2021 was a whirlwind! Lawyers have had to be more flexible and resourceful than ever. It is the year that the ups and downs of the pandemic made it abundantly clear that this is more of a marathon than a sprint. While resilience can be invigorating, the challenges are ongoing. The stress of keeping up
Of cats and competence: legal ethics lesson from the trenches
By now, you’re probably one of the 3.7 million people who’ve seen the video of a virtual court hearing in Texas that went terribly wrong for the county attorney. (If not, here it is on YouTube.) As depicted for all to see, the hapless lawyer appears on-screen as a fluffy white cat, complete with moving
In narrow ruling, law firm escapes liability for not thwarting real estate cyber-scam
In a narrow ruling last month by a sharply-divided West Virginia high court, a law firm escaped liability for failing to prevent a phishing/spoofing scheme that resulted in more than $266,000 in closing funds being wired to scammers, after they impersonated plaintiffs’ real estate agent. The opinion is part of the developing law on lawyer
Lawyer avoids 6th Circuit sanctions; stay-at-home order might have limited his access to record
The plaintiff’s lawyer in a slip-and-fall case got a pandemic-based pass from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals last week, avoiding sanctions that the defendant requested after the lawyer misstated the record. The lawyer had based the plaintiff’s appeal argument on an unsigned interrogatory answer that appeared only in a draft.
But the court in
Zoom-bombing at court hearing for accused Twitter hacker highlights duty of tech competence
The blogosphere lit up last week with news that a Florida state court bail hearing for an accused Twitter hacker had been disrupted by a pornographic Zoom-bomb that highjacked the proceedings and beamed sexual images onto viewers screens. (Some coverage here and here, but don’t worry, no pictures.) The seventeen-year-old defendant is accused of
Quick malpractice settlement with uncounseled client merits suspension, says TN court
Falling below the standard of care in providing legal services to a client can of course bring a malpractice claim down on your head — and as we’ve pointed out, the economic climate resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic raises the risk of such claims. Let’s say that you’ve actually made an error. If you
Brief full of “gibberish” was actually written by client, but lawyer sanctioned with fees, double costs
As widely reported in the news, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals last month harshly rebuked an Illinois lawyer for submitting a rambling 86-page appellate brief that the court said was “incoherent” and “gibberish.” Quotes from the brief indeed made it appear deficient. (One section, said the court, consisted solely of the heading “GAMESMANSHIP” and
Can your client pay with Bitcoin? Ethics issues to consider
Bitcoin has come a long way since 2010 when Laszlo Hanyecz made the first Bitcoin purchase by paying 10,000 Bitcoins for two Papa John’s pizzas – a pizza order that today would have been worth over $80 million.
In addition to the pizza giant, some law firms are now accepting cryptocurrencies in exchange for legal
Lawyer loses home to $1 million legal mal judgment after appeals court finds no exemption
Being in the cross-hairs of a client’s legal malpractice claim is a horrible-enough experience for any lawyer. Even worse would be if your house had to be sold in order to satisfy the former client’s default judgment against you, as the Seventh Circuit ordered in a case earlier this month. The opinion spotlights how state
Going once, twice … MD bar approves charitable auctions of legal services
Looking for marketing ideas to help you or your firm stand out from the crowd? If you’re tired of branding tee shirts and mugs with your logo, how about donating your legal services to be auctioned off by a charity? As you might suspect, there are ethics issues — and Maryland’s state bar association recently