Ten-Year Projections for Lawyer Employment Remain Dim
As of 2014, 1.1 million lawyers were in the labor force. See Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. On December 8, 2015, the United …
Do Judicial Elections Affect Judges’ Decision Making?
Interesting question. The Model Code of Judicial Conduct requires a judge to “perform all duties of judicial office fairly and impartially.” See ABA Model Code of Jud. Cond. Rule 2.2; see also La. …
Louisiana Lawyer Sanctioned for Comment About “Menopause”
Louisiana lawyer Camilo Salas was sanctioned by a federal district court for an “improper and personally offensive comment” made to defense counsel during a deposition. See Order, Cruz-Aponte v. Caribbean Pet. …
Judges May Not Refuse to Perform Same-Sex Marriages
The Supreme Court of Ohio Board of Professional Conduct issued an opinion on August 7, 2015, advising that “a judge who exercises the authority to perform civil marriages may not refuse to …
Should Louisiana’s Labyrinthian Lawyer Advertising Rules be Junked?
In 2008, the Louisiana Supreme Court adopted some of the most complex and indecipherable advertising rules in the country. Have these rules, which were the subject of costly federal litigation …
Should a Lawyer Who Uses Racially-Offensive Language be Subject to Discipline?
At least two complaints lodged with the Louisiana Office of Disciplinary over the last few months allege misconduct arising out of lawyers’ use of the “N-word” or some variation of …
Elihu Root as a Paragon of Professionalism?: Fiction is Stranger Than Truth
In my legal ethics session on “Advising Clients,” we discuss the principle that a lawyer should exercise independent professional judgment and provide candid and honest advice to the lawyer’s client—whether …
ABA Rethinking Legal Education?
The ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education is hard at work. Its most recent “working paper,” which it released in anticipation of a public hearing and meeting …
Our Dysfunctional Marriage to the Law
I stumbled across a recent blog post asking an interesting question about me, “Is attorney Dane Ciolino of New Orleans an apologist for judicial misfits, a moron and ethically inept?” …