Legal Ethics in the News - NYC Bar Association

Explaining the Conflict Issues and the Special Counsel Rules As They Apply in the Justice Department's Investigation of Donald Trump. Stephen Gillers is the Elihu Root Professor of Law Emeritus and Barbara Gillers is an Adjunct Professor of Law, both at New York University School of Law.

Alex Jones’s law firm reportedly sent opposing counsel years of Jones’s text messages and they were used to cross-examine him. Could the firm have mitigated the harm through what has come to be known as claw back? Are Jones’s lawyers now exposed to discipline or damages? Famed appellate lawyer Paul Clement left Kirkland when the firm decided to stop advocating for Second Am

About 100 prosecutors nationwide have said they will not prosecute abortion cases. Yet their client is the state and if the state has made abortion a crime, can a local prosecutor ethically refuse to enforce the law? Also, the question has been asked whether, if indicted, Trump could rely on the advice of counsel that his conduct was legal, and thereby create a reasonable doubt ab

In June, the New York judiciary adopted one of the most far-reaching disciplinary rules in the nation prohibiting discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment, in the practice of law. But the journey to that adoption has gone on for nearly 30 years and has divided courts and bar groups nationwide. The Third Circuit is expected to decide a test case on the constitution

The recent trial of Michael Sussmann for lying to the FBI about his motives for giving it information that purported to show a link between a Russian bank and Trump interests raises two questions in the world of legal ethics and federal criminal law. The first asks when if ever considerations other than to convict can be a valid basis to indict. The second explores the meaning of t

Clients sometimes need services related to their legal needs but which are not legal services and which nonlawyers may also provide. Lawyers may see this situation as offering an opportunity for them to offer those services including through an entity separate from their law practice. Separately, this podcast reports on further developments facilitating what has come to be known as

The Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges and the federal law governing disqualification of judges and justices have been very much in the news lately, in part (but not only) because of the activism of Virginia Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas. This podcast explains both the code and the federal law, why it is that Supreme Court Justices alone among judges in the U.S. are not gove

The confirmation hearings on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court are likely to include questions about whether, if confirmed, she would have to recuse herself from the Harvard affirmative action case now before the Court because of her six year membership on the Harvard Board of Overseers. Questions may also arise about her various recusal decisions while

Lawyers are licensed and regulated by states. In a sense, they are lawyers only when they stay home. They risk discipline and loss of fees if they work where they are not admitted. But the Internet does not recognize borders. It enables lawyers to advise clients anywhere from anywhere. Does it make sense to say that a New York lawyer can advise a Tennessee business owner if both ar

The House Select Committee has subpoenaed four lawyers, including Rudolph Giuliani. They may claim attorney-client privilege. This presents an opportunity to review the substantive and procedural law governing the privilege and its exceptions and to explain the difference between privilege and a lawyer's confidentiality duty. Stephen is the Elihu Root Professor of Law and Barbara