Some don’ts for lawyers, all based on instances of judicially imposed sanctions reported recently on Law.com: don’t file a “wholly frivolous appeal” after the judge has warned you “Y’all better not come back in court anymore on this.” (George Robert Belche and Franklin H. Thornton, fined $1,000 in Georgia, as were their clients); don’t engage in “continuous and brazen” disrespect toward the court including the filing of a fraud claim “utterly barren of any scintilla of legal principles” as part of a “laundry list of unethical actions” (Philip Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa., fined more than $10,000 and ordered to complete six hours of ethics training); don’t tell a client you’ve won $1.1 million for him in his medical malpractice case when you haven’t actually filed it (Philip Morell, formerly of Tenafly, N.J., stripped of his law license)(Scott Simonson, “Lawyers, Client Hit With $2,000 Fine for Filing Frivolous Case”, Fulton County Daily Report, Jul. 28; Shannon P. Duffy, “Lawyer Slapped With $10K in Sanctions for ‘Laundry List of Unethical Actions'”, The Legal Intelligencer, Jul. 25; Michael Booth, “Lawyer Disbarred After Telling Client Fish Story About Unfiled Case”, New Jersey Law Journal, Jul. 27).
Don’ts
Some don’ts for lawyers, all based on instances of judicially imposed sanctions reported recently on Law.com: don’t file a “wholly frivolous appeal” after the judge has warned you “Y’all better not come back in court anymore on this.” (George Robert Belche and Franklin H. Thornton, fined $1,000 in Georgia, as were their clients); don’t engage […]
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