Civility, niceness, and more specifically incivility and meanness, are big news today.

Tagged with: Ethics Stacie Rosenzweig

The New Year has brought a new turn for the state's ethics rules for the use of technology.

Tagged with: Dean Dietrich Ethics Margaret Raymond Social media

Corporate counsel don’t often end up as the subject of disciplinary cases before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but that doesn’t mean they can’t go astray just as easily as other sorts of lawyers.

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The Senate ethics panel has dismissed three complaints against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin over her firing of a top-level staff member and handling of allegations at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Tagged with: Ethics Tammy Baldwin

The Wisconsin Supreme Court sets the rules governing when and how judges can accept gifts.

Tagged with: Dean Dietrich Ethics Janine Geske Ruder Ware Shirley Abrahamson Wisconsin Supreme Court

A former deputy state director for U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin filed an ethics complaint against the Wisconsin Democrat on Monday, saying Baldwin unfairly faulted her for mishandling reports of problems at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center.

Tagged with: Ethics Tammy Baldwin

The rules of professional responsibility, much like the wheels of justice, are slow to come around.

Tagged with: ABA Ethics Nate Cade On Ethics Professional Responsibility Social media

U.S. Rep. Tom Petri has paid nearly $140,000 for legal representation in an ethics investigation into his stock holdings that he requested, according to campaign finance reports filed this week.

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A Madison criminal defense attorney is accused of illegally passing items to an inmate he was visiting in a Portage prison.

Tagged with: Ethics OLR

Ah, the holiday party; a time to reconnect, network and, if you’re not careful, commit an ethics violation.

Tagged with: Ethics Nate Cade State Bar Tom Sheehan

Lawyers must abide by ethical rules in all areas of their practice — including how they market themselves online.

Tagged with: Cannon & Dunphy Ethics Habush Habush & Rottier Social media

State ethics committees have struggled for decades with applying traditional ethics rules to new forms of electronic communications.

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Judges must follow the ethics rules governing social relationships and contacts when engaged in electronic social networking, an American Bar Association committee has made clear in a new ethics opinion.

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The top lawyer at the National Labor Relations Board violated federal ethics rules by helping investigate a case involving Wal-Mart Stores Inc. despite holding a financial interest in the company, the board's inspector general has found.

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A lawyer can make a tough client.

Tagged with: Boardman & Clark LLP Claude Covelli Ethics malpractice Quarles & Brady LLP

Gov. Scott Walker says the process for reviewing complaints against sitting state Supreme Court justices must be one that instills confidence, but he won't say whether changes should be brought.

Tagged with: Ann Walsh Bradley choke David Prosser Ethics Scott Walker Supreme Court

Three of the five people whom Gov. Scott Walker appointed to a commission to investigate Supreme Court Justice David Prosser were recommended by a former Assembly speaker who once worked for Prosser.

Tagged with: Ann Walsh Bradley choke David Prosser Ethics Fred Risser Scott Walker

The state Supreme Court won't reconsider a lawsuit challenging Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining law without Justice Michael Gableman.

Tagged with: Annette Ziegler collective bargaining David Prosser Ethics Ismael Ozanne Michael Best & Friedrich Michael Gableman Patience Roggensack Patrick Crooks Shirley Abrahamson Supreme Court

The Wisconsin Judicial Commission unanimously decided in January to file an ethics complaint against Supreme Court Justice David Prosser but split 3-3 a month later on whether to reconsider the decision, according to records released Wednesday.

Tagged with: Ann Walsh Bradley choke David Prosser Ethics

A Milwaukee attorney now living in California lost his law license for one year after defaulting on 14 disciplinary charges filed against him by the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation.

Tagged with: Ethics Hannah Dugan Milwaukee County Circuit Court office of lawyer regulation OLR Supreme Court

Ethics violation accusations against Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser stemming from an argument with a fellow justice may not move forward if his colleagues agree to recuse themselves from the case.

Tagged with: Ann Walsh Bradley choke David Prosser Ethics Pat Roggensack Shirley Abrahamson

It comes as no surprise that we as lawyers must avoid violating our profession’s unique ethics rules.

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Assembly Democrats are proposing a series of reforms that would make the state Legislature subject to the open meetings law and force members of the Supreme Court to step down from cases involving law firms they've received donations from.

Tagged with: Ethics Michael Gableman Peter Barca Supreme Court

Several Democratic members of the Senate sent a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts this week urging him to release the Supreme Court’s ethics rules and confirm the court’s justices follow the same ethics code that binds other federal judges.

Tagged with: Clarence Thomas Elena Kagan Ethics John Roberts Supreme Court

Legal ethics news this year ran the gamut from high-tech – can I friend the employee of an opposing party? – to more traditional challenges, such as attorney advertising and judicial recusal.

Tagged with: ABA American Bar Association Clarence Thomas Ethics recusal Supreme Court

A recent Florida Bar opinion advising that lawyers have an ethical duty to sanitize their storage devices has put a spotlight on how attorneys handle their discarded equipment.

Tagged with: American Bar Association Ethics technology

An American Bar Association ethics panel has proposed rule changes that would make it easier for lawyers to engage in cross-border practice, while making clear that one’s “virtual presence” in another jurisdiction may trigger a rule violation.

Tagged with: ABA American Bar Association Ethics

Though Wisconsin has closed the book on investigating a controversial pay-per-lead website and other states have done the same, ethics professionals advise lawyers to use caution with similar advertising models.

Tagged with: Dean Dietrich Ethics Rules of Professional Conduct Wisconsin State Bar

There was a time when the professional responsibility courses were regarded as the Rodney Dangerfield portion of the curriculum, that is “they got no respect” because, among other reasons, they were not considered a substantive subject like civil procedure or really useful like trial practice, torts or contracts.

Tagged with: Ethics Professional Responsibility

The ABA Ethics Commission 20/20 recently met to discuss a package of proposals that are likely to affect small and solo law firms.

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