Ed.
note:
Please
welcome
Renee
Knake
Jefferson
back
to
the
pages
of
Above
the
Law.
Subscribe
to
her
Substack,
Legal
Ethics
Roundup, here.
Welcome
to
what
captivates,
haunts,
inspires,
and
surprises
me
every
week
in
the
world
of
legal
ethics.
Hello
from
San
Francisco.
I’m
writing
you
as
I
wrap
up
my
week
with
the
Council
for
the
ABA
Section
on
Legal
Education
and
Admission
to
the
Bar,
which
is
the
independent
body
that
accredits
law
schools.
If
you
are
curious
about
our
work,
you
can
read
about
some
of
it here and
learn
more
about
the
Council
generally here.
Plaza
Park,
San
Francisco
(photo
by
Renee
Jefferson)
In
addition
to
the
headlines
below,
the Fred
C.
Zacharias
Memorial
Prize
for
Scholarship
in
Professional
Responsibility was
recently
announced.
For
more
on
that,
see
last
week’s LER
Bonus
Content
No.
20.
Congratulations
again
to
the
winner Matthew
Liebman (University
of
San
Francisco)
for
his
article Representing
Animals and
honorable
mention
awardees Milan
Markovic (Texas
A&M)
and Nuno
Garoupa (George
Mason)
for
their
article Legal
Market
Decartelization.
Highlights
from
Last
Week –
Top
Ten
Headlines
#1
“Why
I
Am
Resigning.” An
op-ed
from Judge
Mark
Wolf in The
Atlantic: “In
1985, President
Ronald
Reagan appointed
me
as
a
federal
judge.
I
was
38
years
old.
At
the
time,
I
looked
forward
to
serving
for
the
rest
of
my
life.
However,
I
resigned
Friday,
relinquishing
that
lifetime
appointment
and
giving
up
the
opportunity
for
public
service
that
I
have
loved.
My
reason
is
simple:
I
no
longer
can
bear
to
be
restrained
by
what
judges
can
say
publicly
or
do
outside
the
courtroom. President
Donald
Trump is
using
the
law
for
partisan
purposes,
targeting
his
adversaries
while
sparing
his
friends
and
donors
from
investigation,
prosecution,
and
possible
punishment.
This
is
contrary
to
everything
that
I
have
stood
for
in
my
more
than
50
years
in
the
Department
of
Justice
and
on
the
bench.
The
White
House’s
assault
on
the
rule
of
law
is
so
deeply
disturbing
to
me
that
I
feel
compelled
to
speak
out.
Silence,
for
me,
is
now
intolerable.”
Read
more here.
#2
“McDermott
Will
&
Schulte
Considers
Outside
Investment
in
Firm.” From Bloomberg
Law: “McDermott
Will
&
Schulte
said
Wednesday
it
is
in
preliminary
discussions
about
selling
a
stake
in
the
law
firm
to
outside
investors,
a
novel
move
that
could
advance
acceptance
of
non-lawyer
backing
of
Big
Law
operations.
…
The
Financial
Times
earlier
Wednesday
said
the
firm
is
exploring
a
restructuring
that
would
let
it
sell
a
stake
to
private
equity
groups,
based
on
reporting
from
five
unidentified
people.
The
approach
under
consideration
would
split
the
firm
into
a
business
owned
by
lawyers
that
advise
clients
and
a
separate
operation
that
would
sell
administrative
services
to
the
lawyer-owned
firm,
according
to
the
FT.
…
Such
an
embrace
of
non-lawyer
investment
would
represent
a
sea-change
in
the
traditional
business
model
the
legal
industry
has
embraced.
Big
Law
firms
in
the
US
are
strictly
lawyer-owned,
which
critics
say
stifles
innovation
and
makes
legal
services
overly
expensive.”
Read
more here.
#3
“Judge
Accused
of
Helping
Immigrant
Avoid
ICE
Didn’t
Know
About
Plan,
Hearing
Officer
Concludes.” From
the ABA
Journal: “A
judge
accused
of
helping
a
defendant
avoid
immigration
detention
at
her
courthouse
in
Newton,
Massachusetts,
didn’t
know
about
the
escape
plan
and
didn’t
mislead
court
authorities
about
the
incident,
according
to
a
hearing
officer
in
the
ethics
case
against
her. Judge
Shelley
M.
Richmond
Joseph of
Massachusetts
should
nonetheless
receive
a
public
reprimand
for
inadvertently
creating
the
appearance
of
impropriety
and
bias,
partly
by
allowing
an
off-the-record
sidebar
in
violation
of
a
court
rule
during
the
2018
incident,
the
hearing
officer
said
in
an Oct.
31
report released Nov.
6.”
Read
more here.
#4
“New
Non-Profit
Launches
First-Ever
Public
Database
Documenting
Executive
Branch
Attorneys’
Conduct.” From Fox
News
40: “A
team
of
legal
and
technology
professionals
today
announced
the
launch
of
GLOW
–
Government
Lawyers
Oversight
Watchdog,
a
501(c)(3)
organization
dedicated
to
holding
government
attorneys
accountable
to
their
fundamental
duty
to
the
public
and
the
rule
of
law.
Along
with
the
organization,
GLOW
is
unveiling
The
Government
Lawyers
Database. Available
at glowlaw.org, the
database
is
a
freely
accessible
public
record
of
how
government
lawyers
have
conducted
themselves
while
representing,
or
supporting,
U.S.
Executive
branch
legal
positions.”
Read
more here.
#5
“Cleveland
Attorney’s
Use
of
AI
in
Court
Filings
Raises
Ethical
Questions
for
Legal
Profession.” From Cleveland.com: “A
Cleveland
defense
attorney
is
under
scrutiny
in
two
counties
after
submitting
court
filings
containing
fabrications
generated
by
artificial
intelligence
—
a
case
that’s
prompting
broader
questions
about
how
lawyers
are
ethically
navigating
the
use
of
AI
tools
in
legal
practice. William
Norman admitted
that
a
paralegal
in
his
office
used
ChatGPT
to draft
a
motion to
reopen
a
murder
conviction
appeal.
The
document
included
quotes
that
did
not
exist
in
the
trial
transcript
and
misrepresented
statements
made
by
the
prosecutor.
Prosecutors
in
both
Ashtabula
and
Cuyahoga
counties
argue
that
Norman’s
failure
to
supervise
the
use
of
AI
violated
Ohio’s
rules
for
lawyers,
particularly
those
governing
truthfulness
and
oversight
of
nonlawyer
staff.”
Read
more here.
#6
“Judging
The
Justice
System
In
The
Age
Of
Trump:
Nancy
Gertner.” From David
Lat in Original
Jurisdiction: “How
are
the
federal
courts
faring
during
these
tumultuous
times?
I
thought
it
would
be
worthwhile
to
discuss
this
important
subject
with
a
former
federal
judge:
someone
who
understands
the
judicial
role
well
but
could
speak
more
freely
than
a
sitting
judge,
liberated
from
the
strictures
of
the
bench.
Meet Judge
Nancy
Gertner (Ret.),
who
served
as
a
U.S.
District
Judge
for
the
District
of
Massachusetts
from
1994
until
2011.
I
knew
that
Judge
Gertner
would
be
a
lively
and
insightful
interviewee—based
not
only
on
her
extensive
commentary
on
recent
events,
reflected
in
media
interviews
and
op-eds,
but
on
my
personal
experience.
During
law
school,
I
took
a
year-long
course
on
federal
sentencing
with
her,
and
she
was
one
of
my
favorite
professors.
When
I
was
her
student,
we
disagreed
on
a
lot:
I
was
severely
conservative
back
then,
and
Judge
Gertner
was,
well,
not.
But
I
always
appreciated
and
enjoyed
hearing
her
views—so
it
was
a
pleasure
hearing
them
once
again,
some
25
years
later,
in
what
turned
out
to
be
an
excellent
conversation.”
Read
more
and
listen
to
the
interview here.
#7
“Law
School
Admissions
Cycle
is
Red-Hot,
Driven
by
Politics,
Says
Kaplan
Survey.” From
the National
Jurist: “Kaplan’s
recent
survey
of
law
school
admissions
officers
said
the
current
law
school
application
boom,
fueled
by
a
nearly
20%
surge
in
applicants
last
cycle,
shows
no
signs
of
cooling.
… Krystin
Major,
director
of
LSAT
programs
at
Kaplan,
said
over
the
past
year
the
company
has
seen
a
massive
increase
in
the
number
of
students
preparing
for
the
LSAT,
a
strong
indication
that
the
number
of
law
school
applicants
will
remain
at
historically
high
levels,
making
it
imperative
for
prospective
students
to
put
together
the
strongest
application
possible.”
Read
more here.
#8
“Watchdog
Group
Files
Bar
Complaint
Against
Prosecutor
Lindsey
Halligan
Over
Comey,
James
Cases.” From ABC
News: “The
Justice
Department
prosecutor
handpicked
by President
Donald
Trump to
lead
the
criminal
cases
against New
York
Attorney
General
Letitia
James and
former FBI
Director
James
Comey is
now
the
subject
of
a
bar
complaint
that
alleges
she
is
unfit
to
be
an
attorney
and
that
her
actions
constitute
an
‘abuse
of
power.’
The
progressive
watchdog
group Campaign
for
Accountability filed
a
complaint
against Interim
U.S.
Attorney
Lindsey
Halligan on
Tuesday
and
requested
that
the
state
bars
in
Florida
and
Virginia
initiate
investigations
into
her
conduct.
The
complaint
alleges
that
Halligan
repeatedly
violated
the
professional
and
ethical
rules
that
govern
the
legal
profession,
including
by
making
false
statements
and
by
bringing
cases
that
are
unsupported
by
probable
cause.”
Read
more here.
#9
“Ex-Judges
See
‘Grave
Threat’
in
Trump
Official’s
‘War’
Talk.” From Bloomberg
Law: “A
group
of
former
federal
judges
is
pushing
back
against
a
Trump
administration
official’s
call
for
attorneys
to
join
the
‘war’
against
the
judiciary.
The Keep
Our
Republic’s
Article
III
Coalition said
Thursday
that
the
language
used
by Deputy
Attorney
General
Todd
Blanche ‘poses
a
grave
threat
to
the
rule
of
law
and
the
judiciary.’
Blanche
said
at
a
Federalist
Society
conference
on
Nov.
7
that
young
lawyers
should
join
the
Justice
Department
‘because
it
is
a
war,
and
it’s
something
we
will
not
win
unless
we
keep
on
fighting.’
The
group,
which
features
50
former
federal
judges,
said
that
language
‘especially
when
voiced
by
high-ranking
officials—not
only
endangers
individual
judges
and
court
staff,
but
also
undermines
the
public’s
trust
in
the
judiciary
as
an
impartial
and
co-equal
branch
of
government.’”
Read
more here.
#10
“The
SCOTUS
Ethics
Code
Two
Years
On:
The
Justices
Can
and
Must
Do
Better.” From Fix
the
Court: “Ahead
of
tomorrow’s
two-year
anniversary
of
the
release
of
the
justices’ Code
of
Conduct,
Fix
the
Court
is
reflecting
on
changes
to
the
justices’
ethical
behavior
in
light
of
the
Code
and
what
remains
inadequate
in
terms
of
their
ethical
policies
and
practices.
The
main
deficiency
is
that
there
remains
no
enforcement
mechanism.
It
would
not
be
difficult
for Chief
Justice
Roberts to
appoint
‘some
sort
of
committee
of
highly
respected
judges
with
a
great
deal
of
experience
[and]
with
a
reputation
for
fairness,’
as Justice
Kagan contemplated
last
year,
to
do
that
work.
This
committee
would
receive
complaints,
separate
the
meritorious
from
the
frivolous
and
review
the
meritorious
ones,
after
which
they
could
recommend
remedial
steps,
like
recusal,
disclosure
amendments
or
ethics
training.
(More
on
that here.)
Another
deficiency
is
that
there’s
been
no
update
on
whether
the
Court
has
conducted
an
‘examination
of
best
practices’
in
judicial
ethics,
as
mentioned
in
the
commentary
to
the
Code,
which
implied
that
the
document
wasn’t
going
to
be
the
justices’
final
word
on
ethics.”
Read
more here.
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Renee
Knake
Jefferson
holds
the
endowed
Doherty
Chair
in
Legal
Ethics
and
is
a
Professor
of
Law
at
the
University
of
Houston.
Check
out
more
of
her
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Ethics
Roundup.
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