Podcast - The Extreme Case
A Primer on the Texas Bar Disciplinary System | Seana Willing | Texas Appellate Law Podcast
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly influencing the legal profession and remains a hot topic for attorneys and the courts. AI has proven useful for everything from routine administrative tasks to case-analysis summaries. It...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed attorneys’ fees awards against EscapeX IP, LLC, finding the case “exceptional” under 35 U.S.C. § 285, and upheld sanctions under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 based on counsel’s...more
They’re back! Ethics lawyers Lucian Pera and Trisha Rich team up again this December to bring you their incisive take on the most important and interesting ethics and lawyering developments of the year....more
It had to happen at some point: a lawyer would unsuspectingly submit a brief prepared with the help of generative artificial intelligence to a Maryland appellate court, and our courts would answer the question of what the...more
Lewis Brisbois v. Bitgood et al., No. 24-20458 (5th Cir. 2025) - In an unpublished per curiam opinion, the Fifth Circuit affirmed a permanent injunction against a trio of defendants, rejected an attorney immunity defense,...more
A trial court imposed a $10,000 sanction on attorneys for conducting juror research on a social media platform in a $174 million lawsuit. Elliot Weld, Alston & Bird Sanctioned $10K For LinkedIn Juror Research – Law360 (Oct....more
U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - Bastias v. US Att’y Gen - immigration - Casa Express v. Venezuela - judgment execution, ancillary jurisdiction - Saadi v. Maroun - judgment execution, fraudulent transfers...more
Noland v. Land of the Free, L.P., 2025 WL 2629868 (Cal. Ct. App. 2025) - Sylvia Noland asserted 25 causes of action against her former employer, including claims for wrongful termination, PAGA and other Labor Code...more
On September 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision to sanction two attorneys and their law firm for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to manufacture FDCPA violations. ...more
On August 29, 2025, United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen (E.D.N.Y.) granted Plaintiff Tools Aviation, LLC’s (“Plaintiff”) motion for reasonable attorney’s fees, finding the case “exceptional” pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §...more
Recent developments in eDiscovery case law highlight significant trends, including the challenges of discovery protocols in artificial intelligence and antitrust litigation, evolving court approaches to attorney conduct and...more
The list of attorneys sanctioned for filing pleadings containing fictitious or materially inaccurate case citations (e.g., hallucinated case law) is growing by the day. ...more
Abstract - This article examines the problem of fabricated or hallucinated citations in legal briefs, focusing on the recent federal decision in Johnson v. Dunn as a case study. That decision highlights the risks when lawyers...more
Abraham Lincoln once famously said that “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.” While this statement has been demonstrated to be true more often than not, what happens when (1) the pro se representation is not...more
By now, most lawyers should know the dangers of relying on generative AI for legal research. A big risk is that AI will generate fake case citations and quotations. Failure to check and verify the citations and quotations can...more
Key Points: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has clarified that the standard of proof required for a finding of attorney misconduct is “clear and convincing evidence.” Attorney disciplinary matters “are in the nature of...more
An Illinois appellate court recently reversed a $43 million jury verdict in a personal injury case (Kroft v. Viper Trans, Inc.)1 involving an automobile collision, remanding the case for another trial—now the third—after the...more
In the recent disciplinary matter of ODC v. Anonymous, 2025 WL 524221 (Pa. Feb. 12, 2025), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court established the standard applicable to attorney disciplinary matters, expressly holding that the...more
In December 2024, we reported on a City of St. Louis, Missouri jury verdict in favor of baby formula manufacturers in a lawsuit claiming their specialized infant formulas for premature babies caused an infant to develop...more
Several weeks ago, attorney Mark Lemley was criticized for having the temerity to terminate his representation of Meta during an ongoing copyright infringement case because of its CEO’s alleged “descent into toxic...more
In another “hard lesson learned” case, on Monday, February 24, 2025, a federal district court sanctioned three lawyers from the national law firm Morgan & Morgan for citing artificial intelligence (AI)-generated fake cases in...more
Addressing when Illinois law’s “absolute litigation privilege” bars certain counterclaims, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s summary judgment finding that the plaintiff lacked a valid...more
In US Dominion, Inc. v. Byrne, 2024 WL 3792654 (D.D.C. Aug. 13, 2024), violations of protective orders led to disqualification of counsel. The court began its decision by stating: “This case arises out of the 2020 U.S....more
A federal judge in the Western District of Virginia has ordered a plaintiff’s attorneys to show cause why they should not be sanctioned for the alleged misuse of artificial intelligence (AI)....more
Law firm breakups are fraught with the potential for attorney misconduct. Attorneys who determine they can no longer work together will often take the additional step of accusing one another of inappropriate conduct....more