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
Ithaca,
NY.
I’m
visiting
Cornell
Law
School
today
for
a
faculty
workshop,
where
I’m
presenting
my
piece
“When
Lawyers
Protest,”
which
will
be
published
later
this
year
in
the
Michigan
Law
Review.
It’s
cold
here,
but
the
snowy
campus
is
beautiful.
University
(photo
by
Renee
Jefferson)
Now
for
your
headlines.
It
was
a
busy
week,
especially
for
judicial
ethics,
so
you
get
fifteen
headlines
instead
of
the
usual
ten.
Highlights
from
Last
Week –
Top Ten Fifteen
Headlines
#1
“Failure
to
Alert
Judge
to
Press
Law
for
Reporter
Search
Draws
Ethical
Scrutiny.” From The
New
York
Times: “The
Justice
Department
may
have
violated
a
candor
rule
by
not
disclosing
a
1980
law
when
seeking
a
warrant
for
a
Washington
Post
reporter’s
home.”
Read
more here.
#2
“Court
Finds
Probable
Cause
for
Hostile
Workplace
by
US
Judge.” From Bloomberg
Law: “The
chief
judge
of
the
Boston-based
federal
appeals
court
found
that
a
district
judge
within
the
circuit
likely
created
a
hostile
work
environment
following
an
interview
with
the
judge’s
former
law
clerk. Chief
Judge
David
Barron
of
the
US
Court
of
Appeals
for
the
First
Circuit said
there
was
‘probable
cause’
to
believe
the
judge
engaged
in
misconduct,
as
described
in
a
judiciary
rule
against
treating
litigants,
lawyers,
or
employees
‘in
a
demonstrably
egregious
and
hostile
manner’
or
‘creating
a
hostile
work
environment
for
judicial
employees.’
The decision,
dated
Nov.
24
but
recently
posted,
doesn’t
name
the
judge.”
Read
more here.
#3
Three
headlines
for
#3:
First, Part
I
of
II
in
investigative
reporting
from
the Arizona
Republic,
“Arizona
Lets
Investors
Own
Law
Firms.
Consumers
Pay
the
Price.” Here’s
a
preview:
“An
Arizona
Supreme
Court
experiment
to
make
legal
services
cheaper
for
the
state’s
residents
has
instead
become
an
epicenter
for
consumer
complaints,
leaving
a
trail
of
clients
across
the
United
States
who
say
they
were
mistreated,
misled,
or
—
in
the
words
of
a
lawsuit
against
one
firm
—
outright
‘scammed.’
Loopholes,
a
lack
of
oversight
and
financial
conflicts
of
interest
plague
the
state’s
‘Alternative
Business
Structures’
program,
which
allows
Wall
Street
investors,
marketing
professionals
and
other
nonlawyers
to
own
law
firms.”
Read
more here. Second, Part
II
of
II
in
the Arizona
Republic reporting: “Loopholes
Let
Arizona
Law
Firm
Experiment
Spread
Nationwide.” Read
more here. Third, compare
this
December
2025
article
“Stanford
Law
Gives
Arizona
a
Report
Card” from
the Maricopa
Lawyer:
“Five
years
ago,
Arizona
became
the
first
state
to
allow
non-lawyers
to
have
ownership
interests
in
law
firms.
This
was
not
popular
in
many
circles.
…
A
recent
report
by
Standford
Law
School’s
Center
on
the
Legal
Profession
entitled
‘Legal
Innovation
After
Reform:
Five
Years
of
Data
on
Regulatory
Change’
takes
stock
of
the
effects
of
legal
services
reform
five
years
out
from
the
changes
made
by
Arizona.
It
seems
predictions
of
Arizona’s
descent
into
a
lawless,
unethical
hellscape
were
not
accurate.
…
In
short,
Arizona’s
allowance
for
alternative
business
structures
has
not
caused
the
sky
to
fall
or
for
the
public
to
be
harmed.
The
Stanford
report
described
the
resulting
consumer
harm
as
‘de
minimis.’”
Read
more here.
#4
“How
the
Supreme
Court
Secretly
Made
Itself
Even
More
Secretive.” From The
New
York
Times: “Amid
calls
to
increase
transparency
and
revelations
about
the
court’s
inner
workings,
the
chief
justice
imposed
nondisclosure
agreements
on
clerks
and
employees.”
Read
more here.
#5
“Leader
of
Paul
Weiss
Resigns
Over
Epstein
Ties.” From The
Wall
Street
Journal: “Brad
Karp,
the
leader
of
Paul
Weiss,
one
of
the
country’s
biggest
law
firms,
resigned
as
chair
in
the
wake
of
new
revelations
about
his
association
with Jeffrey
Epstein.
Karp
is
an
influential
lawyer
in
corporate
circles,
who
advised
boards
of
directors
and
business
leaders,
including
the
Apollo
Global
Management
co-founder
Leon
Black.
Karp
faced
criticism
in
legal
circles
last
year
after
he
brokered
a
deal
with President
Trump to
resolve
an
executive
order
that
cracked
down
on
law
firms.”
Read
more here (gift
link).
#6
“Newly
Released
Court
Records
Reveal
Misconduct
Inquiry
Into
Federal
Judge.” From National
Public
Radio: “New
information
is
emerging
that
could
complicate
the
retirement
last
year
of
a
prominent
federal
judge. Mark
Wolf,
79,
retired
from
the
federal
district
court
in
Massachusetts
last
November,
after
more
than
40
years
of
service. He
penned
an
essay
in The
Atlantic tying
his
departure
to
actions
by
President
Trump.
Wolf’s
decision
to
retire
coincided
with
an
inquiry
by
another
federal
judge
into
potential
misconduct,
according
to
newly
published
orders.
That
inquiry
found
probable
cause
to
believe
an
unnamed
jurist
had
engaged
in
misconduct
by
creating
a
hostile
workplace
for
court
employees.
…
A
source
familiar
with
the
inquiry,
who
spoke
on
condition
of
anonymity
to
discuss
the
sensitive
internal
investigation,
said
the
judge
in
question
is
Wolf
and
his
resignation
terminated
the
review
of
his
conduct.”
Read
more here.
#7
“Justice
Department
Struggles
Under
Weight
of
Immigration
Crackdown.” From The
Wall
Street
Journal: “Current
and
former
prosecutors
say
they
can
relate
to
the
government
lawyer
who
told
judge
she
was
overwhelmed.
When
a
lawyer
representing
the
Justice
Department
told
a
judge
in
open
court
this
week
that
she
was
exhausted
and
‘this
job
sucks,’
she
said
out
loud
what
many
federal
prosecutors
have
been
privately
feeling
for
months.”
Read
more here (gift
link).
#8
“OpenAI
Ducks
Order
to
Disclose
Confidential
Counsel
Messages.” From Bloomberg
Law: “OpenAI
Inc.
convinced
a
federal
judge
to
overturn
an
order
requiring
the
company
to
disclose
confidential
messages
with
its
attorneys
to
authors
and
newspapers
accusing
it
of
violating
copyrights
by
training
AI
models
on
their
works.
The
November
order
to
turn
over
messages
about
the
artificial
intelligence
company’s
deletion
of
pirated
copies
of
books
is
unsound
because
it
was
‘clearly
erroneous’
or
‘contrary
to
law,’ Judge
Sidney
H.
Stein said
in
a decision issued
Friday
in
the
US
District
Court
for
the
Southern
District
of
New
York.
‘Simply
put,
OpenAI
did
not
disclose
material
protected
by
the
attorney-client
privilege.’”
Read
more here.
#9
“FTC
Crackdown
on
Law
Firm
DEI
Efforts
Tests
Antitrust
Limits.” From Reuters: “The
U.S.
Federal
Trade
Commission
took
a
fresh
tack
last
week
in
the
federal
government’s
crackdown
on
diversity,
equity
and
inclusion
efforts,
warning
42
major
law
firms
that
their
hiring
practices
may
violate
federal
antitrust
law.
By
invoking
alleged
threats
to
competition,
the
strategy
could
buttress
broader,
ongoing
efforts
by President
Donald
Trump’s administration
to
combat
DEI
using
anti-discrimination
law.
But
bringing
an
antitrust
case
would
face
a
high
bar,
legal
experts
said.”
Read
more here.
#10
“Threats
to
the
Rule
of
Law
Should
Concern
Us
All.” From
the Cleveland
Plain
Dealer: “Retired
former Ohio
Supreme
Court
Chief
Justice
Maureen
O’Connor and
former Justice
Michael
P.
Donnelly are
working
with
other
lawyers
and
judges
in
Cleveland
to
stand
up
for
the
Rule
of
Law.”
Read
more here.
#11
“In
Under
500
Words,
a
Judge
Weaponized
Wit
to
Free
the
Child
Detained
by
ICE.” From The
New
York
Times: “The
extra
in
this
case
transforms
what
might
have
been
a
routine
decision
into
a
thorough
scourging
of
the
Trump
administration’s
approach
to
governance.
…
In
fewer
than
500
words,
Judge
Biery
marshals
literature,
history,
folk
wisdom
and
Scripture
to
challenge
the
theory
of
executive
power
that
has
defined
Trump’s
second
presidency.
It’s
worth
looking
at
how
he
does
it.”
Read
more here (gift
link).
#12
“This
Federal
Judge
Hid
His
DUI
for
Four
Months.
Now
What?” From Fix
the
Court: “On
Oct.
3,
2025, Judge
Thomas
Ludington of
E.D.
Michigan
was arrested for
driving
under
the
influence.
According
to
court
and
law
enforcement
records,
Ludington
was
registering
a
blood
alcohol
level
of
0.17,
more
than
twice
the
legal
limit,
at
the
time
of
his
arrest.
His
trial
is
scheduled
to
begin
later
this
month.
The
catch?
This
news
was
hidden
from
the
public
for
four
months,
and
the
judge
continued
his
work
as
usual.”
Read
more here.
#13
“Judging
AI:
How
U.S.
Judges
Can
Harness
Generative
AI
Without
Compromising
Justice.” From Judicature: “E-discovery
tools
that
harness
the
power
of
artificial
intelligence
(AI)
assist
attorneys
somewhat
regularly. But
my
recent
experience
presiding
over
a
bench
trial
in La
Union
Del
Pueblo
Entero
v.
Abbott showed
me
that
generative
AI
(GenAI)
can
help
judges
in
several
crucial
ways
that
go
far
beyond
discovery.
…
This
case
provided
an
opportunity
to
evaluate
how
GenAI
might
help
a
judge
in
a
complex
and
document-intensive
case.
This
article
explores
how
GenAI
can
help
locate
documents
and
summarize
witness
testimony,
whether
GenAI
tools
are
currently
capable
of
completing
a
rough
draft
of
a
judicial
opinion,
and
how
GenAI
can
review
party
submissions.”
Read
more here.
#14
“Watchdog
Renews
Halligan
Bar
Complaint
After
Court
Rulings.” From Law360: “The
nonprofit
Campaign
for
Accountability
once
again
launched
a
bar
complaint
against
former
interim U.S.
Attorney
Lindsey
Halligan in
Virginia,
after
the
Virginia
State
Bar
declined
to
pursue
an
ethics
investigation
against
the
attorney
last
year,
calling
it
a
matter
for
the
courts
to
determine.”
Read
more here.
#15
“Texas
Dropped
ABA
Law
School
Accreditation
After
4
Decades.
Can
It
Come
Up
With
a
Better
System?” From Houston
Public
Media: “The
Texas
Supreme
Court
decided
the
American
Bar
Association
should
“no
longer
have
the
final
say”
on
which
law
school
graduates
can
become
licensed
lawyers.
Will
the
move
foster
accessibility
and
innovation
in
the
legal
field
as
advocates
hope
—
or
will
most
things
stay
the
same?”
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
writing
at
the Legal
Ethics
Roundup.
Find
her
on
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(formerly
Twitter)
at @reneeknake or
Bluesky
at legalethics.bsky.social.