Two trial courts — in New York and New Hampshire — recently weighed in on the in-house firm counsel privilege. The New Hampshire Superior Court, in Moore v. Grau, recognized the parameters of the privilege. In contrast, the New York County Commercial Division judge in Stock v. Shnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP ruled
One for the casebooks: lawyer settles products case without telling court client had died
In the law school legal ethics course I teach, we study a classic disciplinary case in which a lawyer concealed the fact of his client’s death – dodging interrogatories and an independent medical exam (!), and telling an arbitration panel the client was “unavailable” – all in aid of negotiating a more favorable settlement. My
If you’re thinking of giving money to a client — think again
No matter how much empathy you feel for a client with financial woes, giving a litigation client money generally violates your state’s version of Model Rule 1.8(e). The rule provides that the only financial assistance you may give a client in connection with pending or contemplated litigation is: (1) to advance litigation expenses and
Judge not DQ’d by appearance of former spouse’s former law partner
In the olden days, lawyers and judges were men, couples lived together only after a wedding, divorce was less common, and marriage equality was not on the radar. So there was little occasion to wonder about ethical conflicts of interest that might be raised by lawyers or judges being married to each other, cohabiting with