Professional Responsibility Blog

The Legal Profession blog is reporting today on a case with an interesting set of facts:  An attorney was retained and paid a $10,000 non-r...

A court-appointed investigator has found that the high-profile prosecution of the late Senator Ted Stevens was “permeated” by the prosecutor...

Last August I reported that Legal Zoom.com settled a class action filed in Missouri claiming that it was illegally practicing law in the sta...

Here are the links to the "how not to practice law list" so far.  As you can see, these are examples of incredible but true stori...

Eric Turkewitz comments (and he "names names") on attempts to find and solicit sex abuse victims here .

Here is an interesting recent case out of the Illinois Appellate Court.  In this case, a criminal defendant appealed his conviction - which ...

Model Rule 1.8(d) states that "prior to the conclusion of representation of a client, a lawyer shall not make or negotiate an agreement...

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin is reporting that the Legal Services Corp. (LSC), which awards grants to legal aid providers throughout the n...

The Supreme Court has announced its schedule for oral arguments during the month of January and it includes a case on the law of lawyering a...

I have been following the case before the Supreme Court on prosecutorial misconduct for failing to disclose exculpatory evidence (see here ,...

Last month, the Illinois Appellate Court released an interesting case (from earlier this year) that addresses the consequences of agreeing t...

Last September, in a short, but well written opinion, the Illinois Appellate Court addressed the issue of whether a conviction should be rev...

Convicted defendants often argue ineffective assistance of counsel on appeal, but the argument is not successful most of the time.  Last Sep...

I am coming to you "live" today from Lucerne, Switzerland!  I came here to teach a class on International Torts at the University ...

The oral argument in Smith v Cain is available  here .

Today is this blog's third anniversary!  I started it on November 11, 2008, just a few days after I had started my Torts blog .  Since t...

A few days ago I posted a note about a new case before the Supreme Court on prosecutorial misconduct in New Orleans called Smith v. Cain . ...

As you probably remember, last year the Supreme Court decided  Connick v. Thompson , which has been described as "one of the most bitte...

A few days ago, I wrote about two cases before the Supreme Court on ineffective assistance of counsel.  See here .   Both cases ask the Cour...

The most recent issue of the Illinois Bar Journal has an article on the ethical issues related to the representation of older clients and cl...

The Yale Law Journal online has published an essay on prosecutorial misconduct called The Myth of Prosecutorial Accountability After Connick...

For a number of years, criminal defense attorney Horace Hunter has used a blog as part of his firm's website to write short articles abo...

Yesterday, the Supreme Court Blog hosted a discussion of the two cases on ineffective assistance of counsel the Court heard a few days ago. ...

Yesterday, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on the law of lawyering:  Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye .  Both c...

The national pro bono celebration conversation ends this week with the following questions: What should the relationship be between profes...

Freivogel on Conflicts has a new case of interest to bankruptcy lawyers.  In this case, a firm was not allowed to recover fees because of ...

At its meeting in Denver, October 14-15, 2011, the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 decided to file its Draft White Paper on Alternative Litig...

Here is a simple principle we have seen before .  If you are suspended from practice, it means you CAN'T practice!!  The Legal Professio...

The Nevada Supreme Court has upheld a casino’s summary judgment for $2 million against Joe Francis, creator of the soft porn “Girls Gone Wil...

The national pro bono celebration conversation continues this week with the following questions: How do we ensure high quality pro bono wo...

A few days ago, I discussed the use of prospective waivers with my students.  Now, here is a link to an article criticizing their use.  Here...

Here is a link to a short article on Illinois Lawyer Now inviting you to join the celebration of National Pro Bono Week by Hon. Barbara Crow...

The national pro bono celebration conversation continues this week with the following questions: How can we better use technology? What ki...

The Ethics and Professionalism Committee of the ABA Section on Litigation is seeking an unpaid student intern to assist its web editors. Th...

A former Texas prosecutor, now a sitting judge, has been accused of withholding exculpatory evidence in the prosecution of an Austin-area ma...

Friend of the blog Alan Crede, of the Boston Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, has posted a very interesting comment on the very nature of our ci...

Okay, maybe it wasn't a fist fight but still...  The South Carolina Supreme Court has suspended a lawyer for 90 days for slapping a witn...

In conjunction with the national pro bono week activities, between Oct. 24 to 28, interested attorneys can attend the Pro Bono and Community...

The Blog of the Legal Times has an interesting news story about Abbe Lowell, the attorney for John Edwards.  Edwards is facing a six-count f...

The national pro bono celebration conversation continues this week with the following questions: What systemic issues do you see in the de...

On Friday, a federal judge ruled that Florida ad restrictions violate lawyers’ First Amendment rights.  Go here for more information.

Here is a link to a short post on the Legal Ethics Forum discussing a bill recently approved by the House Judiciary Committee that would ma...

This post has nothing to do with torts or professional responsibility, but it's my blog, so there! Did you know today is the annivers...

The The District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee is proposing changes in the D.C. ethics rules.  A short summary ...

Here is a comment by popular solo practitioner blog "My Shingle" on a new website modeled after travel sites that allows consumers...

The national pro bono celebration conversation continues this week with the following questions: What is the best way to recruit and utili...

Today we started to discuss conflicts of interest in my class. As we tried to define the concept I asked the students if it makes sense to t...

A few days ago, I spent some time discussing contingency fees with my students.  Among other things, we talked about whether the reasonablen...

Go  here  for an analyisis of the ABA's new opinion 11-461 , "Advising Clients Regarding Direct Contacts with Represented Persons....

The Illinois Supreme Court has amended some of the rules regarding Continuing Legal Education for Illinois attorneys.  Go here for more inf...

On Friday, Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for his role in the cash-for-kids scandal. Conahan and j...

The Supreme Court announced this morning that it will review a case on "whether a lawyer retained to work with government employees ...

The national pro bono celebration conversation continues this week with the following questions: Some lawyers prefer to give money rather ...

The Illinois Supreme Court has announced 70 new disciplinary orders. The Court disbarred 12 lawyers, suspended 43, censured 10, remprimanded...

As I have discussed previously (more recently here , here and here ), a majority of jurisdictions hold that a convicted criminal defendant ...

The ABA Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility has issued a new Formal Opinion (No. 11-461 August 4, 2011) in which it discusses ...

A panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ordered an attorney to show cause why he should not be disbarred (from the federal cour...

I have commented on the issue of whether a lawyer can be found liable for negligence in a case if the client decides to settle here , here ...

I have argued before that the South Carolina Supreme Court does not understand basic principles of conflicts of interest ( see here ) and a...