By Michael J. Crowley Blame it on former torts megastar Tom Girardi and his confederates, coupled with his wife, Erika Jayne, star of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Girardi’s alleged theft of millions from...
By Alara Chilton When a client files or threatens to file a State Bar complaint alleging a lawyer’s ethical misconduct, a lawyer may be tempted to impede a State Bar investigation by seeking to...
Ethics for New Lawyers: Changes to California’s Civil Discovery Rules Have Ethical Implications Since the California Supreme Court approved comprehensive revisions to the Rules of Professional Conduct in 2018, the duty of competence has...
By David C. Carr Introduction The First Amendment guarantees free speech, which is one of our most cherished freedoms. Yet, as we all know, it is not absolute. Recently, the First Amendment has played...
By Edward McIntyre Macbeth turned to Sara and Duncan “Pete Moore, a friend, and my go-to AI guru, asked if we could meet. Said it was urgent. I told him to come right over....
By Khodadad “Ko” Sharif Incivility may hit a litigant’s pocketbook. In Snoeck v. ExakTime Innovatiohs, Inc., 96 Cal. App. 5th 908 (2023), the Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s reduction of $457,863 of the plaintiff’s...
By Khodadad “Ko” Sharif Does California Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.15, entitled “Safekeeping Funds and Property of Clients and Other Persons,” govern government agencies that are holding funds for third parties in a...
By Andrew Servias In a lawsuit against a School District involving a sexual assault, a video potentially relevant to the litigation was not preserved by the defendant. As a result, the plaintiff sought terminating...
Ethical Issues “On the Side” Employment Raises By Edward McIntyre Note: This week features a spin-off of the popular San Diego Lawyer Ethics column, where fictional characters discuss real ethics scenarios. Macbeth, a long-recognized...
By Charles Berwanger The all-important Rules of Professional Conduct are intended to guide our lives as attorneys, and in some instances our personal lives, and with this new year it behooves all of us...