Professional Responsibility Blog

Mike Frisch (Ethics Counsel for Georgetown Law Center) of the Legal Profession Blog has an interesting comment on this as it relates to a c...

In a blow to multinational businesses and their in-house counsel, the European Court of Justice on Tuesday held that communications between ...

Law.com is reporting that a unanimous appeals panel in New York reversed a robbery conviction and remanded the case to be tried before a dif...

Continuing our on-going list of things you should not do while practicing law, here is a report on two cases in different states reported on...

Go here for a podcast on California's medical malpractice laws featuring Doug Merritt, a lawyer from San Francisco and Jeffrey S. Mitch...

The Abnormal Use blog has posted a review of the tv show Outlaw, about which I wrote yesterday. You can read the full review here . It concl...

Back in June, I posted the comment that appears below about three new TV shows expected to start this fall. One of them - Outlaw - previews ...

According to a survey by the Chicago-based National Immigration Justice Center, thousands of people in immigration detention facilities are ...

Officials with the Supreme Court of Texas Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee (UPLC) say complaints about immigration consulting business...

The ABA Journal.com is reporting that an arbitrator has ruled that a former in-house lawyer for Toyota may use documents that otherwise woul...

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin is reporting that in a petition for leave to appeal in a case called In re Rodney S. (No. 110963), a minor i...

Last week a New Jersey appeals court overturned a conviction for attempted murder in part due to the prosecutor's persistent denigration...

Law.com is reporting that a Kansas man convicted of child molestation will get a new trial because of misconduct by the judge and the prosec...

Last week, I reported that the Illinois Court of Appeals recently announced two opinions in which it reversed convictions based on the defic...

To quote Mike Frisch of the Legal Profession blog ..."I thought that I had seen just about everything in the area of attorney misconduc...

For the third time in about a month the Illinois Court of Appeals has reversed a conviction because of comments made by the prosecutor. The ...

Ineffective assistance of counsel is a contention that is often raised by defendants on appeal and in the vast majority of cases it is rejec...

About a month ago, the Illinois Court of Appeals (Fourth District) issued an opinion in a peculiar case in which a convicted defendant argue...

As with pretty much every single other entry in the on-going "how not to practice law" series, all we can say is "duh!" ...

Here is a video of a recent speech by Justice Sonia Sotomayor at the University of Denver Law School. If, for some reason, you don't see...

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...