Ah, but knowing which material to plagiarize — that’s the skill the client is really paying for, right? But an Iowa court wasn’t pleased with West Des Moines lawyer Peter Cannon’s conduct, and ordered him to surrender fees and take an ethics course. (TaxProf, Sept. 10).
Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
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Point of Law- The price of New York ethics, cont'dIra Stoll, Future of Capitalism: The New York state attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, won't accept campaign contributions from people with matters before his office. Conveniently enough, however, he will, and does, accept such contributions from their lawyers, Bloomberg News reports.... […]Walter Olson
- USDC: Corrupt PA Judges Have Civil ImmunityA federal district court judge has just ruled that two disgraced Pennsylvania state court judges, Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., are protected by immunity from facing legal action for courtroom acts that consisted of over 6000 corrupt... […]Michael Krauss
- Around the web, November 23Tide turning against drug-pricing suits? Glaxo SmithKline beats back Kentucky case [Longstreth, AmLaw Daily] Court in Australia deems litigation funding pact improper as "unregistered managed investment scheme" [New Lawyer] Should docs be careful what they ask for? Michelle Mello... […]Walter Olson
- Latest Labaton pension fund controversy: MissouriAn "uproar" has broken out over the state employee pension fund's prospective hiring of lawyers to file securities suits. "At least six firms from around the country have been courting the board of the Missouri State Employees Retirement System, or... […]Walter Olson
- In Congress, promoting the return of notice pleadingsRep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has introduced H.R. 4115, the Open Access to Courts Act of 2009, to restore notice pleadings, i.e., the status quo ante Twombly and Iqbal. Nadler's news release announced the bill, "Nadler, Johnson, and Conyers Introduce Bill... […]Carter Wood
- The price of New York ethics, cont'd
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- Puffery PlaintiffsThe NYT reports that more companies are challenging claims made in competitors’ ads. Companies that were once content to fight in grocery-store aisles and on television commercials are now choosing a different route — filing lawsuits and other formal grievances challenging their competitors’ claims. Longtime foes like Pantene and Dove, Science Diet and […]Jonathan H. Adler
- WaPo on Climate E-mails (and More)The Washington Post covers the disclosure of e-mails from the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit — e-mails that appear to have been subject to an FOI request and that were either hacked by an outsider or stolen and released by an insider. In one e-mail, the center’s director, Phil Jones, writes Pennsylvania State University’s [...] […]Jonathan H. Adler
- Thoughts on Sarah Palin and Going RogueLike Ilya, I’ve been reading Sarah Palin’s book and following her media appearances. It’s difficult to say anything original about a polarizing figure such as Palin. And no matter what you say, around half of the VC readership will be convinced you are a complete idiot (which half depending on which side you [...] […]Orin Kerr
- Reading Kindle Books on the Ipod TouchI got tired of hauling so many books around on plane flights, and decided to try downloading some Kindle books to my Ipod Touch. I don’t yet have a Kindle, although apparently if I am very, very good ... I know that Glenn Reynolds prefers the Ipod to read Kindle over the Kindle, but then [...] […]Kenneth Anderson
- Spelling Out Numbers vs. Writing Them Using DigitsAny thoughts on what the rule should be here? My sense is that numbers written using digits are much easier to quickly absorb, so I tend to write them that way whenever they refer to something that people might want to use in calculations or comparisons. I’d say, for instance, that “These books [...] […]Eugene Volokh
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I volunteer to be the first to shoot the fish in this barrel:
Would this ethics course teach him NOT to do this, or how to do it ethically?
That was only one line of many, I’m sure.
I understand that he borrowed the work of others, but then he charged over 25 hours for it. Why is this not fraud? I am always amazed at this whole idea of billable hours. 25 hours would be all working hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday without time for lunch, phone calls or other breaks.
I am astounded that the discipline was not greater — like lengthy suspension or disbarment.
It was indeed a fraud. Billing a client for time that was not in fact spent on the work with the expectation that the bill will be paid…oh wait…
…isn’t this the biggest dirty little secret in every major law firm in the U.S.? Haven’t we heard “jokes” about which client will be billed for the reading of today’s Wall Street Journal?
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