Ed. note: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, Legal Ethics Roundup, here.
Welcome to what captivates, haunts, inspires, and surprises me every week in the world of legal ethics.
Join me LIVE this week at the University of Houston’s virtual program “Lawyers Who Lead: Ethics, Influence, and Impact” on Thursday 10/16 from 3-5PM central. Learn more and register here. Other speakers include H. Stephen Grace Jr. (President and Founder H.S. Grace & Co.) and Andrew Gratz (Founder of the Initiative on Lawyers as Leaders).
Now for your headlines.
Highlights from Last Week – Top Ten Headlines
#1 “Court Leans Toward Allowing Trial Judges to Limit Attorney-Client Discussions During Overnight Recesses.” From SCOTUSBlog: “At least some of the justices at Monday morning’s oral argument in Villarreal v. Texas appear to be willing to permit trial courts to limit what defense lawyers may discuss with their clients overnight when the client is still on the stand. Specifically, several justices seem to think the court may prohibit lawyer and client from direct discussions of the client’s testimony, but not collateral matters of trial strategy and management that relate to the testimony.” Read more here. (Full disclosure: Along with several other legal ethics scholars, I joined an amicus brief in this matter.)
#2 “C.I.A. Deputy Director Has Replaced Agency’s Top Legal Official With Himself.” From The New York Times: “It was not clear what was behind [Michael] Ellis’s taking personal control of making legal judgments for the agency while continuing to help lead it, but the move raised alarms among some current and former intelligence officials. Stephen Gillers, a New York University professor of legal ethics, called the arrangement ‘rather bizarre.’ Pointing to rules of professional conduct for lawyers that prohibit conflicts of interest, he said Mr. Ellis could serve as C.I.A. general counsel for matters in which he had no interest, but could not ethically give himself legal advice about issues that concern him — including whether policy actions he wants to take would be lawful.” Read more here (gift link).
#3 “Law Firms’ Trump Deals Escape NY Lawyer Ethics Investigation.” From Bloomberg Law: “A disciplinary body for New York lawyers is putting off an ethics probe into major law firms’ deals with President Donald Trump. A New York Supreme Court committee last month declined to take up a complaint against nine firms that pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services to White House in exchange for the removal of administrative probes and punishments, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg Law. The complaint, filed by a group of law professors, accused the firms of violating ethics rules by ‘capitulating’ to Trump’s ‘bullying.’ ‘The business decisions of law firms, such as the selection of clients or the allocation of pro bono resources, generally fall outside the purview of this Committee,’ Jorge Dopico, chief attorney for the committee, said in a Sept. 2 letter.” Read more here.
#4 “New Law Lets California Law Students Be Paid for For-Credit Externships.” From the California Lawyer Daily Journal: “What started as a student brainstorming session in a Sacramento classroom has now become California law. On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsomsigned AB 1155, legislation requiring law schools across the state to allow students to be paid for professional externships even while earning academic credit.” Read more here.
#5 “Retired Justice Kennedy Laments Coarse Discourse of Trump Era and Its Effects on the Supreme Court.” From the Associated Press: “Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Wednesday he was troubled that partisanship seemed to be ‘creeping its way into the court,’ and that the state of political discourse in the country has gotten so vulgar and vile that he worries for the country. The tone of recent opinions bothers him more than outcomes of cases, Kennedy said in an interview with The Associated Press in his court office in advance of next week’s publication of his memoir, Life, Law & Liberty. ‘The justices have to resist thinking of themselves as being partisan,’ he said. ‘In our current discourse, it seems to me, partisanship is creeping its way into the court.’” Read more here.
#6 “How Letitia James Will Do Her Day Job.” From The New York Times: “Letitia James is New York’s chief legal officer, leading an office of 1,700 people, including 800 lawyers. And now she’s a criminal defendant. After Ms. James, who has been New York’s attorney general since 2018, was indicted on Thursday on federal charges of bank fraud and false statements, she vowed to keep doing her job leading one of the country’s largest prosecutor’s offices. The case’s impact on her job will be ‘zero,’ said James E. Tierney, a former Maine attorney general who teaches about the position at Harvard Law School. It is not the first time that an attorney general has been indicted and continued to lead, Mr. Tierney said. …Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert at New York University’s School of Law, said that ethical guidelines would not require Ms. James to recuse herself from those cases.” Read more here (gift link). And for additional commentary on the indictment, see this op-ed from Richard Zitrin (UC San Francisco) in the San Francisco Chronicle: “With the Letitia James indictment, Trump’s politics of revenge threaten to rewrite justice in America.” Read more here.
#7 “Golden Gate University Seeks California Accreditation to Reopen Law School.” From Reuters: “The Golden Gate University is aiming to revive the troubled law school it closed last year, reopening it as a California-accredited institution. The San Francisco-based university has asked the State Bar of California for accreditation — which would enable Juris Doctor graduates of the school to sit for the bar in California but not in most other states. The state bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners is due to consider the university’s application on Friday.” Read more here.
#8 “Independence First: An Ethical Test for Litigation Funding.” From Bailey Glasser: “Of the handful of ethics authorities that have issued opinions directly addressing litigation financing, one issue remains paramount: attorney control of litigation and independence in attorney judgment. Although ethics bodies apply varying ethics rules to address the pertinent issues, a common theme between them is an emphasis that funding agreements will be impermissible if they imperil or restrict attorney independence. Below are highlights from a few of the states that have addressed the issue and prioritize the importance of protecting attorney independence.” Read more here.
#9 “Lawyer AI Competence: Training Is Becoming Mandatory — But Lawyers Still Get Burned.” From Attorney at Work: “If you think knowing something about artificial intelligence is optional for lawyers, think again. A growing number of U.S. law schools have decided that AI training is not a luxury or an elective — it is becoming a requirement. Meanwhile, lawyers continue to face discipline or fines because they lack basic AI competence. The contrast couldn’t be more stark: Students are being taught the rules while practicing lawyers are still struggling to understand them.” Read more here.
#10 “Deepfakes, Data, and Duty: Navigating AI Ethics in Law, with Merisa Bowers.” From Lawyerist Podcast: “Zack Glaser talks with Merisa Bowers, Loss Prevention and Outreach Counsel at the Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Company, about how artificial intelligence is reshaping lawyers’ ethical duties. Merisa explains how deepfakes and realistic scams are creating new challenges for diligence and verification, why unregulated chatbots can accidentally create attorney-client relationships, and what disclosures lawyers should make when using AI tools. She also shares practical steps to maintain confidentiality, protect client data, and apply long-standing ethics rules to fast-changing technologies.” Read more here.
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Renee Knake Jefferson holds the endowed Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics and is a Professor of Law at the University of Houston. Check out more of her writing at the Legal Ethics Roundup. Find her on X (formerly Twitter) at @reneeknake or Bluesky at legalethics.bsky.social.
The post Legal Ethics Roundup: AG James Indicted, Golden Gate Law Returns, No Discipline For Law Firm Trump Pro Bono Deals & More appeared first on Above the Law.
Ed. note: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, Legal Ethics Roundup,here.
Welcome to what captivates, haunts, inspires, and surprises me every week in the world of legal ethics.
Join me LIVE this week at the University of Houston’s virtual program “Lawyers Who Lead: Ethics, Influence, and Impact” on Thursday 10/16 from 3-5PM central. Learn more and register here. Other speakers include H. Stephen Grace Jr. (President and Founder H.S. Grace & Co.) and Andrew Gratz (Founder of the Initiative on Lawyers as Leaders).
Now for your headlines.
#1 “Court Leans Toward Allowing Trial Judges to Limit Attorney-Client Discussions During Overnight Recesses.” From SCOTUSBlog: “At least some of the justices at Monday morning’s oral argument in Villarreal v. Texas appear to be willing to permit trial courts to limit what defense lawyers may discuss with their clients overnight when the client is still on the stand. Specifically, several justices seem to think the court may prohibit lawyer and client from direct discussions of the client’s testimony, but not collateral matters of trial strategy and management that relate to the testimony.” Read more here. (Full disclosure: Along with several other legal ethics scholars, I joined an amicus brief in this matter.)
#2 “C.I.A. Deputy Director Has Replaced Agency’s Top Legal Official With Himself.” From The New York Times: “It was not clear what was behind [Michael] Ellis’s taking personal control of making legal judgments for the agency while continuing to help lead it, but the move raised alarms among some current and former intelligence officials. Stephen Gillers, a New York University professor of legal ethics, called the arrangement ‘rather bizarre.’ Pointing to rules of professional conduct for lawyers that prohibit conflicts of interest, he said Mr. Ellis could serve as C.I.A. general counsel for matters in which he had no interest, but could not ethically give himself legal advice about issues that concern him — including whether policy actions he wants to take would be lawful.” Read more here (gift link).
#3 “Law Firms’ Trump Deals Escape NY Lawyer Ethics Investigation.” From Bloomberg Law: “A disciplinary body for New York lawyers is putting off an ethics probe into major law firms’ deals with President Donald Trump. A New York Supreme Court committee last month declined to take up a complaint against nine firms that pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services to White House in exchange for the removal of administrative probes and punishments, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg Law. The complaint, filed by a group of law professors, accused the firms of violating ethics rules by ‘capitulating’ to Trump’s ‘bullying.’ ‘The business decisions of law firms, such as the selection of clients or the allocation of pro bono resources, generally fall outside the purview of this Committee,’ Jorge Dopico, chief attorney for the committee, said in a Sept. 2 letter.” Read more here.
#4 “New Law Lets California Law Students Be Paid for For-Credit Externships.” From the California Lawyer Daily Journal: “What started as a student brainstorming session in a Sacramento classroom has now become California law. On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsomsigned AB 1155, legislation requiring law schools across the state to allow students to be paid for professional externships even while earning academic credit.” Read more here.
#5 “Retired Justice Kennedy Laments Coarse Discourse of Trump Era and Its Effects on the Supreme Court.” From the Associated Press: “Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Wednesday he was troubled that partisanship seemed to be ‘creeping its way into the court,’ and that the state of political discourse in the country has gotten so vulgar and vile that he worries for the country. The tone of recent opinions bothers him more than outcomes of cases, Kennedy said in an interview with The Associated Press in his court office in advance of next week’s publication of his memoir, Life, Law & Liberty. ‘The justices have to resist thinking of themselves as being partisan,’ he said. ‘In our current discourse, it seems to me, partisanship is creeping its way into the court.’” Read more here.
#6 “How Letitia James Will Do Her Day Job.” From The New York Times: “Letitia James is New York’s chief legal officer, leading an office of 1,700 people, including 800 lawyers. And now she’s a criminal defendant. After Ms. James, who has been New York’s attorney general since 2018, was indicted on Thursday on federal charges of bank fraud and false statements, she vowed to keep doing her job leading one of the country’s largest prosecutor’s offices. The case’s impact on her job will be ‘zero,’ said James E. Tierney, a former Maine attorney general who teaches about the position at Harvard Law School. It is not the first time that an attorney general has been indicted and continued to lead, Mr. Tierney said. …Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert at New York University’s School of Law, said that ethical guidelines would not require Ms. James to recuse herself from those cases.” Read more here (gift link). And for additional commentary on the indictment, see this op-ed from Richard Zitrin (UC San Francisco) in the San Francisco Chronicle: “With the Letitia James indictment, Trump’s politics of revenge threaten to rewrite justice in America.”Read more here.
#7 “Golden Gate University Seeks California Accreditation to Reopen Law School.” From Reuters: “The Golden Gate University is aiming to revive the troubled law school it closed last year, reopening it as a California-accredited institution. The San Francisco-based university has asked the State Bar of California for accreditation — which would enable Juris Doctor graduates of the school to sit for the bar in California but not in most other states. The state bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners is due to consider the university’s application on Friday.” Read morehere.
#8 “Independence First: An Ethical Test for Litigation Funding.” From Bailey Glasser: “Of the handful of ethics authorities that have issued opinions directly addressing litigation financing, one issue remains paramount: attorney control of litigation and independence in attorney judgment. Although ethics bodies apply varying ethics rules to address the pertinent issues, a common theme between them is an emphasis that funding agreements will be impermissible if they imperil or restrict attorney independence. Below are highlights from a few of the states that have addressed the issue and prioritize the importance of protecting attorney independence.” Read more here.
#9 “Lawyer AI Competence: Training Is Becoming Mandatory — But Lawyers Still Get Burned.” From Attorney at Work: “If you think knowing something about artificial intelligence is optional for lawyers, think again. A growing number of U.S. law schools have decided that AI training is not a luxury or an elective — it is becoming a requirement. Meanwhile, lawyers continue to face discipline or fines because they lack basic AI competence. The contrast couldn’t be more stark: Students are being taught the rules while practicing lawyers are still struggling to understand them.” Read more here.
#10 “Deepfakes, Data, and Duty: Navigating AI Ethics in Law, with Merisa Bowers.” From Lawyerist Podcast: “Zack Glaser talks with Merisa Bowers, Loss Prevention and Outreach Counsel at the Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Company, about how artificial intelligence is reshaping lawyers’ ethical duties. Merisa explains how deepfakes and realistic scams are creating new challenges for diligence and verification, why unregulated chatbots can accidentally create attorney-client relationships, and what disclosures lawyers should make when using AI tools. She also shares practical steps to maintain confidentiality, protect client data, and apply long-standing ethics rules to fast-changing technologies.” Read more here.
Did you miss the 350+ job postings from previous weeks? Find them all here.
Did you miss an announcement from previous weeks? Find them all here.
- News tips? Announcements? Events? A job to post? Reading recommendations? Email [email protected] – but be sure to subscribe first, otherwise the email won’t be delivered.
Renee Knake Jefferson holds the endowed Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics and is a Professor of Law at the University of Houston. Check out more of her writing at the Legal Ethics Roundup. Find her on X (formerly Twitter) at @reneeknake or Bluesky at legalethics.bsky.social.
