Professional Responsibility Blog

For the second time this month, the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Florida has issued a reversal because of inflammatory arguments by an at...

Go here for the story of an Ohio attorney who has been suspended for two years after it was determined that she billed the court of Lucas C...

Here is our latest addition to the running list of things you should NOT do when practicing law. As usual, it is an easy one. If the judge e...

As reported in The Ethical Quandary Blog , the California State Bar Board of Governors has approved a new rule on imputation of conflicts of...

The Legal Profession Blog is reporting that the Supreme Court of Ohio’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline has issued an...

I have often complained on this blog about inadequeate/lenient sanctions for misconduct. I can't complain today! The Wall Street Journ...

Last night we discussed in class how an attorney can be disciplined for conduct outside the practice of law. Interestingly, apparently there...

The ABA Commission in charge of performing a review of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the U.S. system of lawyer regulation...

The Legal Profession Blog is reporting today on a bar discipline case from North Carolina that imposes a very unusual limitation on the att...

Eight large law firms have submitted a 66-page comment to the Florida Supreme Court objecting to Proposed Florida Bar rules for web adverti...

The California legislature, in what is believed to be the first instance of its kind in the nation, has enacted a law specifically addressed...

Here is a link to an interesting discussion on ethical issues related to the litigation over the attempts to build a mosque in New York Cit...

Here is a new addition to our running commentary on how NOT to practice law. For the most recent updated list of links on this topic go here...

Law.com reported yesterday that an Atlantic County, New Jersey, Superior Court Judge has been hit with ethics charges for allegedly launchin...

A few days ago ( here ), I commented on a new case in which the court reversed a conviction because of comments made by the prosecutor. Now ...

In the wake of the July 15 suicide of partner in the Chicago firm Reed Smith, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog has published a short article...

Just about a month ago, the Illinois Court of Appeals (4th division) issued an opinion in which it took the unusual step of reversing a conv...

Law.com is reporting today that a nine-member District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility has issued a split ...

What sanctions would you impose for the following conduct? "Lawyer X left work, consumed alcohol, then fled from the police and ran eig...

Here is a link to a comment posted in the Crim Law Prof Blog discussing State v. Public Defender, Eleventh Judicial Circuit , 12 So. 3d 798 ...

The ABA Journal.com is reporting that "[s]tringent new Florida Bar rules on attorney online advertising have ignited a firestorm, attra...

Have you ever heard the expression "a lawyer who represents him or herself has a fool for a client"? Here's a new Ninth Circui...

Last month a jury awarded $8 million in compensatory damages ( see here ) in a case against pharmaceutical company Merck in a trial related ...

Here is an update on the how not to practice law list so far (each item is a link to its own post/story): ask client to pay fees with drugs...

Here is a new addition to my on-going list of real stories that illustrate some relatively simple/straighforward things you should not do.....

A few days ago, I argued against rules that require a plaintiff in a malpractice action to file a "certificate of merit" with the ...

Go here for Prof. Stephen Gillers follow-up comments on the opinion holding that Gucci can't claim privilege over communications with o...

A federal court magistrate in New York has decided that information shared with someone the client mistakenly thought was a licensed lawyer ...

In an opinion that once again raises concerns about the state's shortage of funds for indigent capital defense, a divided Georgia Suprem...

It is unfortunately no secret that not all judges are competent or fair. It is not uncommon to read opinions disciplining judges or allegati...

The following two paragraphs are from actual statements made in Cook County Court in Illinois. Are they examples of acceptable, harmless rhe...

"With the legal needs of the poor rising in volume and intensity, more access to legal aid is a needed stop on the road to economic rec...

Yesterday I said I would continue to update the list of links to comments on the recent decision by the Supreme Court in Holder by simply ad...

Last May, I came across this video just as it became public over the internet. I mentioned it in class briefly because it raises many inter...

Here are two more links to comments on yesterday's Supreme Court Opinion upholding the criminalization of "material support." ...

For a transcript of this segment, go the PBS newshour website .

The New York Times.com's "Room for Debate" section has just published three short Op-ed pieces debating today's Supreme Co...

The Blog of the Legal Times is reporting that last week a panel of legal experts at the American Constitution Society’s annual conference di...

Last week, the Legal Profession blog reported on an interesting case that shows that there are severe consequences to the disclosing confide...

Last week the New Jersey Appellate Division held that a plaintiff in a legal malpractice action is obligated to serve a timely affidavit of ...

The US Supreme Court has announced today its decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project , upholding the federal law that bars "mate...

Here is the link to a good short article on how to wrire a bad brief. It is called Writing Bad Briefs: How to Lose a Case in 100 Pages or M...

Last March I reported that the US Supreme Court has agreed to review Connick v. Thompson, a case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the ...

Would it be a breach of fiduciary duty for a law firm partner to have a sexual relationship with his client's wife? Not according to the...

There is a lot of talk about the concept of "unbundling" of legal services these days. Unbundling usually refers to an agreement i...

In yet another example of either misconduct or negligence by prosecutors, the Blog of the Legal Times is reporting that federal prosecutors ...

As you probably know, the basic standard to determine if a fee is ethical is that it must be "reasonable" and typically the rules ...

With the recent demise of the original "Law & Order" and "Raising the Bar," the major networks are apparently feelin...

In one of today's sessions at the annual conference of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility we discussed cases of misconduct i...

My students will remember the story of the prosecutor who decided to surrepticiously help the defendant's lawyer win a case because the ...

Back in January I posted my criticism of the Illinois Review Board's decision to recommend only an 18 month suspension in a much-publici...

I am currently in Seattle participating in the annual conference of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility. This morning I attended ...

I have been away from the blog for some time while grading exams and doing some traveling but I will get back to it regularly soon. Meanwhil...

The New York Personal Injury Blog has a good comment on the ways in which some firms are using Google to make sure the search engine directs...

The Ethical Quandary blog has a short report on a trio of recent decisions that address lawyer mobility and, according to the authors, furth...

Here is a story about why, "although data storage media have changed, old practices for collecting client information are as applicabl...

The Washington Post is reporting today ( here ) that a proposed amendment to the larger financial regulatory overhaul bill would allow share...

Here is a new addition to our "how not to practice law" series. This one illustrates a basic principle that I try to teach my stud...

I often make references to the tv show "Law & Order" in my classes. Now, pretty soon I will have to do something else I do som...

Last week, the South Carolina Supreme Court indicated that it would no longer tolerate impermissible fishing expeditions during the discover...

Suppose a former client, for whatever reason, disseminates unfair or inaccurate descriptions about the lawyer and the lawyer's represent...

Back in March I reported that a class-action filed in New York to challenge the state's public defender program by arguing that the syst...

Here is a link to a short comment on some of the common ethical issues related to internal investigations.

Every now and then, the " unreasonable dangerous products liability blog " posts brief interviews with law professors, practitione...

Here is a link to a short comment critical of the opinion on ghostwriting I mentioned in my previous post. It concludes as follows: Should ...

In a new Ethics Opinion, the New York County Lawyers' Association concludes that in most cases it is ethically permissible for a lawyer ...

The New York Times is reporting today that New York’s chief judge is calling for a new guarantee of a lawyer for poor people in civil cases,...

There is a very important development to report in Ohio. The Ohio Supreme Court has filed with the Ohio General Assembly final amendments t...

Adding to our ongoing list of posts on "how not to practice law," here is the story of a lawyer who decided to leave the practice ...

There are two items of interest in todays' news on terminating the representation of clients: Here is a link to an article published in...

Your client's mother says your client was at home asleep at the time of the crime for which the client is on trial. She honestly believe...

Will Texas really execute a defendant when the judge and prosecutor had an undisclosed romantic relationship? Here is a link to an editoria...

Nintendo Co. has asked an Arkansas federal judge to disqualify a law firm in a patent infringement case because the firm allegedly learned ...

The Blog of the Legal Times is reporting that the presidents of 61 state and territorial bar associations and their counterparts at five nat...