law.com is reporting Bank of America did not meet the deadline to turn over documents to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Ref...

A few days ago I reported that there are six cases on the law of lawyering pending before the US Supreme Court (see here ). Thanks to Renee ...

A Congressional committee is prepared to require Bank of America to reveal information it has withheld from the SEC and AG Cuomo on grounds ...

Last week in class we discussed the duty of confidentiality and some of its exceptions. During our discussion I mentioned a 60 Minutes segme...

U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land has issued a stern warning to attorney Orly Taitz and others in the so-called “birther” campaign to stop...

The Minnesota state supreme court has suspended a judge for six months without pay for steering matrimonial mediation cases to his own divor...

Saying that DuPont engaged in "a deliberate scheme to interfere" with the court's rulings during more than a decade of litigat...

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — the state’s supreme court on criminal matters — has ruled that a man facing the death penalty for murd...

I have blogged in the past about the debate on whether the billable hour system of billing is losing its popularity ( here ). Today, in an a...

There is a very interesting note at the Legal Ethics Forum , pointing out that the United States Supreme Court will hear no fewer than six c...

Go here.

I usually start my course on Professional Responsibility with a discussion of a case where a lawyer is faced with a representation that has ...

Let's assume that an attorney devotes a substantial amount of time to preparing an appeal brief, but, even after having been granted fiv...

Here is a summary of a new case out of California, taken from the Legal Profession Blog, that in my opinion illustrates my point regarding i...