Duty to Tribunal

Email To Bar Counsel To “Go F*#k Yourself!!!” Surefire Way To Attorney Discipline (Even In New Jersey)

Like voluntarily sticking one’s head into a lion’s den, communicating with Disciplinary Counsel can be a risky proposition.  Whatever the reason for the communication, attorneys should be mindful not only about what they are saying but how they are saying it.  This is not a difficult concept for most to grasp, but the Bar expects […]

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USPTO Suspends Second Ex-Niro IP Attorney For 18 Months

It’s deja vu all over again: a second ex-Niro IP attorney has received an 18-month suspension from practice before the USPTO. Attorney Paul C. Gibbons, one of four attorneys from the now defunct Niro, Haller & Niro who were sanctioned for vexatious litigation arising from the firm’s representation of NPE Intellect Wireless, settled a disciplinary

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USPTO Suspends Former Niro IP Attorney For 18 Months Following Patent Litigation Sanctions

The fallout from the Niro, Haller & Niro law firm’s doomed litigation on behalf of Intellect Wireless continues.  For patent litigator David J. Mahalek, the most junior member of the Niro litigation team, the disciplinary shoe of the USPTO did not just drop–it kicked him in the teeth with an 18-month suspension of his law

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Putting On Your Halo: Patent Litigators’ Ethical Duty To Communicate Change In Willfulness Law

Last week, the Supreme Court issued an opinion that significantly altered the legal landscape for proving willful infringement in patent cases. In Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., the Supreme Court rejected the Federal Circuit’s two-part Seagate test for awarding enhanced damages under 35 USC § 284, finding that both the substantive requirement for “objective recklessness”

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Federal Judge Orders DOJ Prosecutors To Undergo Formal Ethics Training

Finding federal government attorneys from the Department of Justice engaged in a “calculated plan of unethical conduct”, a federal judge in Texas has ordered hundreds of the agency’s lawyers to receive formal ethics training as a sanction for lying about the status of more than 100,000 migrants.  See Texas v. United States, Civ. No. B-14-254

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Former Prosecutor Who Forged Indictment Wins Jackass of Month Award

This month’s “Jackass of the Month” award featured many fine contestants.  Each exhibited the qualities of a true jackass — arrogance, intentional disregard of the law, superiority, and narcissim, to name a few. But one attorney stood out head and shoulders above the crowd for his truly loathsome behavior as not only an officer of

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Circuit Courts Warn: The New “F-Bomb” In Litigation Is “Frivolous”

It pays to be nice. That is the message from two recent Circuit Courts of Appeal decisions that criticized parties for lack of civility because counsel characterized their opponent’s arguments as “frivolous.” In the first case, Bennett v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 731 F.3d 584, 585 (6th Cir. 2013), the Sixth Circuit reversed a judgment

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EXTRA EXTRA: Attorney Abides By Rules Of Professional Conduct; No Discipline Imposed

Attorney disciplinary matters involving illegal, immoral, incompetent, negligent, unprofessional, or unethical behavior by intellectual property practitioners are a frequent source of news in the IP media outlets. When an attorney does not violate the ethics rules, that fact, in and of itself, is rarely the subject of discussion. Then there are those rare occasions where

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