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A California state bar judge who previously delayed disciplinary proceedings against Tom Girardi's son-in-law David Lira said Monday that she has "concerns" over the bar's latest attempt to suspend him, saying that the ongoing federal criminal case against Lira may raise Fifth Amendment due process issues.
The State Bar of California announced Monday that it has leveled a 22-count notice of disciplinary charges against a Northern California attorney who allegedly pocketed more than $630,000 by taking advantage of an incarcerated client.
The National Association of Muslim Lawyers and the National Muslim Law Student Association said Monday that they were launching a project to connect senior attorneys with law students and new lawyers who have faced termination, withdrawn job offers or workplace mistreatment for expressing support for Palestinian human rights.
Arguing that a broad exclusion expressly prevents a payout, the National Liability & Fire Insurance Co. has told a Connecticut state court judge that it should win a feud over whether a professional liability policy protects an attorney allegedly tricked into wiring real estate closing payments to a hacker.
A new committee composed of state Supreme Court chief justices and others will examine why fewer attorneys are going into public interest law, as well as the state of legal education and bar admissions processes more generally, according to an announcement Monday.
A New Jersey appellate court panel revived on Monday two money laundering charges against a Hazlet attorney accused of misappropriating nearly $1.2 million from hundreds of clients, some $588,000 of which he allegedly used for his own enrichment.
Two law firms embroiled in a dispute over how to divide some $1.8 million in attorney fees from a successful class action against DuPont have agreed to settle their claims for a six-figure sum before trial.
An Ohio appeals court reinstated a homeowners association's defense attorney in a dispute with a management company over legal fees, ruling that a lower court should not have granted the disqualification because there was no preexisting attorney-client relationship that prejudiced the parties.
Troubled Houston law firm McClenny Moseley & Associates PLLC won a preliminary victory on Wednesday as a federal magistrate judge recommended dismissing a putative class action over its allegedly illegal efforts to solicit clients in hurricane-related property damage cases.
A Ninth Circuit panel reversed a California federal court's ruling that a group of tenants' appeal of a state court judgment regarding the cost-collection actions of the landlords' attorney was improper, calling the ruling flawed and sending the case back to the federal court.
An attorney who was recently cleared on ethics charges stemming from May 2020 tweets calling for Black Lives Matter demonstrators to be shot can't recoup $4,000 in attorney fees just yet, because the State Bar of California is appealing that decision.
An Allegheny County attorney will serve a four-year suspension from practicing in the Keystone State after the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board found the attorney negligently represented clients in at least nine cases while under contract with Erie County to handle cases on behalf of indigent criminal defendants.
A New York law firm can't escape charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it aided and abetted an $8.4 million Ponzi scheme allegedly run by one of its clients, after a federal judge denied the firm's bid to be dismissed from the case.
Emerging court technologies must be supervised and controlled by the judiciary, a new paper from a group of professors argues, while also noting the potential benefits the justice system could glean from the tech.
A Georgia federal judge on Monday cut a New York law firm from a lawsuit alleging it helped ex-Fugees rapper Prakazrel Samuel "Pras" Michel fraudulently sell his music catalog and warned the entire case may be dismissed if plaintiffs can't show it belongs in his courtroom.
A 42-year-old California man pled guilty Monday to bank fraud after he embezzled close to $1.2 million from the San Francisco-based law firm where he worked as office manager for more than 20 years, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
A Houston attorney has asked a state court to grant him an early win in a lawsuit brought by a woman who says he shared an intimate video of the two of them without her consent, telling the court that the woman's only goal with her "inconsistent and incredible" testimony is to defame him "based solely on her personal animosity."
Well States Healthcare, a company that pays medical bills upfront in personal injury cases and collects settlement money later, alleged that a pair of small Texas law firms and their client now owe the company more than $400,000.
The American Bar Association is seeking to torpedo a proposed class action over a March data breach, saying allegations that the organization deceived its members are "fatally deficient and implausible," and the attorneys behind the suit can't show any damages stemmed from the breach.
A Florida federal judge handed an early win Tuesday to a law firm accused of malpractice by a former client who claimed she had been deprived of millions of dollars in estate proceeds because of the firm's carelessness in revising a trust.
The National Association of Muslim Lawyers called on the American Bar Association late Monday to resist pressure to change a previous statement on the Israel-Hamas war — which called the killing of Israeli and Palestinian civilians violations of international law — after NAML says it obtained messages showing pro-Israel legal professionals criticizing the ABA's response to the hostilities.
Colorado state Judge Juan Villaseñor had been on the bench for only about a year when an attorney in a medical malpractice trial he was presiding over asked him to restrict when the jury could discuss the case.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a request to review sanctions against a pair of attorneys who were found to have pursued "frivolous causes of action" against a title services company.
The former deputy attorney general for the state of Connecticut has moved to private practice at Cowdery Murphy & Healy LLC less than a year after retiring from state government.
After Texas personal injury firm Thomas J. Henry Law PLLC and a former attorney who sued the firm for allegedly firing her for seeking disability accommodations told a federal judge that the plaintiff had permanently dismissed her claims, the judge on Monday closed the case for good.
With the increased usage of collaboration apps and generative artificial intelligence solutions, it's not only important for e-discovery teams to be able to account for hundreds of existing data types today, but they should also be able to add support for new data types quickly — even on the fly if needed, says Oliver Silva at Casepoint.
With many legal professionals starting to explore practical uses of generative artificial intelligence in areas such as research, discovery and legal document development, the fundamental principle of human oversight cannot be underscored enough for it to be successful, say Ty Dedmon at Bradley Arant and Paige Hunt at Lighthouse.
The legal profession is among the most hesitant to adopt ChatGPT because of its proclivity to provide false information as if it were true, but in a wide variety of situations, lawyers can still be aided by information that is only in the right ballpark, says Robert Plotkin at Blueshift IP.
Leah Kelman at Herrick Feinstein discusses the importance of reasoned judgment and thoughtful process when it comes to newly admitted attorneys' social media use.
Attorneys should take a cue from U.S. Supreme Court justices and boil their arguments down to three points in their legal briefs and oral advocacy, as the number three is significant in the way we process information, says Diana Simon at University of Arizona.
In order to achieve a robust client data protection posture, law firms should focus on adopting a risk-based approach to security, which can be done by assessing gaps, using that data to gain leadership buy-in for the needed changes, and adopting a dynamic and layered approach, says John Smith at Conversant Group.
Laranda Walker at Susman Godfrey, who was raising two small children and working her way to partner when she suddenly lost her husband, shares what fighting to keep her career on track taught her about accepting help, balancing work and family, and discovering new reserves of inner strength.
Diana Leiden at Winston & Strawn discusses how first-year associates whose law firm start dates have been deferred can use the downtime to hone their skills, help their communities, and focus on returning to BigLaw with valuable contacts and out-of-the-box insights.
Female attorneys and others who pause their careers for a few years will find that gaps in work history are increasingly acceptable among legal employers, meaning with some networking, retraining and a few other strategies, lawyers can successfully reenter the workforce, says Jill Backer at Ave Maria School of Law.
ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence tools pose significant risks to the integrity of legal work, but the key for law firms is not to ban these tools, but to implement them responsibly and with appropriate safeguards, say Natalie Pierce and Stephanie Goutos at Gunderson Dettmer.
Opinion
We Must Continue DEI Efforts Despite High Court HeadwindsThough the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down affirmative action in higher education, law firms and their clients must keep up the legal industry’s recent momentum advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the profession in order to help achieve a just and prosperous society for all, says Angela Winfield at the Law School Admission Council.
Law firms that fail to consider their attorneys' online habits away from work are not using their best efforts to protect client information and are simplifying the job of plaintiffs attorneys in the case of a breach, say Mark Hurley and Carmine Cicalese at Digital Privacy and Protection.
Though effective writing is foundational to law, no state requires attorneys to take continuing legal education in this skill — something that must change if today's attorneys are to have the communication abilities they need to fulfill their professional and ethical duties to their clients, colleagues and courts, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona.
In the most stressful times for attorneys, when several transactions for different partners and clients peak at the same time and the phone won’t stop buzzing, incremental lifestyle changes can truly make a difference, says Lindsey Hughes at Haynes Boone.
Meredith Beuchaw at Lowenstein Sandler discusses how senior attorneys can assist the newest generation of attorneys by championing their pursuit of a healthy work-life balance and providing the hands-on mentorship opportunities they missed out on during the pandemic.