An ethics blog for IP attorneys
Liar Liar: What May Ethical Counsel Do When Faced With False Evidence
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 […]
Read MoreCircuit 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 […]
Read More“Your Honor, You Are Stupid, You Suck, Please Decide for Me”
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 […]
Read More“What We’ve Got Here Is Failure To Communicate” – Preventing The Most Common Cause For Attorney Discipline And Malpractice
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 […]
Read MoreLawyer’s Courtroom Antics Draw One-Year Suspension; Bar Rejects “Stress of Litigation” Defense
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, […]
Read MoreUSPTO Suspends Attorney For Six Months For Derogatory Patent Filings
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 […]
Read MoreLive Webcast Of Mass. High Court Hearing on Patent Subject Matter Conflicts
The September 8, 2015, oral argument before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Maling v. Finnegan Henderson will be broadcast live by webcast. For those interested in watching the oral argument, which is scheduled to be held sometime between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM, click on the link at Mass. Supreme Judicial Court. As previously reported […]
Read MoreBar Counsel Imposes Discipline For “Personal” Misconduct & Legal But Unethical Behavior
Many members of the public, and some attorneys themselves, believe that if they do not lie, they do not steal, and they do not cheat, then their conduct necessarily complies with the Rules of Professional Conduct. This is a false assumption. Others believe that an attorney’s “transgressions” in her personal life will not affect her […]
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