Legal Ethics Roundup: Eastman Disbarred, Sotomayor Apologizes, Ethics Of Cameras In Courtrooms & More – Above the Law

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.

Happy
Monday!

Greetings
from
Spokane,
WA.
Here’s
my
view
as
I
write
this
week’s
LER
in
the
gorgeous Davenport
Hotel lobby,
built
in
1914
and incredibly
restored in
2002
after
sitting
vacant
for
many
years.

I
spoke
at Gonzaga
Law
School on
Thursday
with Scott
Cummings (UCLA)
and
hosted
by Abe
Ritter (Gonzaga)
where
we
discussed
“Good
Faith
and
Public
Trust
in
an
Erosive
Era.”
It
was
great
to
catch
up
with Gonzaga
Law
Dean
Jacob
Rooksby before
he
heads
to
Virginia
to
become
the new
Dean
of
Richmond
Law
School.
Richmond
Law
is
a
special
place,
and
the
school
is
lucky
to
have
him
as
their
next
leader.
(The
two
of
us
have
the
shared
connection
of
studying
for
the
Virginia
Bar
Exam
a
couple
of
decades
ago
in
a
Richmond
Law
classroom
taught
by
the
infamous Wade
Berryhill.)

Now
for
your
headlines.

Highlights
from
Last
Week
–
Top
10
Headlines


#1
“Lawyer
John
Eastman
Disbarred
for
Efforts
to
Overturn
2020
Election.” From The
New
York
Times: “The
California
Supreme
Court
upheld
a
lower
court’s
decision
that
said
Mr.
Eastman,
had
violated
the
rules
of
professional
ethics.”
Read
more here (gift
link).

#2
“The
Lawyer
as
Public
Citizen
Today.” From Kevin
Lee in The
Exile: “Here
I
want
to
think
concretely
about
what
the
‘public
citizen’
phrase
[in
the
ABA
Model
Rules
of
Professional
Conduct]
might
mean,
not
as
an
abstraction
but
as
a
form
of
practice—and
specifically,
as
a
practice
of
sincerity.
Consider
the
history
of
the
profession
at
its
best. Constance
Baker
Motley did
not
simply
file
briefs;
she
walked
into
courtrooms
where
her
presence
itself
was
an
argument
about
who
counted
as
a
full
participant
in
American
life.
She
could
not
hide
behind
procedure;
her
body
was
the
argument.
This
required
a
courage
that
was
not
merely
tactical
but
existential—a
willingness
to
be
fully
present,
fully
seen,
in
spaces
designed
to
render
her
invisible.”
Read
more here.

#3
“From
Charlie
Kirk’s
Killing
to
OJ,
How
Courtroom
Cameras
Spark
Debate.” From The
Washington
Post: “Whether
cameras
should
be
allowed
has
spurred
perpetual
disagreement
between
transparency
advocates
and
defense
attorneys
eager
to
shield
clients
from
ignominious
publicity
that
could
tilt
a
jury
against
them.”
Read
more here (gift
link).

#4
“Supreme
Court
Justice
Sotomayor
Issues
Public
Apology
to
Kavanaugh.” From The
Wall
Street
Journal: “Supreme
Court
Justice
Sonia
Sotomayor publicly
apologized
to Justice
Brett
Kavanaugh on
Wednesday
after
suggesting
last
week
that
he
didn’t
know
any
blue-collar
workers
because
he
had
a
privileged
upbringing.”
Read
more here (gift
link).

#5
“Judicial
Panel
Trims
Amicus
Rule
Change
After
Privacy
Worries.” From Bloomberg
Law: “A
federal
judiciary
rules
committee
voted
to
drop
a
proposed
requirement
that
groups
disclose
some
new
members
ahead
of
filing
amicus
briefs
in
appeals
courts.
The
Advisory
Committee
on
Appellate
Rules
had
spent
years
weighing
a
rule
change
to
improve
disclosure
around
funders
of
amicus,
or
‘friend-of-the-court,’
briefs.
But
the
proposal
was
pulled
months
before
it
was
set
to
go
into
effect,
after
top
members
of
the
courts’
policy-making
body—the
Judicial
Conference—said
they
had
privacy
concerns
about
a
requirement
that
groups
disclose
new
members
who
contribute
more
than
$100
toward
the
briefs.”
Read
more here.

#6
“Law
Professors
Defend
ABA’s
Law
School
Diversity
Rule
Ahead
of
Elimination
Vote.” From Reuters: “Hundreds
of
law
professors,
deans,
students,
lawyers
and
bar
associations
are
urging
the
American
Bar
Association
not
to
eliminate
its
longstanding
diversity
and
inclusion
requirement
for
law
schools,
which
has
come
under
fire
amid
the
Trump
administration’s
widespread
campaign
against
DEI.
The
arm
of
the
ABA
that
oversees
U.S.
law
schools
received
47
written
comments
from
individuals
and
groups
asking
it
to
retain
or
strengthen
the
law
school
diversity
standard
and
two
comments
in
support
of
repealing
the
rule
during
a
30-day
comment
period
that
ended
on
Monday.”
Read
more here.
[Full
disclosure:
I
am
an
elected
member
of
the
Accreditation
Council
for
the
ABA
Section
on
Legal
Education
and
Admission
to
the
Bar.]

#7
“Ethical
Ramifications
of
Using
AI
in
Attorney-Client
Conversations.” From JDSupra: “On
December
22,
2025,
the
New
York
City
Bar
issued
a
formal
opinion
on
the
ethics
for
AI
use
in
the
recording,
transcription,
and
summarization
of
conversations
between
attorneys
and
clients.
The
opinion
of
the
Professional
Ethics
Committee
addressed
the
issues
that
may
arise
if
the
attorney
or
the
client
is
the
one
employing
AI
programs,
with
an
emphasis
on
notice.”
Read
more here.

#8
“Takeaways
From
the
Supreme
Court’s
Shadow
Papers.” From The
New
York
Times: “Confidential
memos
written
by
the
justices
shed
light
on
how
they
came
to
issue
emergency
orders
in
cases
about
the
scope
of
presidential
power.”
Read
more here (gift
link).

#9
“Ohio
Supreme
Court
Tosses
Longstanding
Ban
on
Judges
Endorsing
Political
Candidates.” From Cleveland.com: “The
Ohio
Supreme
Court
has
opened
the
door
to
Ohio
judges
making
political
endorsements,
overturning
a
decades-long
ban
on
free-speech
grounds.
The
Supreme
Court’s 5-1
ruling,
issued
last
week,
quickly
drew
praise
from
officials
like Attorney
General
Dave
Yost,
who
called
the
decision
‘overdue.’”
Read
more here.

#10
“US
Justice
Department
Should
Stay
out
of
States’
Own
Ethics
Investigations.” An
op-ed
from
former Missouri
Law
Dean
R.
Lawrence
Dessem in
the Kansas
City
Star: “For
decades,
independent
state
lawyer
disciplinary
bodies
have
thoughtfully
resolved
attorney
misconduct
complaints.
There
is
no
need
for,
and
there
are
major
disadvantages
to,
centralizing
the
consideration
of
attorney
complaints
before
the
DOJ,
which
has
a
direct
interest
in
how
such
complaints
are
resolved.
The
Department
of
Justice’s
March
4
proposed
rule
should
not
be
adopted.”
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
X
(formerly
Twitter)
at @reneeknake or
Bluesky
at legalethics.bsky.social.