Legal Ethics
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Abortion, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Constitutional Law, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket
Morning Docket: 07.26.12
* “There’s no future in working for Dewey & LeBoeuf,” but maybe if the firm’s few remaining employees can hold on for a little while longer, then perhaps they’ll be able to take home some bonus cash. [Am Law Daily]
* Doctors in Arizona are trying to block part of a new law that makes it a crime for physicians to perform abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Well, somebody wasn’t paying attention in Con Law. [Bloomberg]
* All it took was an investigation by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission to get this judge to change his tune and apologize for throwing a lawyer in jail for the crime of representing his client. [WZZM]
* What do recent law school grads think about Yale Law’s new Ph.D. program? Most aren’t willing to spend the time or money to “resolve [their] next career crisis by going back to school.” [U.S. News & World Report]
* Come on, you’re not the 99 percent. Clinic members from NYU Law and Fordham Law wrote a report criticizing the NYPD’s response to the Occupy Wall Street movement. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Wait, law schools are slow to adopt something that may benefit their students? What else is new? Corporate compliance classes are few and far between, even though they could get you a job. [WSJ Law Blog]
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Canada, Legal Ethics, Nude Dancing, Pictures, Pornography, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment
What Was He Thinking? Justice Lori Douglas's Husband Takes the Stand
What does Jack King -- husband of Judge Lori Douglas, and the man who posted her nude photos to the internet -- have to say for himself? - Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
Canada, Legal Ethics, Nude Dancing, Pictures, Pornography, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment
Witness Claims Canadian Judge of Nude Photo Fame Touched His Muscles
What's the latest news from the north, involving the ethics probe of a Canadian judge who posed in nude photos? Claims of muscle touching, for starters.
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California, DUI / DWI, Legal Ethics, Lindsay Lohan, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns
Judges Presiding Over Lindsay Lohan's DUI Case Get Slapped on the Wrist by California Judicial Oversight Panel
The judges presiding over Lindsay Lohan's DUI case have been reprimanded by a judicial oversight board... -
Attorney Misconduct, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics, Perverts, Weirdness
Lawyer of the Day: Hawaii Attorney Convicted of Harassment for Licking a Client's Ear
A Hawaii attorney has been convicted of harassment for engaging in some unwanted tongue action with a client... -
Attorney Misconduct, Judge of the Day, Kids, Legal Ethics, Rudeness, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Videos
Judge of the Day: You Won't Like Me When I'm Angry
Why has this Washington State judge been accused of “a pattern of discourteous, impatient and undignified behavior"? -
Blogging, Canada, Legal Ethics, Nude Dancing, Pictures, Pornography, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment
Probe Into Madam Justice Lori Douglas Gets Underway
What's the latest news about Madam Justice Lori Douglas, the Canadian judge whose nude photographs made their way to the internet? -
Attorney Misconduct, Breasts, Crime, Hotties, Legal Ethics, Prostitution, Sex, Sex Scandals, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners
Reema Bajaj: The Morning After(Including revelations about Reema from a friend.)
After her conviction for prostitution, can Reema Bajaj still practice law in Illinois? And what led her into this life of prostitution? A law professor tackles the first question, and a friend of Reema discusses the second. - Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
Attorney Misconduct, Crime, Hotties, Legal Ethics, Prostitution, Sex, Sex Scandals, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners
Down Goes Bajaj: Reema Pleads Guilty To Prostitution
Reema Bajaj pleads guilty to prostitution. What kind of sentence will she get? -
Attorney Misconduct, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Boalt Hall, Copyright, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Drugs, Health Care / Medicine, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, SCOTUS, Senate Judiciary Committee, Sex, Supreme Court, Tax Law
Morning Docket: 06.20.12
* It’s not just media groups that are urging the Supreme Court to allow live coverage of the announcement of the ACA decision. Senators Patrick Leahy and Chuck Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee have joined the club. [Blog of Legal Times]
* Dewey know whether this failed firm’s former partners will be settling their claims any time soon? Team Togut hopes to reach a deal in the next six weeks, and claims that cooperation will absolve D&L’s deserters of all future liability. [Am Law Daily (sub. req.)]
* From Biglaw to the big house: former Sullivan & Cromwell partner John O’Brien, who is serving time for tax evasion charges, has been suspended from practicing law in New York. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* A Stradling Yocca partner and his wife, a Boalt Hall graduate, stand accused of planting drugs on a school volunteer who supervised their son. Looks like the only thing they’re straddling now is jail time. [OC Register]
* Dharun Ravi was released early from jail yesterday after completing a little more than half of his 30-day sentence. Funny how bad behavior got him into the slammer, but good behavior got him out of it. [CNN]
* “Why would somebody so smart do something so stupid?” Kenneth Kratz, the sexting DA from Wisconsin, claims that the answer to that question is an addiction to sex and prescription drugs. [Herald Times Reporter]
* Jay-Z’s got 99 problems and this bitch is one. He’s been accused by Patrick White of plagiarizing parts of his own best-selling memoir, “Decoded,” and slapped with a copyright infringement suit. [New York Daily News]
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Legal Ethics
Criticisms Of American Legal System That Are Even More Stupid Than Normal
These critiques of the American legal system sound childish... -
Attorney Misconduct, Barack Obama, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Facebook, Federal Judges, Football, Health Care / Medicine, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Trademarks, Trials
Morning Docket: 06.18.12
* “At the Supreme Court, those who know, don’t talk. And those who talk, don’t know.” If that’s the case, then there must be a lot of people who “don’t know” — it’s rumored that the Court’s decision on Obamacare will be released today. [CNN]
* Dewey know what kind of news this week’s conference call will bring for the failed firm’s former partners? On Tuesday afternoon, we might get some information on the status of a global partner contribution plan. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Guys in my high school ambassadorial nominations pool used to have extramarital affairs with WSJ reporters all the time, it was no big deal. Obama still supports Brett McGurk, despite his racy emails. [Reuters]
* The $64,000 question in the Jerry Sandusky case: will the allegedly histrionic former football coach take the stand to testify in his own defense? He should, because apparently it’s his “only shot.” [Legal Intelligencer]
* Looks like Facebook decided to initiate the use of a proverbial “dislike” button when the company pointed the finger at NASDAQ in defense against dozens of lawsuits over its incredibly glitchy IPO. [New York Daily News]
* It’s actually possible to have an “offensive personality” as a matter of law: former prosecutor Kenneth “I Am the Prize” Kratz will plead no contest to six ethics violations for his sordid sexting scandal. [Associated Press]
* “Careful … that is a Lewis [sic] Vuitton.” It seems that at least one federal judge in Manhattan holds comedic value to a higher standard than our favorite fashion house’s trademark infringement claims. [Chicago Tribune]
* Loose lips may sometimes sink ships, but not all gossip is bad. After all, without gossip, your ATL editors wouldn’t be able to bring you some of the juiciest stories out there in the legal world. [New York Times]
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Canada, Legal Ethics, Nude Dancing, Pictures, Pornography, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment
Madam Justice Lori Douglas Goes on the Offensive
What does Madam Justice Lori Douglas, the Canadian judge whose nude photos made their way to the internet, have to say about the charges against her?
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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Attorney Misconduct, Legal Ethics, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: He's Not Such a 'Prize' Anymore
Sexting former DA Kenneth Kratz once thought he was a real "prize," but what's become of him? -
1st Circuit, Attorney Misconduct, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Copyright, Defamation, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Facebook, Gay, Google / Search Engines, Job Searches, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Masturbation, Milberg Weiss, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Video games
Morning Docket: 06.01.12
* Dewey retired partners with unfunded pensions get a seat at the table for this bankruptcy circus? Yeah, but only because the U.S. Trustee did something unheard of and appointed a committee of former partners as creditors. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Yesterday was definitely a great day to be gay on the east coast. In addition to the First Circuit’s DOMA decision, a New York appellate court ruled that being called gay is no longer defamatory per se. [New York Law Journal]
* Milberg is the latest firm to dump Paul Ceglia of Facebook lawsuit fame, but Dean Boland, his other lawyer, says the Biglaw firm just “serve[d] as a distraction.” Somebody please give this man a dislike button. [Buffalo News]
* Humblebrag of the day by Judge Alsup of Oracle v. Google fame: he’s written lines of code “a hundred times before.” He also squashed Oracle’s API copyright infringement claims like bugs. [Courthouse News Service]
* Remember Kimberly Ireland, the Kansas attorney who falsely accused Judge Kevin Moriarty of waxing his gavel beneath the bench? She got a retroactive two-year suspension. [ABA Journal via Legal Profession Blog]
* Elizabeth Warren has confirmed that she told Harvard Law and Penn Law that she was a Native American, but only after she had been hired. She didn’t get any action of the affirmative variety, no sir. [Associated Press]
* Recent law school graduates are a little more desperate than we thought they were. At least 32 people have already applied for that BC Law job advertising a salary below minimum wage. [Boston Business Journal]
* Activision settled a lawsuit with two Call of Duty developers, but isn’t worried about an effect on its financials due to a strong third quarter performance. And you can thank your damn Elite packages for that. [PCMag]
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Lawyer Advertising, Legal Ethics, Small Law Firms, Social Media
The Turkewitz Times: Biglaw, Please Meet Small
Erik Turkewitz takes some time to warn his fellow lawyers of the dangers of self-promotion and social media... -
Attorney Misconduct, Books, California, Canada, Constitutional Law, Department of Justice, Family Law, John Edwards, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Tax Law, Trials, Wall Street, Weddings
Morning Docket: 05.25.12
* In a Supreme Court decision split across gender lines, prosecutors can now get a do-over on criminal charges without double jeopardy, even if an otherwise deadlocked jury unanimously rejected them. [New York Times]
* And yet another day ended without a verdict in the John Edwards campaign finance trial, but the jury asked to review every exhibit in the case. The former presidential candidate must feel like he’s being punk’d. [CNN]
* The DOJ found that two prosecutors in the Ted Stevens case committed reckless professional misconduct punishable by unpaid time off. Looks like they’ll be getting an extended Memorial Day break. [Blog of Legal Times]
* Hot on the heels of Obama’s announcement in support of gay marriage, yet another California judge has found that DOMA is unconstitutional (along with a provision of the tax code). [Poliglot / Metro Weekly]
* Occupy Wall Street is suing for $48K over the destruction of the group’s “People’s Library” after their eviction from Zuccotti Park. But let’s get real, who wants used books that reek like patchouli and pot? [Bloomberg]
* More than one million “de facto spouses” in Quebec may soon be automatically married by the state against their will. Imagine how much fun it’ll be to get a divorce from someone you never actually married. [Slate]
* Two waitresses who claim they were fired for complaining about their former employer’s “no fatties” policy will get to bring their $15M lawsuit before a jury. Hopefully Peter Griffin isn’t a juror. [Law & Daily Life / FindLaw]
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Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, Boutique Law Firms, Legal Ethics, Litigators, Small Law Firms
From Biglaw to Boutique: Crossing the Line
When does bad behavior cross the line in litigation? Small-firm columnist Tom Wallerstein has some thoughts on the issue... -
Attorney Misconduct, Benchslaps, Biglaw, Federal Judges, Kasowitz Benson, Legal Ethics, Litigators, Litigatrix, Partner Issues, Scott Rothstein, Screw-Ups
Greenberg Traurig and the TD Bank To-Do: What Happened at the Contempt Hearing?
Remember the discovery dust-up involving Greenberg Traurig, which gave rise to contempt proceedings? The two-day hearing took place last week. What happened? -
Bad Ideas, Legal Ethics, LSAT
LSAT Tutor Improperly Claimed He Got Three Perfect Scores; The Internet (And a Competitor) Get Very, Very Angry
LSAT tutor Dave Hall said he received three perfect scores on the test. Turns out he only got two. Smells like trouble (and a lawsuit)…