Professional Responsibility Blog

The Legal Ethics Forum has some more links here .

Yesterday I posted some links on the recent reversal of a conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct.  Today Seeking Justice has posted a lo...

Describing the conduct of Justice Department lawyers as “grotesque,” U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt ordered a new trial for officers ac...

In class we discuss some cases on the question of whether an attorney can or should disciplined for expressing offensive opinions or for mak...

Last year I posted a few links to articles on the debate on whether undocumented immigrant should be allowed to practice law (in Californi...

Just a few minutes ago I posted a note about a recent case from the Fourth Circuit on prosecutorial misconduct.  Here is another comment on...

I hate to sound like a broken record, but here I go again:  prosecutors will continue to break the rules unless courts begin to take the pro...

The Legal Ethics Forum is sponsoring an essay writing competition with cash prizes.  Go here for details. 

A couple of days ago I posted a note on a recent complaint filed alleging an attorney disclosed confidential information when replying to a...

Professional Liability Matters (blog) has a short comment with practical advice on how to handle a problem client here .

The Legal Profession Blog is reporting that the Illinois Administrator has filed a complaint alleging that an attorney violated her duty o...

Last year I posted a few links to articles on the debate on whether undocumented immigrant should be allowed to practice law (in California)...

Here is the story . Could a lawyer be disciplined for similar conduct? 

Last month I posted a few links to other blogs and an op-ed piece on the issue of intra-firm privilege.  See here .  The Legal Ethics Forum ...

Here is a report on the elected public defender in Florida I mentioned in my previous post.  Also here is a clip from Action News:

I must confess I did not know that in some jurisdictions the Public Defender is an elected position.  Wow!  I find that hard to believe.  Th...

I have more than once complained about the lack of common sense when it comes to rules related to advertising lawyers' "specialties...

Just a few days ago, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an opinion that raises an interesting question.  Here is the story, in a nutshell:  s...

The Huffington Post has published a story on an issue I have written about many times: the lack of accountability for prosecutorial miscond...

Here is a link to a recent article on issues related to social media and the practice of law.  Among other things, it comments on an ethics...

For those of you who used to rely on Google Reader, or those of you who prefer to get notices of the posts as they are posted throughout the...

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin is reporting today that Gov. Patrick J. Quinn has signed legislation that will make Illinois the second stat...

I have written many times before on the concept of flat fees and whether they can be non refundable. See here , here and here , for examp...

I recently posted a comment critical of a decision from Washington DC in which the Office of Bar Counsel recommended only an admonition for...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently held in a disciplinary proceeding ( In re Riek ) that prosecutors' ethical obligation to disclose ...

A group of Democratic lawmakers has reintroduced a bill that would require Supreme Court justices to comply with the same ethics rules tha...

Here is a link to a recent New York Times article on whether it is proper for character and fitness committees to ask about candidates'...

A few days ago, I commented on a case in Washington DC where the Office of Bar Counsel's recommendation of censure for prosecutorial mi...

Last month, the lawyers for New Hampshire’s only inmate on death row filed a motion to disqualify the entire Attorney General’s office from ...

If you are a long time reader of this blog, you know that I have asked before for an explanation as to the notion of moral turpitude in Wash...

I have never understood why it is so difficult for courts to recognize claims for emotional distress in cases where the plaintiff does not s...

The New Jersey Supreme Court has reversed a conviction because a state prosecutor's office violated its post-indictment discovery obli...

I have complained repeatedly on this blog about how regulatory agencies and courts do not take prosecutorial misconduct seriously enough; ab...

"A Public Defender" is reporting that Alaska has decided to limit prosecutorial discretion to negotiate plea agreements in certain...

Last month I reported that the Massachusets Supreme Court recently found that confidential communications between law firm attorneys and a ...

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...