Professional Responsibility Blog

One topic that has received a lot of attention this year is the question of how to reply to negative online reviews.   Earlier this year, th...

 As you probably remember, back in December, a federal district court declared unconstitutional Pennsylvania's version of ABA Model Rule...

 Do I really need to tell you this?  Really?    I guess I do because a Missouri medical malpractice attorney has been ordered to spend a wee...

 Five days after I reported that the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the mandatory bar system used in Texas was unconstitut...

On June 28, the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services submitted its final report to the Florida Supreme Court, recomme...

Long time readers of this blog might remember that I have been following the many lawsuits filed around the country alleging that mandatory ...

 About two weeks ago I reported that Rudy Giuliani's license to practice law was suspended by a court in New York.  One question that s...

The ABA Journal is reporting that the Oregon State Bar Board of Bar Examiners has adopted a task force report suggesting supervised practice...

Hopefully, by now you don't need this last reminder, but just in case... In case you have missed the previous posts on this, you should ...

 As I am sure you know by now, last week the First Judicial Department of the Courts in New York imposed an interim suspension on Rudy Giuli...

I know that the big news item of the week was Rudy Giuliani’s getting an interim suspension, and I will comment on that tomorrow, but I want...

Last August, Arizona became the first state to eliminate the ban on non-lawyer ownership of law firms.  See here , here and here .  This si...

Back in April, I reported that the New York State Bar Association Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct (“COSAC”) presented a proposed ...

Last week, the AP reported that the Texas State Bar of Texas is investigating the Attorney General Ken Paxton based on the argument that Pa...

 Over at The Law for Lawyers Today, Karen Rubin has published a short comment on the recent developments on whether it is ethical to practic...

Defense attorneys for former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao recently filed a motion arguing that the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s...

On May 6, 2021, the Louisiana Supreme Court issued an order revising the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct provisions governing lawyer...

The Florida Supreme Court recently approved an Advisory Opinion issued by the Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on the Unlicensed Practice of...

In the last couple of years we have seen a number of challenges in different states to mandatory bar membership rules.  I have posted a few ...

Long time readers of this blog know that I have complained many times that not enough is done to combat prosecutorial misconduct.  This is t...

Can a lawyer pay a non-expert witness for time spent testifying at a deposition or a trial, preparing for such testimony, and other related ...

As I am sure you know by now, Utah and Arizona recently became the first two states to make changes to their regulatory structure to allow, ...

I often complain that judges do not do enough to discourage misconduct in litigation.  My complaint is usually related to stories on discove...

Two years ago, I published a short magazine article on whether it is ethical for a lawyer to secretly record a conversation with a client. (...

Back in March I reported that Florida Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee requested comments on a formal Ethics Advisory Opinion to provide ...

 Here is some advice on how not to prepare a retainer agreement by Carolyn Elefant of MyShingle .

 Leaving your firm?  My friend Michael Kennedy has some advice for you on what not to do here .

Yesterday I commented on Sidney Powell's recent reply to a motion for sanctions for her complaint related the presidential election resu...

About two weeks ago I reported that Wisconsin filed a motion seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees from Donald Trump a...

One recurring story last year was the number of lawsuits filed throughout the country challenging the authority of states to mandate members...

On the same day that the New York State Bar Association Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct submitted a proposal to adopt a rule akin...

As I am sure you know, I have been writing about Model Rule 8.4(g) since way back when it was first proposed.  See here . Over time, I have ...

 As you probably know, last year Utah and Arizona adopted new rules to fundamentally change the way the practice of law is regulated, includ...

In case you don't remember, Sidney Powell is the former lawyer for the Trump campaign who at one time promised to "release the Krak...

Wisconsin is seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees from Donald Trump and Sidney Powell for their attempts to overturn ...

 NPR has published a short article on threats to the attorney-client privilege by surveillance of by prison authorities.  The article is ava...

 Back in November of 2019 I reported that Georgia became the 38th state to adopt the Model Rules proposition that the duty of competence mus...

 A few days ago I reported that the era of non-lawyer owned firms is here, now that Arizona and Utah have approved some version of such an ...

February 14, 2021   (updates at the end) Last week, the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued a new Form...

March 13, 2021 The ABA Journal is reporting that a Florida lawyer is facing an ethics complaint for describing himself as a pit bull lawyer...

 March 16, 2021  (update, below) Back in December, a federal district court declared unconstitutional Pennsylvania's version of ABA Mod...

 As I am sure you know by now, Utah and Arizona recently became the first two states to make changes to their regulatory structure of the pr...

Many lawyers and recent law school graduates believe they would benefit from mental health or substance abuse treatment but do not seek help...

Earlier this week in a case called Karton v. Ari Design & Construction, Inc ., the California Court of Appeal decided that a court can d...

Benjamin Cardozo is better known to my students as the New York Court of Appeals judge who wrote Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad , which de...

NPR has a long story that reminded me of the "hot potato doctrine."  In case you don't remember, this is the doctrine that say...

 The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has been busy issuing formal ethics opinions recently.  Formal Opinion...