Categories
. Legal ethics

Both the java fight and the nut dispute are kind of bananas.

If you spend any time on social media these days, you may have noticed how irritable folks are.  There are lots of reasons for it, of course.  We live in stressful times.  Practicing law has always been a high-stress endeavor as far as professions go; thus, cries for more civility in the practice of law […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Revisiting things not to do in court – Friday edition

Being in between stops for the Roadshow until next week, but still having two more to do (Wednesday in Chattanooga and Thursday in Knoxville), this will again be a bit more of a short(ish), punchy offering. A few months ago I wrote a post about things not to do in court that discussed two incidents. […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

Mindless Pedantry

First, yes, “Mindless Pedantry” would make a good band name.  Other than that though, it is never a good thing. In the practice of law, attention to detail is a valuable quality, but mindless pedantry certainly is not. You are probably not an experienced litigator if you cannot remember a time when, faced with responding […]

Categories
. Legal ethics

TN’s Simple Rule > NYC’s Lengthy Ethics Opinion on Same Subject

Last month, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Committee on Professional Ethics put out a thorough Formal Opinion addressing when it is unethical for an attorney to threaten to file a disciplinary complaint against another lawyer.  While Formal Opinion 2015-5 is a well-written opinion overall, it is a sprawling one […]