Ed. observe: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson again to the pages of Above the Legislation. Subscribe to her Substack, Authorized Ethics Roundup, here.
Welcome to what captivates, haunts, conjures up, and surprises me each week on the planet of authorized ethics.
Joyful Monday!
Greetings from Spokane, WA. Right here’s my view as I write this week’s LER within the beautiful Davenport Hotel foyer, inbuilt 1914 and incredibly restored in 2002 after sitting vacant for a few years.
I spoke at Gonzaga Legislation Faculty on Thursday with Scott Cummings (UCLA) and hosted by Abe Ritter (Gonzaga) the place we mentioned “Good Religion and Public Belief in an Erosive Period.” It was nice to meet up with Gonzaga Legislation Dean Jacob Rooksby earlier than he heads to Virginia to change into the new Dean of Richmond Law School. Richmond Legislation is a particular place, and the college is fortunate to have him as their subsequent chief. (The 2 of us have the shared connection of finding out for the Virginia Bar Examination a few a long time in the past in a Richmond Legislation classroom taught by the notorious Wade Berryhill.)
Now on your headlines.
Highlights from Final Week – High 10 Headlines 📰
#1 “Lawyer John Eastman Disbarred for Efforts to Overturn 2020 Election.” From The New York Occasions: “The California Supreme Court docket upheld a decrease court docket’s choice that mentioned Mr. Eastman, had violated the principles {of professional} ethics.” Learn extra here (present hyperlink).
#2 “The Lawyer as Public Citizen Right this moment.” From Kevin Lee in The Exile: “Right here I need to assume concretely about what the ‘public citizen’ phrase [in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct] may imply, not as an abstraction however as a type of follow—and particularly, as a follow of sincerity. Contemplate the historical past of the occupation at its greatest. Constance Baker Motley didn’t merely file briefs; she walked into courtrooms the place her presence itself was an argument about who counted as a full participant in American life. She couldn’t disguise behind process; her physique was the argument. This required a braveness that was not merely tactical however existential—a willingness to be totally current, totally seen, in areas designed to render her invisible.” Learn extra here.
#3 “From Charlie Kirk’s Killing to OJ, How Courtroom Cameras Spark Debate.” From The Washington Submit: “Whether or not cameras ought to be allowed has spurred perpetual disagreement between transparency advocates and protection attorneys wanting to defend shoppers from ignominious publicity that would tilt a jury in opposition to them.” Learn extra here (present hyperlink).
#4 “Supreme Court docket Justice Sotomayor Points Public Apology to Kavanaugh.” From The Wall Avenue Journal: “Supreme Court docket Justice Sonia Sotomayor publicly apologized to Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday after suggesting final week that he didn’t know any blue-collar employees as a result of he had a privileged upbringing.” Learn extra here (present hyperlink).
#5 “Judicial Panel Trims Amicus Rule Change After Privateness Worries.” From Bloomberg Legislation: “A federal judiciary guidelines committee voted to drop a proposed requirement that teams disclose some new members forward of submitting amicus briefs in appeals courts. The Advisory Committee on Appellate Guidelines had spent years weighing a rule change to enhance disclosure round funders of amicus, or ‘friend-of-the-court,’ briefs. However the proposal was pulled months earlier than it was set to enter impact, after high members of the courts’ policy-making physique—the Judicial Convention—mentioned they’d privateness issues a couple of requirement that teams disclose new members who contribute greater than $100 towards the briefs.” Learn extra here.
#6 “Legislation Professors Defend ABA’s Legislation Faculty Variety Rule Forward of Elimination Vote.” From Reuters: “Lots of of regulation professors, deans, college students, legal professionals and bar associations are urging the American Bar Affiliation to not get rid of its longstanding variety and inclusion requirement for regulation colleges, which has come underneath fireplace amid the Trump administration’s widespread marketing campaign in opposition to DEI. The arm of the ABA that oversees U.S. regulation colleges obtained 47 written feedback from people and teams asking it to retain or strengthen the regulation college variety normal and two feedback in assist of repealing the rule throughout a 30-day remark interval that ended on Monday.” Learn extra here. [Full disclosure: I am an elected member of the Accreditation Council for the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.]
#7 “Moral Ramifications of Utilizing AI in Lawyer-Shopper Conversations.” From JDSupra: “On December 22, 2025, the New York Metropolis Bar issued a proper opinion on the ethics for AI use within the recording, transcription, and summarization of conversations between attorneys and shoppers. The opinion of the Skilled Ethics Committee addressed the problems that will come up if the lawyer or the consumer is the one using AI packages, with an emphasis on discover.” Learn extra here.
#8 “Takeaways From the Supreme Court docket’s Shadow Papers.” From The New York Occasions: “Confidential memos written by the justices make clear how they got here to difficulty emergency orders in circumstances in regards to the scope of presidential energy.” Learn extra here (present hyperlink).
#9 “Ohio Supreme Court docket Tosses Longstanding Ban on Judges Endorsing Political Candidates.” From Cleveland.com: “The Ohio Supreme Court docket has opened the door to Ohio judges making political endorsements, overturning a decades-long ban on free-speech grounds. The Supreme Court docket’s 5-1 ruling, issued final week, shortly drew reward from officers like Lawyer Normal Dave Yost, who known as the choice ‘overdue.’” Learn extra here.
#10 “US Justice Division Ought to Keep out of States’ Personal Ethics Investigations.” An op-ed from former Missouri Legislation Dean R. Lawrence Dessem within the Kansas Metropolis Star: “For many years, impartial state lawyer disciplinary our bodies have thoughtfully resolved lawyer misconduct complaints. There is no such thing as a want for, and there are main disadvantages to, centralizing the consideration of lawyer complaints earlier than the DOJ, which has a direct curiosity in how such complaints are resolved. The Division of Justice’s March 4 proposed rule shouldn’t be adopted.” Learn extra here.
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Renee Knake Jefferson holds the endowed Doherty Chair in Authorized Ethics and is a Professor of Legislation on the College of Houston. Try extra of her writing on the Legal Ethics Roundup. Discover her on X (previously Twitter) at @reneeknake or Bluesky at legalethics.bsky.social.
The publish Legal Ethics Roundup: Eastman Disbarred, Sotomayor Apologizes, Ethics Of Cameras In Courtrooms & More appeared first on Above the Law.