Professional Responsibility Blog

In the past, I have expressed my disagreement with the approach some jurisdictions take on the issue of flat fees (see here and here ). Las...

Back in September, USA Today began to publish a series of articles on prosecutorial misconduct (see here ). The series is available here. T...

The Legal Ethics Forum forum has a list of top legal ethics stories for 2010 and is still asking for more suggestions. Go here for the stor...

Here is an easy multiple choice question: when representing a client, a lawyer should show up (a) sober or (b) drunk. If you picked 'a...

The Legal Profession Blog is reporting that the California Supreme Court recently disbarred a lawyer who had sexual relations with two incar...

The Legal Ethics Forum recently reported on a case out of the California Court of Appeal called Hall v. Kalfayan , in which the court decide...

Back in September, USA Today began to publish a series of articles on prosecutorial misconduct (see here ). The series now includes 14 diff...

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court announced it will not review a Second Circuit decision that struck most of New York’s attorney di...

Back in October, I reported on a recent study concluded that California courts discipline fewer than 1% of prosecutors they find committed m...

Following on yesterday's post on Facebook, the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline of Ohio has issued an advisory opin...

Back in October, I reported that a judge in Mississippi held a lawyer in contempt when the lawyer refused to recite the pledge of allegiance...

Facebook appears to be in the news almost daily these days and, for a number of different reasons, it is now clear that all lawyers need to ...

In September, the ABA's Commission on Ethics 20/20 released a couple of documents concerning lawyers' use of technology. One paper ...

Go here for the full story.

A few days ago, the New York Times published a long article on entities that lend money to litigants in exchange for an assignment of an amo...

A couple of days ago, I reported that the magazine Corporate Counsel was going to publish a long article about a former lawyer for Toyota w...

The Kentucky Bar Association has decided that postings on social media, such as Facebook, represent a dangerous trend that needs oversight. ...

As you know, Toyota has been in the news recently because of claims of defects in its cars that cause sudden acceleration problems. A side s...

Law.com is reporting that leaders of the New York State Bar Association have asked the Court of Appeals to permit in-house counsels who have...

How would you like to advertise your law practice on a funeral home's website? This is the question attorney and blogger Eric Turkewitz...

The Legal Ethics Forum is reporting today that the Pennsylvania Bar has concluded that many online legal document preparation services, inc...

Today's entry into our continuing list of examples on how not to practice law relates to the conduct of prosecutors: sell the offener...

The products liability blog Abnormal Use recently asked me to participate in their interview series . Here are my comments.

The Supreme Court has granted cert on Turner v. Price which asks whether an indigent defendant has a constitutional right to appointed coun...

Illinois lawyers are not required to provide pro bono services, but if they do provide them, they must report it on their annual registratio...

A few days ago, I reported ( here ) on the case out of Arizona where a lawyer tried to convince her client that the client's dead wife...

The Illinois State Bar Association is reporting that to celebrate National Pro Bono Celebration Week, which kicks off today, ISBA President...

On October 29, the Supreme Court will consider whether to grant certiorari on a case called Turner v. Price, which asks whether an indigent ...

My former students will likely remember Jim Neal, usually one of their favorite participants in the TV show Truth on Trial , an episode of t...

Here is a link to more information on the newly adopted rules in Tennessee. Go here for a summary of the key changes. Go here for a copy ...

I have complained before that some jurisdictions have eliminated the advantage of allowing flat fees as an alternative to hourly fees (see h...

About a month ago, the Tennessee Supreme Court announced its latest revisions to the Rules of Professional Conduct, which will take effect J...

A few weeks ago, I reported ( here ) on the case out of Arizona where a lawyer tried to convince her client that the client's dead wife...

This week's episode of The Defenders again provided some material for discussion. (For a discussion of previous episodes go here and he...

Frequent readers of this blog know by now that I have been reviewing episodes of The Defenders -- I still owe you the comments about the las...

Law.com is reporting that "[a]mid mounting national concern over the accuracy of court documents in foreclosure cases, New York state...

In 1991, in Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada , the U.S. Supreme Court found that the trial publicity rule of the state of Nevada, which was ba...

The US Supreme Court Blog is reporting in its "petition of the day" page (where they highlight questions that have a good chance ...

A couple of weeks ago, I reported ( here ) on a new study that showed that California courts discipline fewer than 1% of prosecutors they fi...

Microsoft has donated $3 million to Kids in Need of Defense to aid in the organization’s effort to help children who come to the United Stat...

Here is a little bit of interesting trivia I learned today: William Marston (the “father” of the modern day polygraph), is credited as the c...

The Legal Ethics Forum is reporting that a Minnesota lawyer has been disbarred after being charged with six felony counts of promoting pros...

Here is a double dose of how not to practice law. The Legal Profession Blog and National Law Journal are reporting that the Supreme Court o...

In my class we discuss the case of In Re Lamberis in which a lawyer is disciplined for plagiarism in a (non law related) master's thesi...

As of October 1, 2010, the Supreme Court of Illinois has amended its MCLE Rules to increase the number of required professional responsibili...

Straight from the Legal Profession Blog: "If you are a law professor looking for a teaching example of the wrong way to practice crimin...

Tonight's episode of The Defenders again provided some good material for discussion. (For a discussion of previous episodes go here .) I...

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a nearly $95,000 sanction that Eastern District of New York Judge Denis R. Hurley imposed...

Sherrilyn Ifill, Professor of Law, University of Maryland School of Law, has published an article called Why We Ignored the Supreme Court’s ...

A story on how a judge tried to force a lawyer to recite the pledge of allegiance in court and then sent him to jail when the lawyer refused...

I have been following the new "lawyer shows" on TV for the past three weeks (see here ) and, at the risk of getting laughed at, I ...

Concerned with the possibility that clients who agree to a flat fee may end up paying more than what they would have paid if they had agreed...

Here is a link to a short article in the National Law Journal that discusses a recent study by the Pro Bono Institute surveying major law fi...

Here is a link to a comment on the oral argument in Connick v Thompson published as part as the continuing coverage of the case by the Supr...

Here is a link to a new article in the Illinois Bar Journal on "unbundling" of legal services. There is a lot of talk about the c...

Law.com is reporting ( here ) the story of Miami attorney Jonathan Aronson who was one of Royal Caribbean Cruises’ go-to defense lawyers on ...

In a ruling that could have a major impact on the Maryland Public Defender’s Office, a state judge in Baltimore found that indigent criminal...

Pharmalot has a story ( here ) about Gary Douglas, a plaintiff's attorney who represented a client who claimed Fosamax caused her to dev...

At the end of each week the Supreme Court releases audio recordings of the week’s oral arguments. Go here to listen to the oral argument on...

As expected, the TV show Outlaw has been cancelled. (See here and here ). The Blog of the Legal Times is reporting that the remaining epis...

Snyder v. Phelps was the center of attention yesterday at the Supreme Court, but it was not the only important case the Court heard. The ot...

About a month ago, I posted a comment about yet another case reversing a conviction due to the prosecutor's improper comments during the...

A few days ago, I posted a note about the debate on the availability (or lack of it) of ABA Ethics Opinions and the ABA's practice to ch...

Here is yet another story of an attorney having (or trying to have) sex with a client's spouse. In this case, the Indiana Supreme Court ...

A new study by Professor Kathleen Ridolfi of Santa Clara University School of Law, who is also the Executive Director of the Northern Califo...

For the past seven years, a committee has been drafting new rules of conduct for attorneys in Texas on behalf of the Texas Supreme Court. No...

The ABA has published a new Ethics Opinion (No. 10-457) on ethics issues related to lawyers use of websites. I have not had a chance to see ...

A few days ago, I commented on a story about whether rude behavior should be considered to be unethical conduct. See here and here . Today,...

A couple of days ago I wrote about the debate in Wisconsin over providing lawyers to the poor in civil cases. Here is a link to an editorial...

Attorney and popular blogger Eric Turkewitz has posted a short comment on the debate on whether practicing lawyers should write about their ...

Is a lawyer who is successful in representing his or her own interests in litigation entitled to attorneys fees (when such fees are allowed ...

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting ( here ) that a legal-aid group called Legal Action of Wisconsin plans to present a petition to ...

The Legal Talk Network has a 25 minute long podcast on ethical issues related to e-discovery here (also available here ). The show feature...

Every year, the ABA publishes a list of the best 100 law blogs and they recently began to seek nominations for this year's list. Go her...

I have often commented on inconsistent sanctions for similar conduct. Here is a link to a comment on this subject by Carolyn Elefant, a solo...

Just a couple of days ago, my class covered issues related to "in-house counsel" including the Balla v Gambro decision denying la...

Three days ago I noted that the Mississippi Supreme Court is considering requiring attorneys to perform 20 hours of pro bono service. Today...

I don't watch a lot of TV, but I try to check out shows about lawyers just in case they raise issues I can discuss in class. There have...

USA Today has published a long article on prosecutorial misconduct that concludes that federal prosecutors repeatedly have violated their d...

The Legal Ethics Forum is reporting that the New York State Bar Association has issued an Ethics Opinion on investigations through the use o...

A few days ago, I posted a comment on whether rude behavior constitutes unethical conduct ( here ), a topic that generated some responses in...

Here is the most recent addition to our running list of examples of how not to practice law. This is one we have seen before ( here ) and it...

The Court of Appeals of Kentucky has issued an opinion that illustrates one of the few instances where attorneys are sometimes held to owe a...

The Census Bureau's recently released a report that details that nearly 57 million Americans now qualify for civil legal assistance from...

Back in June, the Wall Street Journal reported that a proposal was being discussed in Utah to regulate what lawyers could say about the jud...