So, it is trite to say that every picture tells a story. But it is trite for a reason. Here is a simple photo of two pages of the billing entries of the Wachtell Lipton firm in their representation of Twitter against Elon Musk in the Delaware litigation to force him to honor his promise […]
I have written here in the past about a number of ways that a lawyer’s obligation of confidentiality imposes limits on their ability to do certain things that others can do and even as to subject matter where it seems highly unfair. Most frequently, this issue arises when talking with lawyers about what they can […]
Lawyers and law firms have long struggled – at least during the length of my career – with whether they can, or should, include a provision in their contracts with clients that would require arbitration of some, or all, kinds of disputes. In situations where a local or state bar association offers a free, voluntary […]
It is not often that you get decisions out of any of the second highest courts in the land that turn on application of an attorney ethics rule, so it can be important to highlight when such events occur. Given how many lawyers and law firms overlook the interrelationship between RPC 1.5 and RPC 1.8(a), […]
Lawyers can get into significant amounts of ethical trouble over money issues. They can put their licenses at real risk by messing up their trust accounting obligations, they can get in trouble for overbilling clients, and, often, if they end up suing a client for failure to pay bills that are appropriately due, they will […]
So, it is March 20, 2020. We don’t know much about much in terms of what comes next. Stress and anxiety are most folks constant companions at the moment I’m certain. (And I bet a lot of you weren’t expecting the need to tech competence under the ethics rules to come at you quite this […]
I have made a living (well not actually a living since no one compensates me in any form of currency, whether crypto or otherwise, for my writings here) writing about problematic ethics opinions. July 11, 2019 brings what might be the most practically useless ethics opinion ever released. If it were only just practically useless, […]
The Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility of the ABA has been on something of a bit of a “spree” when it comes to the issuance of ethics opinions. (At least, it feels like it.) In the last 18 months, it has issued 10 opinions. The most recent one is ABA Formal Op. 487 […]
So, if any of you are still around these parts after I’ve gone some 12 days without writing any content, then you are in for me dredging someone up that I previously wrote about on June 30, 2015. An attorney named Rodger Moore. Rodger Moore. And he was suspended for the practice of law for […]
There are always a variety of ways that examples of overreaching by attorneys on fees manage to push into the legal news. Recently, I wrote about one example involving hourly billing. More often than not, overreaching under that system is what makes the news. It is not the only way that attorneys overreach on fees […]