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).
