{"id":126912,"date":"2025-07-16T15:23:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T23:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/07\/16\/controversy-over-judges-secret-romance-heads-to-trial\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T15:23:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T23:23:47","slug":"controversy-over-judges-secret-romance-heads-to-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/07\/16\/controversy-over-judges-secret-romance-heads-to-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy Over Judge\u2019s Secret Romance Heads To Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The romance between Texas bankruptcy judge\u00a0David R. Jones<\/a>\u00a0and Biglaw partner Elizabeth Freeman<\/a>\u00a0has birthed some intense controversy that remains ongoing. See, Jones, the (now former<\/a>) federal bankruptcy judge, somehow didn\u2019t <\/em>recuse himself from cases involving Freeman, the (now former) partner at Jackson Walker. As a result, Jones\u00a0resigned<\/a>\u00a0and the Department of Justice sued<\/a>\u00a0Freeman\u2019s former firm to try to disgorge up to $23 million in fees it collected in the 33 cases overseen by Jones while he was involved with Freeman and alleging the firm breached its ethical duties by not disclosing the relationship.\u00a0Jackson Walker insists <\/a>it acted properly upon learning of the relationship.<\/p>\n

Now it looks like that case is headed to trial. <\/p>\n

Jackson Walker and the US Trustee\u2019s office were in mediation in an attempt to resolve the matter. Yesterday, July 15th at 5 p.m., was the deadline Judge Alia Moses imposed on the mediation attempt. But the parties were unable to reach<\/a> an agreement.<\/p>\n

As reported by <\/a>Bloomberg Law, the mediation lasted a month, and was the first attempt at a resolution between the parties.<\/p>\n

\n

Retired Boston bankruptcy judge Joan N. Feeney oversaw the\u00a0mediation,<\/a>\u00a0which began on June 16. The firm and the US Trustee agreed to enter talks after a tense hearing in May in which Moses said she\u2019d\u00a0lost patience<\/a>\u00a0with last-minute court filings.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s not surprising the case couldn\u2019t be resolved out of court. Since the scandal broke in 2023<\/a>, it\u2019s been nothing but messy allegations and revelations. It would be too simple if the biggest fallout from the scandal settled quietly.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Biglaw Firm Gets Hit With Lawsuit Over Partner\u2019s Romance<\/a>
Former Judge Gets Combative When Pressed On His Romantic Relationship<\/a>
Who Knew What When? The Latest In The Judge\/Partner Romantic Scandal Rocking The Legal World<\/a>
You Have To Read The Texts Uncovered In The Judge\/ Biglaw Partner Romantic Scandal<\/a>
Federal Judge Slams Biglaw Firm, Says Firm \u2018Defiled The Very Temple Of Justice\u2019<\/a>
Biglaw Firm Still Paying The Price For Former Partner\u2019s Romantic Scandal<\/a>
Scandal-Ridden Former Federal Judge Seeks To Squash Lawsuit That Started It All<\/a>
The Wild Ethical Lapse That Led To The Resignation Of A Top Bankruptcy Judge<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Controversy Over Judge\u2019s Secret Romance Heads To Trial<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The romance between Texas bankruptcy judge\u00a0David R. Jones<\/a>\u00a0and Biglaw partner Elizabeth Freeman<\/a>\u00a0has birthed some intense controversy that remains ongoing. See, Jones, the (now former<\/a>) federal bankruptcy judge, somehow didn\u2019t <\/em>recuse himself from cases involving Freeman, the (now former) partner at Jackson Walker. As a result, Jones\u00a0resigned<\/a>\u00a0and the Department of Justice sued<\/a>\u00a0Freeman\u2019s former firm to try to disgorge up to $23 million in fees it collected in the 33 cases overseen by Jones while he was involved with Freeman and alleging the firm breached its ethical duties by not disclosing the relationship.\u00a0Jackson Walker insists <\/a>it acted properly upon learning of the relationship.<\/p>\n

Now it looks like that case is headed to trial. <\/p>\n

Jackson Walker and the US Trustee\u2019s office were in mediation in an attempt to resolve the matter. Yesterday, July 15th at 5 p.m., was the deadline Judge Alia Moses imposed on the mediation attempt. But the parties were unable to reach<\/a> an agreement.<\/p>\n

As reported by <\/a>Bloomberg Law, the mediation lasted a month, and was the first attempt at a resolution between the parties.<\/p>\n

\n

Retired Boston bankruptcy judge Joan N. Feeney oversaw the\u00a0mediation,<\/a>\u00a0which began on June 16. The firm and the US Trustee agreed to enter talks after a tense hearing in May in which Moses said she\u2019d\u00a0lost patience<\/a>\u00a0with last-minute court filings.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s not surprising the case couldn\u2019t be resolved out of court. Since the scandal broke in 2023<\/a>, it\u2019s been nothing but messy allegations and revelations. It would be too simple if the biggest fallout from the scandal settled quietly.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Biglaw Firm Gets Hit With Lawsuit Over Partner\u2019s Romance<\/a>
Former Judge Gets Combative When Pressed On His Romantic Relationship<\/a>
Who Knew What When? The Latest In The Judge\/Partner Romantic Scandal Rocking The Legal World<\/a>
You Have To Read The Texts Uncovered In The Judge\/ Biglaw Partner Romantic Scandal<\/a>
Federal Judge Slams Biglaw Firm, Says Firm \u2018Defiled The Very Temple Of Justice\u2019<\/a>
Biglaw Firm Still Paying The Price For Former Partner\u2019s Romantic Scandal<\/a>
Scandal-Ridden Former Federal Judge Seeks To Squash Lawsuit That Started It All<\/a>
The Wild Ethical Lapse That Led To The Resignation Of A Top Bankruptcy Judge<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Controversy Over Judge\u2019s Secret Romance Heads To Trial<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The romance between Texas bankruptcy judge\u00a0David R. Jones\u00a0and Biglaw partner Elizabeth Freeman\u00a0has birthed some intense controversy that remains ongoing. See, Jones, the (now former) federal bankruptcy judge, somehow didn\u2019t recuse himself from cases involving Freeman, the (now former) partner at Jackson Walker. As a result, Jones\u00a0resigned\u00a0and the Department of Justice sued\u00a0Freeman\u2019s former firm to try […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":126913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-VNmUsO.jpeg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}