Remember your first days in law school, when you were introduced to a whole Black’s Law Dictionary-worth of exotic legalese? Words like “estop,” “arguendo” and “gravamen”? (If you’re like us, you’ve spent your post-school days learning how to avoid this jargon and write plain English; but we digress.) Remember “escheatment”? The term of course
Law firm arbitration agreement with client requires full disclosure of upside and downside, NJ court rules
Law firms that want to include mandatory arbitration provisions in their client engagement agreements must explain to the client the benefits and disadvantages of arbitrating a prospective dispute, the New Jersey state supreme court held late last year — and merely providing a link to the arbitration rules doesn’t satisfy the requirement, the court said.
Will contest brings disciplinary woe to SC lawyer
A ruling handed down last month by the South Carolina Supreme Court provides object lessons on several aspects of the lawyer discipline system and how to stay out of trouble. In its order and opinion, the court publicly reprimanded a lawyer who pursued a probate case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,
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
Negative online client reviews: ABA gives some tips for responding
Here’s a newsflash: you can’t defend yourself against a client’s bad online review by revealing client confidential information, as the ABA Ethics Committee reminded us in an opinion last week.
We’ve recently reported on the Oklahoma lawyer who was disciplined for his rogue consultant’s conduct in connection with an online review; a New Jersey lawyer
No DQ for contacting represented party on a different subject, district court says
The scope of the “no-contact rule” — barring a lawyer from communicating with represented persons — is spotlighted in a disqualification ruling that a Florida district court handed down earlier this month. The opinion is a reminder that the prohibition against contact (without permission of the person’s counsel) extends only to “the subject of the
On-line review response by rogue consultant leads to suspension for OK lawyer
An Oklahoma lawyer was suspended last month for two years based on misconduct involving an unlawful response to a bad on-line review of the lawyer’s services. The disciplinary case is a lesson in being careful about who you’re dealing with when you hire a consultant, and also about not doubling down when confronted with a
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
Reasons for lawyers to be thankful again this year
With the coronavirus pandemic surging across the US and around the world, my family, along with millions of other Americans, will be sacrificing our usual Thanksgiving celebration in order to stay safe and to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. If you’re a lawyer who’s in the same boat, I hope that, like me,
Business transaction with client violated ethics rules and voided fee agreement, Fifth Circuit holds
Needing to adjust the basis of your legal fee mid-stream is a fairly common occurrence. When a matter becomes more complicated than you originally contemplated, or for other reasons, the fee agreement you entered into with the client at the beginning may become unworkable before the matter is over.
But renegotiating fees with an existing