{"id":135125,"date":"2025-10-14T14:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/14\/legal-ethics-roundup-ag-james-indicted-golden-gate-law-returns-no-discipline-for-law-firm-trump-pro-bono-deals-more\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:04:08","slug":"legal-ethics-roundup-ag-james-indicted-golden-gate-law-returns-no-discipline-for-law-firm-trump-pro-bono-deals-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/14\/legal-ethics-roundup-ag-james-indicted-golden-gate-law-returns-no-discipline-for-law-firm-trump-pro-bono-deals-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Ethics Roundup: AG James Indicted, Golden Gate Law Returns, No Discipline For Law Firm Trump Pro Bono Deals & More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed. note<\/u>: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, Legal Ethics Roundup,\u00a0<\/strong>here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to what captivates, haunts, inspires, and surprises me every week in the world of legal ethics.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Join me LIVE this week at the University of Houston\u2019s virtual program\u00a0\u201cLawyers Who Lead: Ethics, Influence, and Impact\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>on Thursday 10\/16 from 3-5PM central. Learn more and register\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>. Other speakers include\u00a0H. Stephen Grace Jr.\u00a0<\/strong>(President and Founder H.S. Grace & Co.) and\u00a0Andrew Gratz\u00a0<\/strong>(Founder of the Initiative on Lawyers as Leaders).<\/p>\n

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Now for your headlines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Highlights from Last Week\u00a0\u2013 Top Ten Headlines<\/h3>\n

#1 \u201cCourt Leans Toward Allowing Trial Judges to Limit Attorney-Client Discussions During Overnight Recesses.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From\u00a0SCOTUSBlog:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cAt least some of the justices at Monday morning\u2019s oral argument in\u00a0Villarreal v. Texas<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>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\u2019s testimony, but not collateral matters of trial strategy and management that relate to the testimony.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>. (Full disclosure: Along with several other legal ethics scholars,\u00a0I joined an amicus brief<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in this matter.)<\/p>\n

#2 \u201cC.I.A. Deputy Director Has Replaced Agency\u2019s Top Legal Official With Himself.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From\u00a0The New York Times:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cIt was not clear what was behind\u00a0[Michael] Ellis\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0taking 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.\u00a0Stephen Gillers<\/strong>, a New York University professor of legal ethics, called the arrangement \u2018rather bizarre.\u2019 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 \u2014 including whether policy actions he wants to take would be lawful.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(gift link).<\/p>\n

#3 \u201cLaw Firms\u2019 Trump Deals Escape NY Lawyer Ethics Investigation.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From\u00a0Bloomberg Law:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cA disciplinary body for New York lawyers is putting off an ethics probe into major law firms\u2019 deals with\u00a0President Donald Trump<\/strong>. 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 \u2018capitulating\u2019 to Trump\u2019s \u2018bullying.\u2019 \u2018The 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,\u2019\u00a0Jorge Dopico<\/strong>, chief attorney for the committee, said in a Sept. 2 letter.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#4 \u201cNew Law Lets California Law Students Be Paid for For-Credit Externships.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From the\u00a0California Lawyer<\/strong>\u00a0Daily Journal:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cWhat started as a student brainstorming session in a Sacramento classroom has now become California law. On Friday,\u00a0Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/strong>signed AB 1155, legislation requiring law schools across the state to allow students to be paid for professional externships even while earning academic credit.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#5 \u201cRetired Justice Kennedy Laments Coarse Discourse of Trump Era and Its Effects on the Supreme Court.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From the\u00a0Associated Press:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cRetired\u00a0Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy<\/strong>\u00a0said Wednesday he was troubled that partisanship seemed to be \u2018creeping its way into the court,\u2019 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\u2019s publication of his memoir,\u00a0Life, Law & Liberty<\/a><\/strong>. \u2018The justices have to resist thinking of themselves as being partisan,\u2019 he said. \u2018In our current discourse, it seems to me, partisanship is creeping its way into the court.\u2019\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#6 \u201cHow Letitia James Will Do Her Day Job.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From\u00a0The New York Times:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cLetitia James<\/strong>\u00a0is New York\u2019s chief legal officer, leading an office of 1,700 people, including 800 lawyers. And now she\u2019s a criminal defendant. After Ms. James, who has been New York\u2019s 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\u2019s largest prosecutor\u2019s offices. The case\u2019s impact on her job will be \u2018zero,\u2019 said\u00a0James E. Tierney<\/strong>, 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. \u2026Stephen Gillers<\/strong>, a legal ethics expert at New York University\u2019s School of Law, said that ethical guidelines would not require Ms. James to recuse herself from those cases.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(gift link). And for\u00a0additional commentary<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0on the indictment, see this op-ed from\u00a0Richard Zitrin<\/strong>\u00a0(UC San Francisco) in the\u00a0San Francisco Chronicle<\/strong>: \u201cWith the Letitia James indictment, Trump\u2019s politics of revenge threaten to rewrite justice in America.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Read more\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

#7 \u201cGolden Gate University Seeks California Accreditation to Reopen Law School.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From\u00a0Reuters:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe 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 \u2014 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\u2019s Committee of Bar Examiners is due to consider the university\u2019s application on Friday.\u201d Read more\u00a0<\/a>here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#8 \u201cIndependence First: An Ethical Test for Litigation Funding.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From\u00a0Bailey Glasser:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cOf 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.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#9 \u201cLawyer AI Competence: Training Is Becoming Mandatory \u2014 But Lawyers Still Get Burned.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From\u00a0Attorney at Work:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cIf 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 \u2014 it is becoming a requirement. Meanwhile, lawyers continue to face discipline or fines because they lack basic AI competence. The contrast couldn\u2019t be more stark: Students are being taught the rules while practicing lawyers are still struggling to understand them.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#10 \u201cDeepfakes, Data, and Duty: Navigating AI Ethics in Law, with Merisa Bowers.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From\u00a0Lawyerist Podcast:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cZack Glaser<\/strong>\u00a0talks with\u00a0Merisa Bowers<\/strong>, Loss Prevention and Outreach Counsel at the Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Company, about how artificial intelligence is reshaping lawyers\u2019 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.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Get Hired<\/h3>\n

Did you miss the 350+ job postings from previous weeks? Find them all\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Upcoming Ethics Events & Other Announcements<\/h3>\n

Did you miss an announcement from previous weeks? Find them all\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Keep in Touch<\/h3>\n