Overlawyered » ethics

Diana Furchtgott-Roth on the “Persuader Rule”

Walter Olson — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:14:09 +0000

Writing at Capital Research Center’s Labor Watch:

A shocking change in American labor relations is brewing at the U.S. Department of Labor, which is expected sometime soon to alter a major regulation. The change involves a new interpretation of the “advice exemption” of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. Specifically, businesses would have to disclose the names of, and fees paid to, attorneys and consultants who advise them on union-organizing activities. In turn, attorneys and consultants providing such advice would be required to disclose their client lists and the fees they receive.

If that sounds like a road map for retaliation and strong-arming, with dangers for traditional attorney-client confidentiality, well, you’re getting the idea. Furchtgott-Roth says the department has evaded regulatory review by low-balling the proposal’s billions of dollars in costs. “The change has no basis in existing law or precedent.”

Tags: ethics, labor unions, lawyers

Diana Furchtgott-Roth on the “Persuader Rule” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Ethics roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:05:03 +0000

“Robo-litigation”: ethical issues of the mass-foreclosure mess [Dustin Zachs, SSRN, via Legal Ethics Forum]
Roger Parloff on Chevron counterclaims against Patton Boggs [Fortune] “Judge Grudgingly Lets Donziger’s Lawyers Out Of Chevron Case” [Daniel Fisher; Reuters]
Should Australia dilute or abolish the “cab rank” rule? [John Flood via LEF]
“Ethical Limits on Civil Litigation Advocacy: A Historical Perspective” [Carol Andrews (Alabama), SSRN; Legal Ethics Forum]
“When Is a Demand Letter (Arguably) Extortion?” [John Steele, more, ABA Journal (Martin Singer demand letter threatening to expose target's sexual indiscretions]
Fifth Circuit denies Dickie Scruggs’s latest appeal [YallPolitics]
When crowdfunding meets litigation finance, watch out world [Richard Painter]
“Judge Orders Prenda Law Group Beamed Out Into Space” [Lowering the Bar, TechDirt]

Tags: Australia, Chevron, Dickie Scruggs, ethics, mortgages, nastygrams

Ethics roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Lawyers roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 11:56:49 +0000

Feds investigating prominent Texas attorney and many-time Overlawyered mentionee Mikal Watts [MySanAntonio via PoL]
Florida high court: lawyers not privileged to defame parties during informal witness questioning [Delmonico v. Traynor]
Client’s story: not only did attorney try to kill me, he also gave me bad advice [Lowering the Bar]
Some lawyers for city of Cleveland seek union representation, following municipal attorneys in S.F., D.C. and Houston [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
Watch what you say about lawyers, part CLXXVI [NYLJ, "shakedown"]
Former ATLA president Barry Nace fights disciplinary proceeding in W.V. [Chamber-backed WV Record]
Minnesota lawyer who billed client for time he spent having sex with her won’t be allowed to practice for more than a year [TheLawNet, earlier on this candidate for "ultimate Overlawyered story"]
Should she take the job offer from an apparently unethical attorney? If she has to ask… [Elie Mystal, Above the Law]

Tags: Cleveland, discipline, don't, ethics, lawyers, libel slander and defamation, Mikal Watts

Lawyers roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Lawyer billed client “for time they spent having sex”

Walter Olson — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:12:38 +0000

The ultimate Overlawyered story? Minnesota: “An Eagan lawyer is suspended indefinitely after having an affair with a client whom he represented in a divorce, then billing her for time they spent having sex. … At various points, Lowe billed the woman for legal services on the dates of their sexual encounters, coding the time as meetings or drafting memos. … [He] won’t have a chance for reinstatement for at least a year and three months after the decision… by the Minnesota Supreme Court.” [St. Paul Pioneer-Press]

Tags: ethics, legal discipline, Minnesota

Lawyer billed client “for time they spent having sex” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Brooklyn attorney disbarred for ‘severe and gross’ violations”

Walter Olson — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 20:44:08 +0000

“A Brooklyn attorney was disbarred Wednesday for a range of misconduct, from fabricating court orders to making misrepresentations to secure third-party litigation funding. … ‘The severe and gross violations committed by the respondent fully merit the special referee’s conclusion that the respondent is “morally corrupt and intellectually bankrupt,”‘ the appellate court wrote in a per curiam opinion.” [Reuters; Mr. Tanella's happier, award-winning days]

Tags: ethics, NYC

“Brooklyn attorney disbarred for ‘severe and gross’ violations” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

As IOLTA shrinks, its advocates get creative

Walter Olson — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:49:20 +0000

The idea of Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) programs in California and elsewhere is to skim off tiny sums from clients’ accounts, too small to be worth arguing about (isn’t that what class action theorists are always claiming defendants get away with?) to finance legal representation, sometimes for indigent clients, other times for “cause” litigation, the latter of which results in “a lot of unsuspecting clients funding things they may or may not have believed in.” With interest rates at prolonged lows, however, the sums raised by IOLTA have drooped, and California bar authorities have responded by burying new line items in dues renewals for voluntary levies — which have not, it seems, resulted in the hoped-for flood of lawyer contributions. [Charlotte Allen, L.A. Times](& Legal Ethics Forum)

Tags: bar associations, California, ethics

As IOLTA shrinks, its advocates get creative is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Elephant sized payout in Ringling Bros. abuse of process case

Walter Olson — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 16:06:27 +0000

According to a press release from Feld Entertainment, which owns the Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey circus, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has agreed to pay $9.3 million to settle racketeering and other charges arising from alleged litigation abuse in lawsuits beginning in 2000 over elephant welfare. Feld says ASPCA and others paid a plaintiff and fact witness in the case whose testimony a judge described as not credible. It says it intends to continue suing other animal-welfare groups that it has named in connection with the episode, including the Humane Society of the United States, and Fund for Animals, as well as attorneys. [more on circus's side of dispute; earlier here, here, here, here] More: John Steele, Legal Ethics Forum.

Tags: animal rights, ethics, loser pays

Elephant sized payout in Ringling Bros. abuse of process case is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Class action law, for export?

Walter Olson — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 19:55:54 +0000

Better sort out the ethical issues first [Edward Siedle, Forbes]

Tags: class actions, ethics, Melvyn Weiss

Class action law, for export? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“We know only one category as prosecutors, and that is a ‘V.’…It’s ‘V,’ for victim”.

Walter Olson — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:24:57 +0000

Monroe Freedman lines up Angela Corey’s press conference — in which she spoke of “our precious victims,” talked of having prayed with the Martin family, and suggested that her investigators had established “the facts” and “the truth” regarding the guilt of George Zimmerman — against the code of ethics. Earlier on the prosecution affidavit here [expanded and retitled 8:30 a.m. Apr. 16].

Tags: ethics, Martin-Zimmerman case, prosecution

“We know only one category as prosecutors, and that is a ‘V.’…It’s ‘V,’ for victim”. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“The legal investigator should not rely upon pretext or subterfuge…”

Walter Olson — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:09:41 +0000

“….except in situations when an honest and straightforward approach will not be effective.” [David Hricik (citing not endorsing), Legal Ethics Forum]

Tags: ethics

“The legal investigator should not rely upon pretext or subterfuge…” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system