Professional Responsibility Blog

A few days ago I criticized the Dept of Justice's investigation that concluded certain prosecutors did not act intentionally after an i...

Long time readers of this blog will remember I have been following the story about prosecutorial misconduct in the Ted Stevens case and that...

Obviously, there has been a lot of media coverage on the prosecution of George Zimmerman.  A lot of it has centered on the possibly unethica...

The Legal Profession blog is reporting on a case in which the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed a criminal conviction because the presiding...

At How Appealing , Howard Bashman rounds up articles about a pending application to the State Bar of California: "Court to review req...

Two months ago, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a bill called the Fairness in Disclosure of Evidence Act of 2012 (S. 2197), which ...

A few days ago, I posted a summary of a new opinion on an attorney's obligation when receiving a document by mistake (see here ). A more...

An attorney in Miami removed from a case by a U.S. District Judge for scheduling depositions at a Dunkin’ Donut shop, appearing in shorts an...

The Legal Talk Network has a podcast on whether there is a duty to know about modern technology here .

Here is yet another compilation of bad lawyer commercials . 

A couple of weeks ago I reported that starting in 2013, candidates to admission in New York state will be required to show that they have p...

In a new case addressing the issue for the first time, the Nevada Supreme Court has held that a prosecutor has a duty to disclose exculpator...

Thanks to Andrew Perlman, of the Legal Ethics Forum and the 20/20 Commission for the following announcement and links: Yesterday, the AB...

The Legal Profession Blog has a report on a case in which the Delaware Supreme Court has ordered the removal of a family court judge for a...

The law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf was created in 2007 in the largest merger of law firms in history. During the past few weeks reports hav...

In a rare criminal prosecution of a defense lawyer, a prosecutor today at trial accused a veteran attorney in Washington of devising a sche...

Back in February, I posted a story about a judge who, after being asked by the Justice Department, refused to delete from an opinion the na...

Here is a link to an article by a public defender on his perspective about the criminal justice system.  Here is a key paragraph: I have ...

Yesterday I reported ( here ) that the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued an opinion in which it held that John Yoo, one of the leg...

The Illinois Court of Appeals has issued an opinion in a case called People v. Radojcic on the level of proof necessary to support a claim t...

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has just issued an opinion holding that John Yoo is immune from a lawsuit by a U.S. citizen who ...

The Legal Quandary is reporting today that the New York City Bar Association has issued an opinion ( available here) attempting to clarify ...

Yesterday I wrote ( here ) that starting in 2013, candidates to admission in New York state will be required to show that they have perform...

Last Monday the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Chaidez v. United States , which will give the Court the chance to settle a dispute amon...

In my previous post I reported that the California bar is considering whether to impose a practical skills training requirement on lawyers a...

The Wall Street Journal law blog is reporting that the California bar is considering whether to impose a practical skills training requirem...

The most recent episode of the show "Community" was this parody of Law & Order:

The blog "Circuit Splits" has a post on the debate over the applicability of the attorney-client privilege to patent agents here .

As I get ready to discuss prosecutorial ethics next week, there are two items in this week's news on the subject: The Blog of the Lega...

Should a lawyer be allowed to change his mind about a settlement agreement after realizing that the jury would have given his client more mo...

The South Carolina Bar’s Ethics Advisory Committee has issued an opinion ( available here ) in which it addresses the question of whether it...

In a couple of weeks I will be discussing the concept of jury nullification in my Professional Responsibility class, so I thought I would li...

I recently posted links to a video and some articles and comments criticizing the prosecutor in the Zimmerman case ( here and here ).  Here...

Last week, the US Supreme Court issued its opinion in Filarsky v. Delia holding that a private attorney, retained by a city to assist in an...

Is There an Ethical Duty to Convey Offers to Mediate?   I think so....Discuss... here . 

It was recently reported that ABA's Ethics 20/20 Commission has decided not to draft a proposal on non-lawyer ownership of law firms.  ...

The most controversial topic in Professional Responsibility circles today will continue to be unresolved for now... or, more accurately, th...

Judge in Zimmerman case recuses herself.  Story here and video below (after a short commercial).  Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , wo...

A few days ago, I posted a short interview with Alan Dershowitz in which he argues the prosecutor in the George Zimmerman case acted unethic...

Here is a video of an interview with Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz in which he argues the conduct of the prosecutor in the case agai...

The Legal Profession blog is reporting today on a case in which the Louisiana Supreme Court has not only denied a bar applicant's requ...

The New York Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department has indefinitely suspended a lawyer after it was found had not payed child...

Last month, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced such a bill to broaden the scope of information that prosecutors must disclose to def...

The Illinois Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in an interesting case that raises some interesting questions as to what constitute...

The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that it has adopted a new rule to facilitate the delivery of legal services in an emergency res...

The issue of whether non-lawyers should be able to "own" (as in own investments in) law firms is back in the news.  I reported on...

Last night the TV show 60 minutes aired a segement on prosecutorial misconduct in a case in Texas in which the defendant was recently exoner...

The former chief drug prosecutor for Wayne County, Michigan has been disbarred for her role in soliciting false testimony. Go here for more...

The debate over whether states will begin to allow non-lawyer firm ownership/investment in law firms continues although a few days ago a cha...

Three new articles in the New York Times discuss the importance of the Supreme Court's decisions on ineffective assistance of counsel.  ...

Here is an interesting article on the conflicting positions of the ABA and New York's Committee on Professional Responsibility on the p...

The SCotUS blog is listing the following articles on yesterday's Supreme Court decisions on ineffective assistance of counsel: Greg S...

Today the Supreme Court announced two decisions in cases involving claims of ineffective assistance of counsel that essentially conclude tha...

The New York Times has published an editorial on the need for the Department of Justice to "take an even closer look at the powers and ...

Go here and here for articles with some analysis on the report on prosecutorial misconduct in the Ted Stevens case.  Thanks to the Legal...

Back in January, 2011, I reported that the Illinois legislature rejected a bill that attempted to regulate entities that lend money to liti...

You are representing a client in a contract dispute where the opposing party claims he is owed $10,000 for services rendered. The client li...

Lawmakers filed a new bill Thursday that would change discovery rules in federal criminal cases, requiring prosecutors to turn over any in...

The long awaited and controversial report on prosecutorial misconduct in the Ted Stevens case has finally been realeased. The 500+ page repo...

Unlike other states that have addressed the issue, the Indiana bar has issued an ethics opinion (Ethics Op. No. 1 of 2012) which concludes t...

The University of Pennsylvania Law Review sponsors a website called PENNumbra which hosts debates on important topics.  The debates usuall...

For decades poor parents in New Hampshire were provided lawyers if they could not afford them, but funding was cut during the last legisla...

The debate over whether states will begin to allow non-lawyer firm ownership/investment in law firms continues although a few days ago a cha...