LER No. 75 - Repression of Lawyers in Belarus, NJ Adopts Tech Ethics (?), TX Rejects Nonlawyer Firms for Its Lawyers, ABA Reforms, ChatGPT Strikes Again, Gen AI Ethics, Happy ♥️ Day & More (02.10.25)
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 “Repression of Lawyers in Belarus and Around the World.” From the Just Security Podcast: “Around the world, lawyers – particularly those representing human rights defenders, political prisoners, and upholding the rule of law – face threats of disbarment, harassment, and prosecution simply for doing their jobs. … The Belarusian government has developed a toolkit of repression to silence members of the legal profession, with hundreds of lawyers facing disbarment or exile, and at least six sitting in jail based on dubious or politically-motivated charges. What tactics is the Belarusian government using? How can the international community best respond to support the legal profession and the rule of law?” Listen here.
#2 NJ Likely to Become the 41st State to Amend Ethics Rules for Tech Competence. From JD Supra: “New Jersey appears poised to become the next state to explicitly add a duty of technology competence to its professional code of ethics. Proposed revisions to the New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct would, if adopted, make New Jersey the forty-first state to include technology competence among the many other professional competencies a modern lawyer is expected to possess.” Read more here.
#3 “Ethics Complaint Against Law Firm Over Secret Judge Romance Withdrawn.” From Reuters: “A Houston bankruptcy judge has withdrawn his ethics complaint against U.S. law firm Jackson Walker for not earlier disclosing a relationship between David Jones, another Houston bankruptcy judge who resigned from the bench in October 2023, and one of its partners. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur referred the entire Jackson Walker firm for disciplinary proceedings in September. But Isgur has agreed to withdraw his complaint because court rules do not allow judges to sanction law firms, only individual attorneys, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal said in her three-page order Monday.” Read more here. (Full disclosure - I’m serving as an expert for Jackson Walker in a related proceeding, as reported by Bloomberg Law here.)
#4 “ABA House Adopts Policy on Judicial Security and Ethics, Presidential Actions, Lawyer Health.” From the ABA Journal: “The American Bar Association House of Delegates adopted more than two dozen policy matters, including four resolutions addressing the judiciary and some related to recent executive orders when it met during the 2025 ABA Midyear Meeting. Additional resolutions focusing on lawyer wellbeing, antisemitism education, righting wrongful convictions and bar admission standards were also passed by the HOD.” Read more here.
#5 “A Major Law Firm’s ChatGPT Fail.” From David Lat in Original Jurisdiction: “Judge Kelly Rankin of the District of Wyoming issued an order to show cause in Wadsworth v. Walmart Inc. … Plaintiffs cited nine total cases. … The problem with these cases is that none exist, except [one]. … Moral of the story: lawyers at large firms can misuse ChatGPT as well as anyone.” Read more here.
#6 “A Compendium of Legal Ethics Opinions on Gen AI (As Compiled by – You Guessed It – Gen AI).” From Bob Ambrogi at LawSites: “This week, I have been experimenting with Deep Research, the AI agent OpenAI released on Sunday that it says is capable of completing multi-step research tasks and synthesizing large amounts of online information. … I asked it to create a report detailing every legal ethics opinion pertaining to generative AI.” Read more here.
#7 Texas Professional Ethics Committee Says Lawyers Can’t Join Washington DC Firm With Non-Lawyer Partners. From the Texas Center for Legal Ethics: “A Texas-licensed lawyer who practices law in Texas may not join a law firm that includes a nonlawyer partner or owner, even if the law firm is based in a jurisdiction that expressly allows nonlawyer law firm ownership.” Read Opinion 704 in full here.
#8 “Government Lawyers with Ethics Concerns Look for Help Amid Trump Crackdown.” From NBC News: “With the Trump administration warning career lawyers to follow orders even if they have ethical qualms, pressure is building on professional legal associations to take a stance against efforts to upend long-standing norms of public service. The effort by lawyers inside and outside of the government comes as Trump, in one of his initial executive orders, issued a warning to state and local bar associations suggesting they could be targeted for investigation over their diversity programs. Lawyers who spoke with NBC News said that order came across as a threat to keep quiet or risk consequences.” Read more here.
#9 “Bondi's Attorney Advocacy Memo Raises Independence Concerns.” From Bloomberg Law: “A new memo warning Justice Department attorneys against refusing to advance legal arguments they disagree with is accelerating concerns about the agency’s independence under President Donald Trump. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s memo, issued hours after she was sworn in on Wednesday, refers to government attorneys as the president’s lawyers. It also says that lawyers who don’t sign briefs or appear in court due to their personal political views will face discipline, including potentially being fired. Legal experts, including some former Justice Department employees, said the memo damages the agency’s independence. They also said it could hurt attorneys who don’t want to advance legal arguments they might view as frivolous, forcing them to resign rather than face potential court sanctions.” Read more here.
#10 “Lawyers in Japanese-American Concentration Camps During World War II.” In last Monday’s LER, I included a headline about the cancelation-then-reinstatement of Eric Muller’s (UNC) book talk at a US Attorney’s Office. This past week Sarah Schendel (Suffolk) recommended on LinkedIn a podcast featuring Muller’s book as part of what she’s teaching in her Professional Responsibility course this semester. Listen here.
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