Liar Liar: What May Ethical Counsel Do When Faced With False Evidence

1 Comment / ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Misrepresentations / By

Two Chicago criminal defense lawyers charged with perjury and obstruction of justice were recently acquitted as reported in the Chicago Tribune. The lawyers had been indicted for allegedly coaching defense witnesses to lie under oath. The prosecution pointed to the existence of question and answer scripts seized in a raid of the lawyers’ offices. The […]

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How Disciplinary Authorities Treat Attorneys Convicted Of Domestic Violence

3 Comments / Discipline, Moral turpitide / By

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  This past year featured several high profile cases of domestic violence. Who can forget the grainy footage of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice cold-cocking his wife in a casino elevator? Or charges that football star Adrian Peterson had physically abused his own child—which is even more bizarre

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

Leave a Comment / Duty to Tribunal / By

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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When It Comes To Teaching About Money, Law Schools Fail Miserably

Leave a Comment / ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Safekeeping Property / By

Law schools are failing miserably to teach up and coming lawyers the most fundamental aspects of the business of law.  The absence of such training is particularly troublesome in today’s legal climate, where new law school grads far out number available entry level jobs. This economic reality can drive many newly-minted Esquires to make some

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“Your Honor, You Are Stupid, You Suck, Please Decide for Me”

Leave a Comment / ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Civility/Professionalism, Competence / By

With last week’s post on patent attorney Andrew Schroeder, who ran amok in his filings with the USPTO (click), fresh on my mind, I had to chuckle at the blog posted recently in Wordrake (click here), entitled: “Your Honor, You Are Stupid, You Suck, Please Decide For Me.” The post cites several examples of what

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“What We’ve Got Here Is Failure To Communicate”  – Preventing The Most Common Cause For Attorney Discipline And Malpractice

2 Comments / Communications, Failure to Communicate, Malpractice, Patent Ethics / By

It is one of the most iconic lines in the history of American cinema.  Spoken by “The Captain”–the sadistic prison warden portrayed in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke—the “failure to communicate” passage near the top of the American Film Institute’s list of top 100 movie quotations, nestled between “I love the smell of napalm

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Lawyer’s Courtroom Antics Draw One-Year Suspension; Bar Rejects “Stress of Litigation” Defense

Leave a Comment / Discipline, Litigation Ethics / By

A Washington State lawyer was suspended for one year following multiple instances of courtroom misbehavior and making a false report to the police.  See In re Kathryn B. Abele, Wash. Sup. Ct. (Aug. 27, 2015) (en banc). The string of misconduct began during a 13-day trial involving a contentious child custody dispute. During the trial,

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USPTO Suspends Attorney For Six Months For Derogatory Patent Filings

5 Comments / Civility/Professionalism, Patent Ethics, Suspension, USPTO OED / By

This week at “Back to School Night,” I read with great interest some words of wisdom posted on the wall as part of a set of class “Rules.” The children agreed to three general principles of self-governance: Be nice to others. Don’t use bad words. Be respectful. Lawyers also have their own rules of self-governance, codified

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