Lawyers need to be able to trust some people to do their jobs. These people might be support staff, colleagues, or sometimes even opposing counsel. When it comes to trust accounting though, situation after situation demonstrates that no matter how much a lawyer trusts an employee with access to or some control over trust account […]
Tag: Suspension
I have made reference in the past on this blog about the problems that can come from the fact that Tennessee is one of a very few states that still use the “preponderance of the evidence” standard in disciplinary proceedings against lawyers. Fewer than a dozen jurisdictions including Tennessee still use that standard. Around forty U.S. […]
So, in honor of this my 100th post to the blog, you’ll see that the site has been spruced up a bit with a new logo and look. While the blog may now be more aesthetically-pleasing, the quality of the content isn’t likely to change (for better or worse). You may recall a few months […]
I have written in the past on this blog, and in other publications, about instances of lawyers getting into disciplinary trouble over their treatment of judges presiding over their clients’ cases. To the extent bullying and insulting a judge is a purposeful approach to advocacy for a client, it’s a flawed approach. This behavior isn’t unique […]
A common theme in many disciplinary proceedings brought against lawyers involves dishonesty. This should not really be a surprise given that lawyers are human beings and human beings have a tendency toward being dishonest when they can get away with it. Although there is an ethics rule that, on its face, makes it unethical for […]
In many jurisdictions, disciplinary proceedings against lawyers are referred to as being “quasi-criminal” in nature. If you ask lawyers who defend lawyers in disciplinary proceedings, you will often hear them agree that the nature of the work can feel a good bit like criminal defense work, but with two pretty universal exceptions that make the […]
Today, we spend a few more minutes addressing a topic that will likely be a rich vein of discussion for years to come or for at least for as long as lawyers continue to be human beings whichever is shorter. (Even with this news, you figure we have a few years left before we have […]
I’ve written a good bit over the last few months about a variety of issues related to problems involving unauthorized practice of law issues for lawyers licensed in at least one jurisdiction. Tennessee still has the pending petition filed by the Board of Law Examiners that should result in some form of practice pending admission rule that will […]
Categories
Kicking folks when they’re down
Within the past year or two, Tennessee adopted a new rule provision to specifically require the Court to suspend lawyers who have been determined to be in default on their student loans. The Tennessee Bar Association opposed the adoption of this rule for as long as it could but, ultimately, the pressure created by the […]
A little while back, I posted about a Virginia lawyer who had been suspended after being drunk and disruptive while attending a CLE. At the time, I speculated about what the ethics infraction might have been – making a false statement in terms of filling out the paperwork on attendance. I was in the ballpark, […]