Legal Ethics Roundup: Bullying Ban, Upsolve Overturned, Lawyers Denied In ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ Limits On DC Judges, Hallucination Sanctions & More – Above the Law

Ed.
note:
Please
welcome
Renee
Knake
Jefferson
back
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the
pages
of
Above
the
Law.
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Substack,
Legal
Ethics
Roundup, here.

Happy
Monday!

Hello
from
California!
This
week
I’m
in
the
Bay
Area
participating
in
a
leadership
conference
organized
by Women
Execs
on
Boards,
an
off-shoot
of Harvard
Business
School’s
Women
on
Boards,
after
spending
the
weekend
at
the Omega
Institute in
upstate
New
York.
(I’m
gathering
lots
of
ideas
for
the
next
edition
of
my
book Law,
Leadership,
and
Pipelines
to
Power,
co-authored
with Hannah
Johnson,
the
new
dean
of
Southern
Illinois
University
Simmons
Law
School.)

But
don’t
worry,
my
coast-to-coast
travel
hasn’t
kept
me
from
following
the
legal
ethics
headlines
and
there
was
plenty
of
news
last
week.
Also
— hot
off
the
press 
—
my
latest
article
was
published
by
the Cardozo
Law
Review last
week
too.
You
can
download Ethics
Accountability:
The
Next
Era
for
Lawyers
and
Judges for free
here.
(And
yes,
for
my
TS
fans,
the
title
is
a
nod
to
our
favorite
musical
artist.
Counting
the
days
until
10/3!
李
IYKYK)

---

Highlights
from
Last
Week –
Top
Ten
Headlines

#1 “US
Appeals
Court
Overturns
Free
Speech
Ruling
for
Legal
Advice
Nonprofit
Upsolve.” From Reuters: “A
U.S.
appeals
court
on
Tuesday
set
aside
a
ruling
that
blocked
New
York
from
enforcing
rules
prohibiting
the
unauthorized
practice
of
law
against
a
nonprofit
that
provides
limited
legal
advice
to
poor
people
in
the
state.
The
2nd
U.S.
Circuit
Court
of
Appeals said, the
lower
court
applied
the
wrong
standard
of
review
to
the
rules
when
it decided
in
May
2022 that
New
York
nonprofit
Upsolve’s
program,
which
trained
people
who
aren’t
lawyers
to
provide
free
legal
advice
to
people
facing
debt-collection
lawsuits,
was
protected
under
the
U.S.
Constitution’s
1st
Amendment.”
Read
more here.
(Full
disclosure:
I
am
part
of
a
group
of
legal
ethics
scholars
who
filed
a
brief
on
behalf
of
Upsolve.
Check
it
out here.)

#2
“Two
Years
of
Fake
Cases
and
the
Courts
are
Ratcheting
up
the
Sanctions.” From
the Massachusetts
Office
of
Bar
Council: “In
June
2023,
the
U.S.
District
Court
for
the
Southern
District
of
New
York imposed
the
first-ever
sanctions
against
attorneys
for
their
improper
use
of
generative
AI
in
court
pleadings
in
the Mata
v.
Avianca,
Inc. case.
…
In
the
two
years
since Mata,
the
American
Bar
Association
(ABA),
state
ethics
authorities,
and
courts
have
issued
guidance,
opinions,
and
orders
regarding
the
use
of
AI
in
the
practice
of
law.
In
addition
to
the
individual
publications,
legal
information
sites
such
as
LawSites
and
Justia
have
made
many
of
these
resources
easily
accessible
on
their
websites.
Further,
many
bar
associations,
legal
publications,
and
continuing
legal
education
providers
have
provided
guidance,
training,
and
information
on
using
AI
ethically
in
various
types
of
law
practices.
Despite
the
increasing
availability
of
information
relating
to
AI’s
ability
to
generate
fabricated
content,
many
more
lawyers
have
been
sanctioned
by
courts
and
disciplined
by
disciplinary
authorities
for
the
very
same
conduct”
Read
more here.
(H/T Bob
Ambrogi on
LinkedIn)

#3 “Wis.
Judicial
Commission
Sued
Over
Confidentiality
Rules.” From Law360: “Two
conservative
groups
have
sued
the
Wisconsin
Judicial
Commission
over
its
policy
of
keeping
all
judicial
misconduct
complaints
strictly
confidential,
claiming
the
policy
violates
the
First
Amendment
and
has
stymied
discussion.”
Read
more here.

#4
“These
fired
DOJ
Lawyers
are
Finding
New
Ways
to
Make
a
Difference.” From NPR: “Inside
a
sunny
conference
room
across
the
river
from
Washington,
D.C., Monika
Isia
Jasiewicz described
her
unlikely
path
this
year.
It
started
when
she
received
an
invitation
to
the
inauguration
from
her
Yale
Law
School
classmate JD
Vance.
Less
than
two
weeks
later,
she
and
more
than
a
dozen
other
government
lawyers
who
prosecuted
people
who
stormed
the
U.S.
Capitol
on
Jan.
6,
2021,
received
another
message
from
the
new
Trump
administration.
They
were
fired
—
by
email.”
Read
more
and
listen here.

#5
“Prof.
Ellen
Yaroshefsky
Signs
Amicus
Briefs
on
Judicial
Guidance
Transparency
and
Free
Speech
Regulation” From Hofstra
Law
School: “Hofstra
Law
Professor Ellen
Yaroshefsky,
along
with
seven
other
legal
scholars,
signed
an
amicus
brief
supporting
the
New
York
Civil
Liberties
Union’s
(NYCLU)
request
for
access
to
court
memos
that
provide
judges
with
guidance
on
interpreting
and
applying
legal
precedents
and
statutes.”
Read
more here.

#6 “’Alligator
Alcatraz’
Detainees
Continue
to
Face
Obstacles
to
Meet
With
Lawyers,
Court
Papers
Allege.” From WUSF/NPR/Associated
Press: “The
filings
say
detainees
are
often
transferred
just
before
scheduled
lawyer
visits,
denying
them
legal
representation.”
Read
more here.

#7
“Justice
in
Action:
With
ABA
Support,
Colombia
Drafts
a
Declaration
of
Judicial
Ethics” From
the ABA
Journal. Read
more here.

#8
“Bill
Giving
White
House
More
Control
Of
DC
Judges
Advances.” From Law360: “The
House
Oversight
and
Government
Reform
Committee
has
advanced
a
bill
on
party
lines
that
would
abolish
the
commission
in
Washington
D.C.
that
meets
and
picks
potential
judicial
nominees
for
the
district’s
local
courts.”
Read
more here.

#9
“California
Supreme
Court
Disbars
L.A.
Attorney
Who
Misled
and
Overcharged
Inmates.” From
the State
Bar
of
California: “‘California
attorneys
are
entrusted
with
a
duty
to
act
in
the
best
interests
of
their
clients,’
said Chief
Trial
Counsel
George
Cardona.
‘By
preying
on
incarcerated
individuals
and
their
families
and
charging
them
unconscionable
fees
for
his
own
personal
gain,
Mr.
Spolin
committed
egregious
misconduct.
His
disbarment
serves
to
protect
the
public
and
maintain
trust
in
the
legal
profession.’”
Read
more here.

#10 “Ban
on
Bullying
at
the
Bar.” From A
Lawyer
Writes
Substack: “An
independent
review
of
bullying,
harassment
and
sexual
harassment
of
barristers
in
England
and
Wales
has
recommended
decisive
action
to
protect
the
reputation
of
the
bar
from
the
stain
of
misconduct.”
Read
more here.
And
see
the Financial
Times for additional
coverage:
“Bullying
judges
and
barristers
enjoy
‘culture
of
impunity’,
review
finds.”

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Hired

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you
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postings
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weeks?
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them
all 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
X
(formerly
Twitter)
at @reneeknake or
Bluesky
at legalethics.bsky.social.