Attorney Ian Friedman was caught by surprise when his client, T.J. Lane, the Ohio youth who pled guilty to shooting three high school students, removed his button down shirt at his murder sentencing hearing to reveal a t-shirt with the word ‘killer’ written in black marker.

Are there any special professional responsibilities that attach when a lawyer goes beyond his or her role as a trusted advisor and becomes a “trusted curator”?  Renee Newman Knake over at Legal Ethics Forum poses this interesting question and presents examples of lawyers taking on this new role.

Last month a Pennsylvania lawyer, Jason Schiffman, and his law firm, Schiffman & Wojdowski, were jointly fined $20,000 for the attorney’s Rule 11 violation when he failed to fully investigate what a federal judge characterized as a “frivolous gun malfunction case”.

Long a classroom distraction for teenagers and college students, the allure of chatting online instead of focusing on the task at hand has infiltrated the judicial bench in Las Vegas, New Mexico. instant

Municipal Judge Vince A. Sicari, sitting in South Hackensack, New Jersey, is at the center of a debate over what judges may do in their free time.

In 2005, the Inspector General for Legal Services Corp (“LSC”) investigated an anonymous complaint alleging that California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.(“CRLA”) misused its grant money by focusing on “impact work” to advance a social and political agenda.