LER No. 58 - DC Disbars Giuliani, FTC Fines "Robot Lawyer," Ethics of Google Ads, Recused Judge Rec's Discipline for Firm Over Romance, Impeachment Looms for AK Judge, New UPL Tool & More (9.30.24)
The Legal Ethics Roundup - your Monday morning tour of all things related to lawyer and judicial ethics with University of Houston law professor Renee Knake Jefferson
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Highlights from Last Week - Top Ten Headlines
#1 Giuliani Disbarred Permanently in Washington DC. From the Associated Press: “Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was disbarred in Washington on Thursday, months after he lost his law license in New York for pursuing false claims that then-President Donald Trump made about his 2020 presidential election loss. The brief ruling from Washington D.C.'s appeals court said Giuliani did not respond to an order to explain why he should not be disbarred in Washington after he lost his law license in New York last summer.” Read more here.
#2 Law Firm Referred for Discipline Over Lawyer-Judge Romance by Recused Judge. From Bloomberg Law: “Jackson Walker LLP breached its ethical duties to clients by failing to disclose a once-secret relationship between an attorney and a prominent Houston bankruptcy judge, a federal judge has found. In a scathing letter recommending discipline for the Texas law firm, Judge Marvin Isgur on Sept. 20 said Jackson Walker protected itself in violation of its professional responsibilities by concealing that Elizabeth Freeman, who was a bankruptcy partner with the firm until late 2022, was in a relationship with ex-judge David R. Jones. ‘It appears that Jackson Walker breached its own ethical duties after it learned of the relationship,’ Isgur wrote. ‘Breaches by the firm itself defiled ‘the very temple of justice.’ Isgur’s recusal the same day was an unexpected shakeup in the complicated litigation surrounding Jackson Walker, Freeman, and Jones, who resigned as a Houston bankruptcy judge last year after admitting to the romance. Isgur, a onetime mentor to Jones, in the past referred to the former judge as his ‘stubborn adopted son,’ and has faced questions over his continued handling of the fee issues.” Read more here.
#3 Federal Judges Need Not Disclose Dining or Sleepovers at Personal Residences. From Reuters: “U.S. Supreme Court justices and federal judges on lower courts do not have to publicly disclose when they dine or stay at someone's personal residence, even one owned by a business entity, under a revised ethics rule. The amended policy was issued on Monday by the U.S. Judicial Conference's Committee on Financial Disclosure, which sets rules followed by the nine justices and other federal judges. Critics said the move diluted ethics requirements.” Read more here.
#4 New Toolkit for UPL Reform. From Innovation for Justice: “This toolkit is designed for anyone who wants to build the bench of community members who can know and use the law to advance equal justice. Grounded in the issue of domestic violence as a case study, this toolkit is particularly a resource for advocates, organization leaders, lawyers, and survivors interested in advancing UPL reform in their state.” Read more and check out the toolkit here. (H/T Stacy Rupprecht Jane)
#5 Lawsuit Challenges Ethics of Google Keywords Purchased in Lawyer Ads. From Reuters: “The question now for courts and bar associations is whether such so-called competitive keyword ads -- where a search for lawyer A yields ads for lawyer B -- are misleading or unethical, allowing lesser-known attorneys to piggyback on the reputations of their more prominent peers. Or is it just a sly but savvy way to attract new clients in the internet age? As my Reuters colleague David Thomas reported last week, plaintiffs' giant Morgan & Morgan, which with more than 1,000 lawyers boasts it’s the biggest injury firm in the U.S., sued, opens new tab a would-be rival over its keyword advertising, alleging that the similarly named Morgan Law Group breached a 2020 settlement agreement not to use such tactics.” Read more here.
#6 New “Milestone” for Arizona Law Firm Ownership and Investment Reform. From Reuters: “Arizona's program that allows people who are not lawyers to co-own law firms now has more than 100 approved businesses, as other states weigh similar legal practice rule changes. Arizona's high court on Tuesday approved seven more applicants to operate as ‘alternative business structures’ under the relaxed law firm ownership rules, including an accident law firm and a unit of online legal services company Rocket Lawyer, according to orders posted on the court's website.” Read more here.
#7 Judge Newman Continues to Challenge Suspension. From IP Watchdog: “Judge Pauline Newman’s counsel at the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) have released the results of a medical report that they claim proves she is fit to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). Dr. Aaron G. Filler, MD, PhD, JD, a neurosurgeon and inventor who trained at the University of Chicago and Harvard University, says he volunteered to conduct the testing on Newman pro bono in order to ‘help resolve the impasse between Judge Newman and the Judicial Council.’ On September 6, the Judicial Council of the Federal Circuit adopted the report and recommendation of the Special Committee of the CAFC that has been investigating Judge Pauline Newman’s alleged misconduct since last year, suspending her from hearing cases at the panel or en banc level for another year.” Read more here.
#8 “Robot Lawyer” Fined by FTC. From The Verge: “DoNotPay, a company that claimed to offer the ‘world’s first robot lawyer,’ has agreed to a $193,000 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, the agency announced on Tuesday. The move is a part of Operation AI Comply, a new law enforcement effort from the FTC to crack down on companies that use AI services to deceive or defraud customers. According to the FTC complaint, DoNotPay said it would ‘replace the $200-billion-dollar legal industry with artificial intelligence’ and that its ‘robot lawyers’ could substitute for the expertise and output of a human lawyer in generating legal documents. However, the FTC says the company made the claim without any testing to back it up.” Read more here.
#9 Impeachment Likely for Former Alaska Federal Judge. From the Anchorage Daily News: “U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she supports an effort to impeach former Alaska federal judge Joshua Kindred, who resigned in disgrace in July after a 9th Circuit Judicial Council inquiry found he had committed sexual misconduct, fostered a hostile workplace for his employees and lied about it to investigators.” Read more here.
#10 Advice-of-Counsel Defense Advanced in Bankman-Fried Appeal. From Reuters: “Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried contends in an appeal of his 2023 fraud conviction that the Manhattan federal judge who oversaw his trial irreparably tainted the proceeding with ‘bizarre’ and ‘egregious’ rulings on Bankman-Fried’s right to cite advice he received from the crypto exchange's lawyers.” Read more here.
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