Law
fromAbove the Law
19 hours agoIn America, Even Judges Have To Take Matters In To Their Own Hands - Above the Law
Judges are increasingly carrying guns for self-protection due to rising threats and inadequate security measures.
#judicial-conduct-code
#judicial-conduct-code
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#legal-ethics #supreme-court #judicial-independence #judicial-misconduct #judicial-conduct #ai-in-law
Higher education
fromAbove the Law
21 hours agoTrump Admin Lawyer Applies To Be Law School Dean, Suggests It Might Help Investigations Go Away - Above the Law
Joshua Kleinfeld's application for dean at George Mason University raises ethical concerns amid ongoing investigations into the university's DEI policies.
US politics
fromSlate Magazine
3 days agoOne Justice Just Took Surprise Aim at Brett Kavanaugh. There May Be a Bigger Strategy at Play.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticizes Justice Kavanaugh's support for race-based detentions, highlighting his lack of understanding of the impact on affected individuals.
#legal-ethics
Law
fromAbove the Law
17 hours agoLegal Ethics Roundup: Billing 34.5 Hours In A Day, New ABA Recusal Opinion, Shortcomings In SCOTUS Ethics Rules, Pro Se AI Sanctions, Extra Time For Bar Exam, Purging Immigration Judges & More - Above the Law
Lawyers must disclose information that could lead to a judge's disqualification, balancing this with client confidentiality obligations.
Law
fromAbove the Law
4 weeks agoLegal Ethics Roundup: New DOJ Attorney Rule Sparks Opposition, Rebuke For Judge's 'Vulgar Barroom Talk,' Invisible Ethics For Lawmakers & More - Above the Law
Department of Justice attorneys are departing en masse due to pressure to ignore legal ethics rules, resulting in poorly prepared briefs, unprepared attorneys, and violated court orders.
Law
fromAbove the Law
17 hours agoLegal Ethics Roundup: Billing 34.5 Hours In A Day, New ABA Recusal Opinion, Shortcomings In SCOTUS Ethics Rules, Pro Se AI Sanctions, Extra Time For Bar Exam, Purging Immigration Judges & More - Above the Law
Lawyers must disclose information that could lead to a judge's disqualification, balancing this with client confidentiality obligations.
Law
fromAbove the Law
3 weeks agoLegal Ethics Roundup: Judges As TV Analysts, New CA Lawyer Civility Oath, Pizza Deliveries And Death Threats To Judges, 'Perilous War' On Legal Ethics In Gov And Politics & More - Above the Law
Legal ethics discussions this week focus on new books and events related to lawyering and the legal system's challenges.
Law
fromAbove the Law
4 weeks agoLegal Ethics Roundup: New DOJ Attorney Rule Sparks Opposition, Rebuke For Judge's 'Vulgar Barroom Talk,' Invisible Ethics For Lawmakers & More - Above the Law
Department of Justice attorneys are departing en masse due to pressure to ignore legal ethics rules, resulting in poorly prepared briefs, unprepared attorneys, and violated court orders.
Philosophy
fromAbove the Law
3 weeks agoYou Can't Salvage A Bad Judge By Calling Them Postmodern - Above the Law
Postmodern analysis offers useful concepts for understanding contemporary disenchantment with traditional meaning systems, exemplified by judicial figures like Lawrence VanDyke who adopt unconventional approaches to legal writing.
fromSlate Magazine
2 weeks agoDOJ Lawyers Just Had to Make One of Their Most Embarrassing Confessions Yet
The Department of Justice offered a startling confession to a court on Tuesday, acknowledging that it repeatedly made a 'material mistaken statement of fact' while defending Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of noncitizens at immigration court.
US politics
fromAbove the Law
1 month agoDiscovery As Truth-Seeking: Win Hard Without Playing Hide-The-Ball - Above the Law
Effective discovery requires more than compliance - it requires strategy. Litigators can balance expansive discovery rights and privacy concerns without slowing cases down through practical, results-focused approaches that consider proportionality, electronically stored information management, and the specific discovery rules applicable to their jurisdiction.
Intellectual property law
fromIPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
1 month agoWhen Lawyers Need Help: Supporting Colleagues While Protecting Clients
The legal profession rewards endurance, precision and control. It also quietly normalizes stress, isolation and overextension. For patent practitioners and other IP lawyers, the pressures are uniquely acute: compressed prosecution deadlines, high-stakes litigation exposure, often unrealistic client-driven budget constraints, regulatory whiplash at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and increasingly complex technologies layered with global filing and prosecution strategy.
Intellectual property law
#judicial-conduct
Law
fromAbove the Law
1 month ago'We Are Better Than This,' Say Ninth Circuit Judges Despite All Evidence To The Contrary - Above the Law
Judge Lawrence VanDyke of the Ninth Circuit has authored inflammatory and unprofessional dissents using crude language and personal attacks against colleagues, contradicting the ABA's initial assessment of his qualifications.
Law
fromAbove the Law
2 weeks agoBiglaw To D.C. Circuit: This Isn't Just About Us - It's About Whether The President Can Put Lawyers On A Leash - Above the Law
The fight over Trump-era executive orders targeting Biglaw firms intensifies as firms argue these orders threaten constitutional independence and the rule of law.
fromAbove the Law
2 months agoDOJ Attacks Judge, Claims Judicial Immunity For Itself - Above the Law
If you are a lawyer, are interested in being an AUSA, and support President Trump and anti-crime agenda, DM me. We need good prosecutors. And DOJ is hiring across the country. Now is your chance to join the mission and do good for our country.- Chad Mizelle (@chad_mizelle) January 31, 2026
US politics
US politics
fromAbove the Law
2 months agoJudicial Candidate Learns The Hard Way That Extortion Is Not A Campaign Strategy - Above the Law
Incumbent Judge Lauren Reeder successfully removed challenger Kimberly McTorry from the ballot after a court found allegations of coercion, coordinated social-media pressure, and forged or invalid signatures.
#judicial-independence
Law
fromABA Journal
1 month agoNearly 200 former judges denounce claim that courts are ignoring Supreme Court orders
Over 175 former federal and state judges denounce Trump administration claims that district courts are ignoring Supreme Court orders, calling such attacks an extraordinary assault on the judiciary.
fromAbove the Law
2 months agoBrutal, Humiliating Benchslap Puts An End To Lindsey Halligan Experiment - Above the Law
Lindsey Halligan has finally done the one thing the Department of Justice steadfastly refused to do for months: acknowledge reality. Following an extended farce of legally illiterate cosplay as the "United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia," Halligan had to hang up her wings and tutu as Judge David Novak declared that playtime was over. In an 18-page benchslapping, Judge Novak formally barred Halligan from
US politics
Law
fromLawSites
3 weeks agoSixth Circuit Slaps Steep Sanctions on Two Lawyers for Fake Citations and Misrepresentations in Appellate Briefs
The 6th Circuit imposed substantial sanctions on two Tennessee attorneys for filing briefs containing over two dozen fabricated or misrepresented citations, ordering $15,000 fines each plus joint responsibility for appellees' attorney fees and double costs.
Law
fromAbove the Law
4 weeks agoThe Rule Of Law Joins America's Dead Pets On The Rainbow Bridge - Above the Law
Trump attorney John Lauro claimed the DOJ improved under Attorney General Pam Bondi, contradicting legal observers who view current conditions as a constitutional crisis threatening prosecutorial independence.
fromAbove the Law
2 months agoDOJ Lawyer Asks To Be Held In Contempt So She Can Sleep - Above the Law
The situation in Minnesota continues to prove an abject nightmare. The Trump administration continues to ignore and flagrantly undermine judges. If the administration put half as much effort into honoring its legal obligations as it places into attacking judges on social media, perhaps they wouldn't be staring down a massive staffing crisis - a crisis they're trying to resolve by asking people on Elon Musk's pornification site to sign up as AUSAs.
US politics
Law
fromAbove the Law
1 month agoLegalweek's Annual Judicial Panel: A Clear And Present Danger To Our Judges - And The Rule Of Law - Above the Law
Federal judges face escalating threats, harassment, and violence from those who disagree with their rulings, creating a crisis threatening judicial independence and the rule of law.
Law
fromAbove the Law
1 month agoJust 2 Federal Law Clerks Filed Complaints Against Judges Last Year - Above the Law
Federal law clerks face systemic barriers preventing misconduct complaints against judges, with only two JCDA complaints filed in 2025 despite 106 documented cases of mistreatment in 2023.
Law
fromAbove the Law
1 month agoSCOTUS Justices Air Internal Debate Over Shadow Docket At Public Event - Above the Law
Justices Jackson and Kavanaugh disagree on the Supreme Court's emergency docket, with Jackson criticizing its use to implement policies before legal challenges are resolved, while Kavanaugh defends it as a necessary structural feature of modern governance.
Law
fromAbove the Law
1 month agoLegal Ethics Roundup: Ethics Whiplash Over Executive Orders + FL Bondi Complaint, DOJ Takes On State Discipline, Spike In Judicial Conduct Complaints & More - Above the Law
Judicial misconduct complaints against federal judges spiked nearly 23% last year to over 1,850, potentially driven by increased public criticism of judges and courts.
Law
fromAbove the Law
1 month agoLegal Ethics Roundup: Ethics Of AI Glasses In Court, Gambling Lawyer Guilty, SCOTUS Restricts Access to Counsel, Judge's Novel Recusal & More - Above the Law
Legal ethics headlines cover lawyer and judge responsibilities, including AI misuse sanctions, security threats to justices, and professional misconduct cases.
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