Attorney Misconduct
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Attorney Misconduct, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, White-Collar Crime, William Lerach
Is Teaching at Law School a Form of Community Service? Bill Lerach Thinks So
Victims of what anti-law-school bloggers have dubbed “the law school scam” might argue that working for a law school, or at least the kind of law school that saddles students with debt and can’t get them jobs, is closer to a crime than community service. There is certainly an argument that law professors who aren’t […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, Crime, Oral Sex / Blow Jobs, Rape, Schiff Hardin, Sex
Ex-Biglaw Bad Boys Accused of Sexual Assault:Where Are They Now?
We like to provide updates on lawyers we’ve covered in the past, just to close the loop and keep readers informed. For example, if a lawyer is accused of wrongdoing, we cover the allegations, and then the charges are dropped, we’d like to write about the clearing of that person’s name. (If you’re aware of […] - Sponsored
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Attorney Misconduct, Quote of the Day, Rudeness
Quote of the Day: It's all part of the job.
As an officer of the court, I must bluntly state that you appear to have serious mental issues involving extreme narcissism and illusions of grandiosity which effectively interferes with your ability to act as a Judge. — Illinois lawyer Melvin Hoffman in a letter to Judge Patrick Murphy, earning him a recommended six-month suspension. (Gavel […]
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Attorney Misconduct, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics, White-Collar Crime
Lawyer of the Day: Lawyer-Scammer Gets Scammed -- and Has His Scam Unravel
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The Washington Post reports: Three years into his own scheme of dipping into clients’ funds, Maryland malpractice lawyer Bradley Schwartz received an e-mail from a man claiming to represent a manufacturing company in Singapore, offering him legal work… […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Benchslaps, Biglaw, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics, Lesbians, Litigatrix, New Jersey, State Judges
Lawyers of the Day: Ted Wells and Marty Flumenbaum?
Our typical Lawyer of the Day is an attorney you’ve never heard of, from a firm you’ve never heard of. It’s highly unusual for LOTD honors to go to a pair of legal titans, two of the nation’s leading litigators: Ted Wells (pictured) and Marty Flumenbaum, the co-chair and former chair, respectively, of the celebrated […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Crime, Divorce Train Wrecks, Legal Ethics, Lindquist & Vennum, Scott Rothstein, White House Counsel, White-Collar Crime
A Trio of Misbehaving Lawyers: Some Updates
For some reason, today brings lots of news about lawyers and the criminal justice system. And we’re not talking about lawyers representing clients, but lawyers who are the clients: John Michael Farren, the former White House lawyer accused of attempting to murder his wife; Scott Rothstein, the Florida attorney who ran a massive Ponzi scheme; […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics
Lawyer of the Day: A Disappearing Act
One summer associate story from years past involved an SA who simply stopped showing up to work for several days. Given how big summer classes were back then (not like today), and how much misbehavior was tolerated in those halcyon days, it took a surprisingly long time for the perpetrator to get in trouble. The […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Contract Attorneys, Document Review, Pepper Hamilton
All Play and No Work Made Lance a Disbarred Boy
Lance David Lewis had one of the best jobs in the world. He was getting paid a couple grand a week, and he didn’t have to do any work for it. Too bad it wasn’t legit. Early last month, the former Pennsylvania lawyer was finally disbarred with consent (meaning that he can’t defend the charges against him). […] - Sponsored
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Attorney Misconduct, Legal Ethics, Rudeness
Time for Our Daily Dose of Political Correctness
The language police are out in force. The ABA Journal reports that a lawyer’s bad language, used in public, has triggered an ethics inquiry: A township lawyer in New Jersey is facing the wrath of an animal rights group after he used the C-word to describe one of its demonstrators. Lawyer Richard Shackleton now faces […] -
Attorney Misconduct, In-House Counsel, Lawyerly Lairs, Lindquist & Vennum, Real Estate, White-Collar Crime
Lawyerly Lairs: Partner Accused of Misappropriating Money to Overhaul Minnesota Mansion
Back in the summer of 2008, we wrote a post entitled “Summer Associates of the Day: Sapphic Summers in Lesbianic Lip-Lock.” The title of the post pretty much says it all. Well, it turns out that a partner at the same firm, Minneapolis-based Lindquist & Vennum, may have been misbehaving too. The Pioneer Press reports […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Legal Ethics, Partner Issues
Mark McCombs's Overbilling Costs Greenberg Traurig $3.2 Million
Prestige has a price. Former Greenberg Traurig partner Mark McCombs found a sucker to foot the bill for him. As we reported earlier this month, he was the village attorney to Calumet Park, Illinois. He was charged with bilking the village of over one million dollars — money he allegedly sought not for personal gain, […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Crime, Divorce Train Wrecks, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Legal Ethics, Slideshows, Violence, White House Counsel
All You Ever Wanted to Know About John Michael Farren, The Ex-Bush Lawyer Charged With Attempted Murder Of His Skadden Counsel Wife
In January, a former Bush Administration lawyer was charged with attempted murder after allegedly strangling and beating his wife, a counsel at Skadden Arps. John Michael Farren, 57, served as deputy counsel to the president under President George W. Bush, as general counsel at Xerox Corp., and as Under Secretary of Commerce under President George […] -
Violence
War of the Farrens: Skadden Counsel Files $30 Million Lawsuit Against Her Husband
Earlier this month, former Bush White House attorney John Michael Farren allegedly attacked his wife, after she told him she wanted a divorce. Farren pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, first-degree strangulation, and assault last week. The alleged attack — with a flashlight — was a brutal one. Mary Margaret Farren, who is also a […]
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Attorney Misconduct, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, Legal Ethics
An Update on Loren Friedman, the U. Chicago Transcript Tinkerer
Loren Friedman earned Lawyer of the Day honors here back in 2008, when the then-Curtis Mallet associate was busted for doctoring his law school grades from the University of Chicago, by changing Cs into Bs and As. Almost two years after the ethics complaint against Friedman was filed, the Illinois Review Board has rendered its […] -
7th Circuit, Attorney Misconduct, Benchslaps, Legal Ethics, Richard Posner
A Benchslap for Kirkland & Ellis, from Judge Posner and the Seventh Circuit
Is the customer always right? In the legal profession, not necessarily. As a lawyer, sometimes your job is to talk some sense into your client — and to refuse to move forward if your client, ignoring your advice, orders you to prosecute frivolous (or borderline frivolous) litigation. Perhaps this lesson needs to be learned by […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Litigators, Malpractice, Partner Issues, Susman Godfrey, Trials
Ex-Client Sues Debevoise & Plimpton for $55 Million
Is suing a former client for unpaid bills a wise idea? Maybe not. As John Marquess, president of Legal Cost Control, told the New York Law Journal, “If I were advising any law firm, I would tell them suing a client over fees is a no-win situation. It’s going to get you adverse publicity you […] -
Crime, Divorce Train Wrecks, Violence
Former White House Lawyer John Michael Farren Charged With Attempted Murder of His Skadden Counsel Wife
A former Bush Administration lawyer has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly strangling and beating his wife, a counsel at Skadden Arps. John Michael Farren, 57, served as deputy counsel to the president under Fred Fielding in the most recent Bush administration, as general counsel at Xerox, and as Under Secretary of Commerce for […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Crime, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics, Scott Rothstein, White-Collar Crime
Lawyer of the Day: Scott Rothstein
As we’ve noted in Morning Docket for the past two days, lawyer Scott Rothstein is in all kinds of trouble in Florida. From what we understand, it’s Marc Dreier redux, the sunshine state version. We’re still trying to wrap our heads around the story, but as the Bard would say, the sh** hath hitteth the […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics, Prostitution, Sex, Small Law Firms
Lawyer of the Day Last Week: Seeking a Sexy Secretary
Ed. note: We gave this a shout-out last week in non-sequiturs (second item), but it’s egregious enough to merit more discussion. Biglaw attorneys frequently complain about how hard it is to date given the amount of hours they devote to work. Attorneys at a small immigration firm in Chicago may have encountered a similar dilemma. […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Bankruptcy, Benchslaps, Biglaw, Harvey Miller, Intellectual Property, Legal Ethics, Litigators, Partner Issues, Screw-Ups
$40 Million Benchslap for Weil Gotshal
Don’t get too comfortable with that shiny new #6 Vault ranking, Weil Gotshal. The firm just got served, Texas-style. The ABA Journal reports: The Texas judge who ordered Microsoft to pay $290 million for infringing a patent included a $40 million enhancement that he said was partly justified because of alleged trial misconduct by a […]