Benchmarks: Internet salvoes may result in lawyer’s suspension 
Published: March 18, 2013
Tags: attorney misconduct, duty of confidentiality, Rules of Professional Conduct
A Georgia lawyer may soon have time off she didn’t plan for.
That’s because this morning the state high court rejected a mere reprimand as the sanction for her conceded misconduct in responding to a negative review posted by a former client on a consumer website.
Benchmarks: Dumbbell-wielding defense attorney disbarred
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: March 7, 2013
Tags: attorney discipline, attorney misconduct, Rules of Professional Conduct
The Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday disbarred a former defense attorney who is currently serving a six-year sentence for dropping dumbbells on the head of a former client.
Benchmarks: Court excuses attorney’s ‘polite’ talk with opposing party
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: March 6, 2013
Tags: attorney misconduct, Rules of Professional Conduct
The Virginia Supreme Court has overturned a finding of misconduct against an attorney who took an emotional call from an opposing party in the midst of a medical malpractice case.
Benchmarks: Mass. lawyer chastised for smearing opposing counsel
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: February 28, 2013
Tags: admonishment, attorney misconduct, attorney sanctions, Rule 11
A federal court of appeals has upheld the admonishment of a Massachusetts lawyer whose “groundless” accusations of criminality and misconduct had opposing counsel literally crying on the stand.
Benchmarks: Firm didn’t violate public policy by firing lawyer
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: February 14, 2013
Tags: attorney misconduct, attorneys, public policy, Rules of Professional Conduct, wrongful discharge
A Washington lawyer claims she lost her job because she objected to using perjured testimony to win a client’s lawsuit.
This month, a state court ruled that her former law firm could not be liable for wrongful discharge – even assuming the truth of her allegations.
Benchmarks: Lawyer gets slap on wrist for public indecency
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: February 4, 2013
Tags: attorney discipline, attorney misconduct, public reprimand, Rules of Professional Conduct
You’d think that a lawyer who gets caught soliciting sex from a stranger in a public park should at the very least have to worry about having his license suspended.
But one state supreme court feels that a toothless admonishment is sufficient punishment for a lawyer who engages in public indecency.
Benchmarks: Lawyer’s theatrics didn’t justify $4M cut in verdict
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: January 11, 2013
Tags: attorney misconduct, remittitur, trial advocacy, wrongful death
The Virginia Supreme Court has restored $4 million to a wrongful death verdict, deciding that the jury’s award could not be reduced simply because of the trial antics of the plaintiff’s lawyer.
Benchmarks: TCPA suit proceeds despite class counsel’s alleged chicanery
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: January 10, 2013
Tags: attorney misconduct, class action
The 7th Circuit yesterday refused to toss a junk fax suit based on allegations that class counsel engaged in underhanded tactics in bringing the action.
Benchmarks: Lawyer suspended for ‘overzealous advocacy’
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: September 20, 2012
Tags: attorney misconduct, frivolous litigation, Legal Malpractice Monitor, Rules of Professional Conduct
More is not always better. That point was driven home yesterday to a California lawyer who managed to bury three separate courts under mountains of paper in his bid to recover $600,000 he lost to a Ponzi scheme.
Benchmarks: Fla. lawyers suspended for ‘theft’ of client files
Published: September 7, 2012
Tags: attorney misconduct, Rules of Professional Conduct
How many lawyers do you think have copied client files on the sly in anticipation of departing their firms for greener pastures? Too many to count, right?
Well, yesterday the Florida Supreme Court sent a shot across the bow of those attorneys who might be contemplating such chicanery.
