Professional Responsibility Blog

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 and it should...

I often complain that courts do not take prosecutorial misconduct seriously enough.  To its credit, The Connecticut Law Tribune does.  It re...

Jonathan Turley has posted his opinion on the conduct of the District Attorney in charge of the Zimmerman prosecution.  He states that the D...

Again, as expected there are more comments on the Zimmerman verdict.  Here are links to some I saw today (with brief quotes to give you an ...

There are a lot of stories out there about lawyers looking for evidence in clients' and opponents' Facebook pages, so it is interest...

Yesterday I wrote that we would see many comments on the Zimmerman verdict in the next few days.  Here are links to some I saw today: USA ...

A few days ago I reported that a new decision from Massachusets recently held that confidential communications between law firm attorneys ...

I am sure we will see lots of comments on the Zimmerman case in the next few days.  Here is a link to a short comment (with lots of links t...

I recently posted a story about a developing story about perjury in New York.  The story continues...    Go here for the latest.

The Legal Profession blog is reporting ( here ) on an important new decision from Massachusets on whether confidential communications betwe...

It seems that the e mail update service is functioning properly again. If you signed up yesterday (Tuesday, 7/10) you should have received...

Thank you to all the readers who have signed up again for e-mail updates. Unfortunately, I did not get an update this morning either so I ...

I have complained in the past about New Jersey's repeated failures to properly sanction unethical conduct.  See here and here , for exa...

Eric Turkewitz continues his coverage of a developing story in New York, where a judge recently found a physician who has made a career te...

Something happened to the blog yesterday and the e-mail subscriptions function stopped working. I fixed the problem, but unfortunately, if y...

Eric Turkewitz continues his coverage of a developing story in New York, where a judge recently found a physician who has made a career test...

JOTWELL has a good book review of W. Bradley Wendel's Lawyers and Fidelity to Law (Princeton University Press, 2010).  I have not read ...

Last year I posted a few comments about a case in which 3M Corporation sued the law firm Covington and Burling arguing that the law firm vio...

Prof. Monroe Freedman has posted this interesting question at the Legal Ethics Forum:  A lawyer who represents both civil and criminal clien...

Last February, I reported that the ABA approved a resolution encouraging lawyers to consider providing unbundled legal services when appropr...

Some time ago, there was a debate as to whether the ABA Model Rules should be amended to allow for screening in cases of concurrent conflict...

If you follow this blog you know that I have often commented on how courts do not seem to do enough to punish unethical conduct by prosecuto...

As everyone knows, it would be unethical for an attorney to assist or advise a client to commit a crime or a fraud.  But did you know it may...

Every law school professional responsibility textbook has a section on what to do when a client lies.  We all cover that material, but when ...

Jonathan Turley has an update here in which he argues that the "prosecutors in the George Zimmerman trial are facing a collapsing case...

The Florida’s State Bar's “Standing Committee on Advertising,” has recently proposed that it is “deceptive and inherently misleading”...

The Yale Law Journal's final issue of the academic year is a thorough symposium called: "The Gideon Effect - Rights, Justice, and ...

Would U.S. legal ethics rules prevent a U.S. lawyer from advising Snowden on where he could go to minimize the chance of extradition and h...

Last year I posted a few comments and many links discussing ethical issues raised by the prosecutor's conduct in the Zimmerman case.  (T...

A few weeks ago, CBS debuted a new TV reality series called Brooklyn DA ( here ).  It promised to be a candid look at the men and women who ...

Citing the  “justice gap” that leaves more than 2.3 million low-income New Yorkers each year to navigate the civil justice system on their o...

Professor James E. Moliterno (Washington & Lee) has published "Ethics 20/20's Successfully Achieved its Mission: It 'Protec...

I am curious to see what you think should be the appropriate sanction give the following facts (which are taken from an actual case recently...

A task force of the State Bar of California has recommended that new attorneys be required to complete at 50 hours of pro bono service befor...

Here is a story about an attorney who was reprimanded by the Supreme Court of West Virginia for "lapses in the representation of client...

If you follow blogs as much as I do, you probably know by now that Google Reader will be shut down at the end of the month. If you are looki...

Model Rule 8.2 states that a lawyer shall not make a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth ...

Regulatory agencies and courts have often had trouble defining exactly how the authority between an attorney and her client should be alloca...

I have not updated the on-going "how not practice law" series in a while, so I thought I'd revive it by mentioning a topic I...

As reported in Legal Ethics in Motion and discussed in the Legal Ethics Forum , The Miami Herald reports that a former prosecutor has come...

The ISBA has issued its first ethics opinion of the calendar year. It was approved in January and designated number 13-01. the summary rea...

Back in 2011, I wrote about a case from Indiana in which two attorneys were disciplined for stating in an ad in the yellow pages that they...

"Your ABA" has posted a short article discussing the duty to supervise non lawyers in the office here .   For a recent example...

A working group appointed by the NJ Supreme Court has released a report and recommendations in which it urges the adoption of a 50 hour law-...

About ten days ago Brady v Maryland turned 50 years old.  That landmark decision, one of those so important most lawyers will recognize it ...

For those of you planning to attend the upcoming ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility in San Antonio, I would like to let ...

A NY Times Sunday front page article reports: The Brooklyn district attorney’s office has ordered a review of some 50 murder cases assigned...

Prosectuor's Discretion has published a short comment by a prosecutor with some good advice on how to prepare a witness and the concerns...

I have often commented on how it is important for courts to take prosecutorial misconduct seriously.  What incentive is there to stop acting...

Long time readers of this blog will remember previous posts on whether it is permissible for lawyers to use pre-paid discount services like...

Go here for the answer .

Thanks to the Legal Ethics Forum, I recently found out about a blog called Seeking Justice which is dedicated to commenting on issues of pro...

The Atlantic Magazine asked a number of "experts" (law professors, lawyers, judges, authors, etc) for their opinion on the most i...

Over at the the Legal Ethics Forum, an article by Richard Zitrin has ignited the never ending debate as to what to do when a criminal defend...

The Illinois Attorney Registration Commission has posted its Annual Report for 2011. As usual, it has a lot of useful information about com...

There is a first time for everything.  This is the first time I have heard of a judge finding himself in contempt.   Apparently, the judge h...

As you probably remember this year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, the case that recognized the right to c...

Long time readers of this blog might remember a case in Texas in which a judge was under investigation for misconduct when he was a prosecut...

Here are some links to recent stories on prosecutorial misconduct:  ProPublica has a two part story on "who polices prosecutors" i...

In two recent cases, attorneys have been disciplined when employees stole money from clients. In one case, it was a paralegal and in the ot...

According to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle, available here , the state of Utah could be vulnerable to a lawsuit for falling short ...

Yesterday I reported and commented on the fact that an administrative judge has overturned the suspensions of the prosecutors who engaged in...

Long time readers of this blog will remember I have been following the story about prosecutorial misconduct in the prosecution of the late ...

As reported in Legal Ethics in Motion : On March 5, 2013, the Florida Bar Standing Committee on Advertising issued a Proposed Advisory Op...

You may remember my previous posts on a video in which a judge totally loses control during a divorce hearing and starts yelling at one of t...

The Oregon Bar has published an ethics opinion addressing the following specific questions: 1. May Lawyer review a person’s publicly avai...

 A few days ago I posted a few links to articles commenting on the 50th anniversary of the case that recognized the right to counsel in cri...

A few days ago I posted a link to an editorial in the NY Times on the state of the right to counsel ( here ).  As we celebrate the 50th anni...

The Legal Profession blog is reporting on a case that reiterates an important lesson for all lawyers.  Lawyers can't blame their client...

Here is a link to another case holding it is improper to represent the buyer and seller in the same transaction.

Under what circumstances should an attorney have a duty in tort toward the affiliates of an entity client?  The question is now before the...