On November 3, 2017, the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) announced that the agency’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) will be launching a two-year pilot diversion program for patent and trademark practitioners who commit minor ethical lapses without causing actual client harm.
The Los Angeles County Bar Association Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee recently issued an advisory opinion considering the repercussions for an attorney who communicates sensitive information to an online “catfish” –otherwise known as an individual who assumes a false identity in order to elicit sensitive information or otherwise defraud an unsuspecting person.