Professional Responsibility Blog

I think that issues related to the use of AI in the practice of law are the number 1 topic of the year and I see stories on it almost every ...

 A California judge has formally recommended that attorney John Eastman be disbarred for his role in Donald Trump's legal effort to rema...

 Today the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility published Formal Opinion 510 on whether an attorney should be di...

 LawSites has the full story here .

 LawSites is reporting ( here ) that a new website that provides access to legal research called  descrybe.ai is focused on using artificia...

 The headline in Above the Law reads: "Convicted Lawyer Too Well-Connected To Face Discipline".  Elsewhere , the story was report...

 LawSites has the full story here .

 LawSites recently published two articles with commentary about the justice gap and legal tech that are worth reading. In the first one, Law...

If you are a college football fan you know about "naming rights"...  So what used to be the Fiesta Bowl suddenly became the Tostit...

 Here is a 50 minute NPR program on the right to an attorney and the role of public defenders in the criminal justice system.

 The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility just released a new Formal Opinion (Number 509).  The title is Disqual...

 A couple of days ago I posted that I think a lawyer in good standing in a state should be allowed to practice law in any other jurisdiction...

 Should A License To Practice Law Be More Like A Driver's License?  In a word, YES!  I do think so.  I think that once admitted in one s...

 Not surprisingly, the US Supreme Court has denied review of the sanctions imposed on Trump attorneys in Michigan.  Jurist has the story her...

February 18, 2024 As reported in Courthouse News:  An appeals court in Missouri lambasted a pro se litigant for submitting multiple “fictit...

 I have blogged before about the unfortunate reality that even 60 years after Gigeon v. Wainwright , there are still deficiencies in the pro...

Two weeks ago, the Illinois Supreme Court amended a Supreme Court Rule to add “sexual harassment prevention” to the enumerated topic areas f...

 Here is another "how not to practice law" story.  The lessons from these stories always seem so obvious; yet here we are.  In thi...

 I missed this report when it came out, but better late than never...  Here it is .

Saying that AI will affect the practice of law is old news.  It already has.  The question now is whether it will affect the practice of law...

 This is not the first time we have seen this example of "how not to practice law," but there are two interesting questions.  In t...

 The issue of how to reply to negative online reviews is not new.  If you go to the "internet" section of this blog and scroll dow...

 How will generative AI affect digital investigations and e-discovery?  The ABA Journal has an answer here .

 About a week ago, I posted a link to a comment on whether employment agreements that require a departing lawyer to compensate the firm for ...

 A couple of days ago I reported that the Florida Bar recently issued an ethics opinion on using generative AI technology in the practice of...

 If you have been watching the news about the case against former president Trump in Georgia, you know that the defendant has argued the cas...

Last December I reported that the Florida Bar was considering an opinion on the use of AI as part of the practice law.  See here .   Today I...

 Politico has the details here .  The Legal Profession blog comments here .  The Hill has coverage here .

 Michael Kennedy, over at Ethical Grounds, discusses the issue here .

 The Legal Profession blog recently published a summary of a recent case that earns the most recent entry in our "how not to practice l...

 About two week ago I posted a link to a year in review program that discussed the top ten stories of 2023 in legal ethics.  See here . Now,...

 2Civilty has published a short article on diversity in the profession:  Women Associates Reach Important Milestone, But Legal Profession Fa...

Here is an interesting story about a lawyer who was recently fined over $250,000 for trying to support a claim with a fake newspaper article...

 A New York judge has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay nearly $400,000 in attorneys fees to the New York Times and three reporte...

 As you probably know, the answer to the question of whether an inadvertent disclosure of privileged information constitutes a waiver of the...

We start the new year with a story about what is likely to be one of the most debated topics of 2024: the use of artificial intelligence in ...

 I recently read a story that, if accurate, is disturbing.  According to the story , published in The Hill, Brigadier General Warren Wells w...

 The Chicago Bar Foundation has published a short article called "2024 Resolution for the Legal Profession: Back to the Future, With a ...

 Happy New Year, everyone!  And, as you know, this is the time of the year when we see "top ten lists" and "year in review...

 Earlier this year, I reported that California adopted a version of Model Rule 8.3 which, subject to some exceptions, requires disclosure of...

 The Lawyer Ethics Alert Blog is reporting that the Board of Governors (BOG) voted at its December 2023 meeting to remove the words zealous...

 This year marks six decades since the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, in which the Supreme Court held that states mu...

 To listen to the program, go here , where you can find a written transcript of it also.

Sunday, December 24, 2023 This is old news by now, but in case you missed it.  Michael Cohen's lawyer was all over the news recently bec...

 Long time readers of this blog have heard (or have read, rather) me complain often that courts do not do enough to discourage misconduct du...

NPR has published a long, disturbing article, titled "Ohio prosecutors broke rules to win convictions and got away with it" (see h...

The Hill recently reported ( here ) that a committee overseeing attorneys in Arizona has found probable cause that lawyers who represented K...

 Proposed Florida Bar Advisory Opinion 24-1 provides guidance regarding lawyers’ use of artificial intelligence.  Lawyer Ethics Alert Blogs ...

Yesterday I reported that the Colorado Supreme Court suspended a lawyer for using artificial intelligence.  Also, back in June I reported th...

Last summer I posted a few times about a case in New York in which two lawyers got in trouble for using AI to write a brief which the court ...

November 23, 2023 Long term readers of this blog will remember the saga of the company "Do Not Pay" which at one point claimed to ...

 The New York Legal Ethics Reporter has published a good short article called "Criticizing Judges Can Be Hazardous to Your Professional...

 Back in March of this year, I posted a comment on an Op-ed piece in the New York Times arguing that it is important to ease "unauthor...

 That's a long title above, but hear me out.  Last July, I reported on a complaint filed in Illinois against a lawyer for his conduct t...

Last week, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) violated the US Constitution’...

 A few days ago I reported that the US Supreme Court adopted a code of conduct and that it was immediately generally criticized as inadequat...

 Last week I reported that the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee was going to hold a meeting to discuss a number of proposals, includin...

In response to mounting criticism over the conduct of some justices, the Supreme Court announced that it has adopted an ethics code.  Yet, n...

 Oregon made history last week by introducing a new pathway for attorney licensing reminiscent of an apprenticeship system.  Law school grad...

Do you remember the first wave of debates about allowing alternative business structures and partnerships with non-lawyers?  Back then, a st...

 The Louisiana Ethics Blog has posted a short comment on best practices for texting with clients.  Though short, the post is longer than min...

Last week, a California judge made a “preliminary finding” that attorney John Eastman breached professional ethics rules when he aided Donal...

November 8, 2023 The Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee will hold a public hearing on November 15 to address public comments on five pro...

 On this date, fifteen years ago I posted for the first time on this blog.   Originally, I thought I would use the blog as a place to post ...

 Courthouse News Service has a new article on Rudy Giuliani's possible disbarment and other legal troubles.  Read it here .

Citing its commitment to improving access to justice for all and especially indigent parties, the Illinois Supreme Court announced last week...

 Does Georgia not have a rule equivalent to Model Rule 1.18 on the duties owed to prospective clients?  ...  That's a rhetorical questio...

Long time readers of this blog might remember a few posts on whether an attorney can reply to negative online reviews.  All sources I have s...

 If you have been paying attention to the news, you know by now that three lawyers have pled guilty in the RICO case in Georgia claiming tha...