Legal Malpractice Monitor

Attorney’s drinking leads to disbarment

Repeated arrests for drunken driving and other “outrageous behavior” must result in an attorney’s disbarment, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled.

Attorney fees in lemon law case miscalculated

The amount at stake in a lemon law case should have been considered in determining the reasonableness of attorney fees to be awarded under the lodestar method, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled in reversing a $230,000 fee award.

Other stories

Law firm isn’t liable for wrongful discharge

Attorney reprimanded for assistant’s mistaken web posting

Law firm sued by bankruptcy trustee for aiding Ponzi scheme

Lawyer loses license over real estate practices

Attorney’s ‘worldly circumstances’ inadmissible

Justices take up legal malpractice case

O’Quinn firm faces suit over expenses

Lawyer suspended for charging billable rate for non legal work

2nd Circuit erases $24K sanction against law firms

Lawyer may be negligent despite unsettled law

Lawyer can’t avoid disbarment for lesser sanction

S.F. firm must distance itself from ‘disgraced’ lawyer

Supreme Court won’t hear fen-phen lawyer’s appeal

The benefits and challenges of limited scope services

Stephanie Kimbro is well-known for starting one of the first virtual law practices in 2006. Now the North Carolina-based attorney has written a book for the American Bar Association addressing the opportunities and challenges of unbundled legal services.

This is the first edition of Lawyers USA's Lawyers in Practice podcast, where we discuss the hot issues facing practicing attorneys and law firms.

In this edition, we discuss how to prevent legal malpractice claims with better communication, with Jim Calloway, director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program, and Dan Pinnington, vice-president of Claims Prevention and Stakeholder Relations at LawPRO, a professional liability carrier based in Toronto, Canada.

Click here to play the podcast.

Attorney suspended for withholding fees from firm

An indefinite suspension is a sufficient sanction for an attorney who violated his firm’s shareholder agreement by depositing earned fees into his personal bank account, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled.

Iowa Supreme Court.Attorney Disciplinary Board v. Henrichsen, No. 12-1567. Jan. 23, 2013. Lawyers USA No. 993-3763.

Minn. attorney suspended for sex with client
A Minnesota attorney has been disciplined for allegedly having sex with a divorce client and billing her for the time.

Disbarred lawyer sentenced on new criminal charges
A lawyer in Georgia who had already been disbarred for inventing hearing dates in a custody case is in more hot water.

Lawyer disciplined for sharing his e-signature
A lawyer violated a disciplinary rule when he shared his electronic signature and attorney registration number with an out-of-state law firm that he was affiliated with, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled.

Lawyer receives suspension for petit larceny
A 90-day suspension is the appropriate sanction for a lawyer who pleaded guilty to petit larceny, the D.C. Court of Appeals has ruled in approving a negotiated sanction.

Ky. lawyer sanctioned for personal work on gov’t time
A lawyer formerly employed by the state of Kentucky has received a public reprimand after admitting that during his spare time at work he conducted personal business using a government Westlaw account.