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
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
Disbarment for anonymous on-line posts should “send a message,” says LA supreme court
Do we need another reminder about the perils of posting internet comments on cases and matters we are connected with? Apparently we do, and here’s a strong one. Earlier this month, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana was disbarred based on hundreds of comments he posted pseudonymously on the website of
No DQ for violation of no-contact rule, but notes of interview must be turned over, says district court
A federal district court refused last week to disqualify a Connecticut lawyer in a suit against Yale University, even though finding a violation of the state’s version of Model Rule 4.2, the “no contact rule.” Although ruling that disqualification was too extreme a sanction, the court ordered the turnover of interview notes from the
NY lawyer censured for conduct in fake “client” consult
Advising a “client” on how to move “grey money” into the U.S. has resulted in an agreed public censure in September for a New York attorney. The lawyer (along with a number of others) was caught on video by Global Witness, a British-based public advocacy group. But the sanction raises some questions regarding the
Do you ever have to rat yourself out? It may sometimes help…
In the movie “Goodfellas,” Robert De Niro famously advises that the two greatest life lessons are “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” Those are good rules if you’re in a crime syndicate. But as most lawyers know, our Rules of Professional Conduct can actually require us to “rat out” our
Lawyer’s “compassion fatigue” entitled to little weight; WA court disbars him for converting client funds, other misconduct
A Washington lawyer was disbarred last month by the state supreme court in a disciplinary case with an interesting array of issues: the heavy penalties for using trust account money to “rob Peter to pay Paul;” the danger of treating the representation of a relative too casually; “compassion fatigue” as a potential mitigating factor in
Measure twice cut once: 10th Circuit decides malpractice policy doesn’t cover overbilling claims
As the legal market continues to change, attorneys face more challenges when it comes to client relations. While the trend has been for clients to slash attorney’s fees by hiring third party auditors to review bills, or to aggressively seek discounts on fees, ethical considerations, and now the United States Court of Appeals for the