Last week the media was abuzz with the allegations made against the National Enquirer by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the owner of The Washington Post. The details in Bezos’ blog post about his ongoing dispute with the Enquirer and its publisher David Pecker are sensationalistic to say the least: the world’s richest
Client sanctioned for local counsel’s communication screw-up
Going abroad? Think that “national counsel” is going to take care of anything that comes up when you’re gone? Get swamped when you return and take “several weeks” to wade through the e-mail that piled up in your absence? If you’re local counsel, that might be a recipe for disaster — for your client —
Sex with client draws suspension; consent plays no part in analysis, Ohio court again says
The Ohio Supreme Court is continuing its trend of suspending lawyers who violate the disciplinary rule on sex with clients, and has again rejected arguments that pointed to the consensual nature of the relationship. In a recent opinion involving sex between criminal defense counsel and his client, the court characterized the lower disciplinary Board’s analysis
“Fees a crowd?” D.C. bar issues opinion on ethics of crowdfunding
Has your client ever suggested paying for your services via donations from a Kickstarter campaign, or a GoFundMe page? The District of Columbia Bar recently considered such donation-based crowdfunding, and greenlighted the basic concept — but noted that the ethical implications vary depending on the lawyer’s level of involvement in the crowdfunding effort.
Other people’s
Cases underscore some pro hac vice ethics pitfalls
If you’re admitted to handle a case PHV, mind your P’s and Q’s.
Translation: Pro hac vice admission to practice before a court outside the state where you’re licensed requires attention to a range of ethics duties, and running afoul of them can have bad consequences. Two recent cases spotlight some of the issues.
We’re
Redacting documents can be tech challenge — and legal ethics risk, too
Everyone knows that we have an ethical duty of competence, and in most jurisdictions this includes a duty to be aware of the “benefits and risks” of relevant technology. Examples of possible technology issues affecting our practices: encryption (and cyber-security in general), cloud storage, e-mail handling, the internet of things — there
In-house counsel and privilege: opinion offers some take-home lessons
If you’re corporate counsel to an organization, you know how hard it can be to navigate privilege issues. In a single day, you can be involved in talking to business managers, communicating with your CEO and dealing with the board. When are your communications privileged, and how can you protect them? A recent Colorado district