Ed. note: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, Legal Ethics Roundup, here.
Happy Monday!
Hello (again) from DC. I’m back for a conference on college athletics governance, one of several governance and ethics issues on my calendar this week. More on that below.
Highlights from Last Week – Top Ten Headlines 📰
#1 “Judge Taps Ex-Prosecutor to Probe Lawyer Conduct in Trump Golf Course Fight.” From The Washington Post: “A federal judge said Saturday that she intends to appoint Jessie K. Liu, the former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia during President Donald Trump’s first term, to investigate whether Justice and Interior Department lawyers committed ethical violations in the legal fight over the administration’s plans for East Potomac Golf Links. U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes identified Liu as her choice to serve as a special master, an outside investigator who would assist the court in examining the government’s conduct in the case.” Read more here (gift link).
#2 “Arkansas Court Official Tampered With Bar Exam Results, Prosecutor Says.” From Reuters: “A former Arkansas court administrator is facing felony charges after an investigation uncovered ‘extensive irregularities’ with bar exam results from 2020 to 2025, prosecutors said. Nancie Givens, who resigned her position as executive director of the Supreme Court of Arkansas’ Office of Professional Programs in February, faces 65 felony counts of tampering with a public record, Sixth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones announced on Thursday.” Read more here.
#3 “New York State Bar Association Tells Lawyers Not to Bill for Time Saved by AI.” From the ABA Journal: “The New York State Bar Association is calling for restrictions on how much lawyers can bill clients for the amount of time saved using artificial intelligence tools or expended learning how to use them.” Read more here.
#4 “Judge Questions Federal Role in Ed Martin Ethics Case.” From Law360: “A D.C. federal judge struggled Tuesday to see how he could preside over a state attorney ethics proceeding if U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin gets his way and keeps the case.” Read more here.
#5 “Texas’ Next Top Justice Wants to Return to ABA Accreditation.” From Bloomberg Law: “Texas’ next chief justice of the state supreme court, Democrat Maggie Ellis, wants the state to again let the American Bar Association accredit law schools. Earlier this year, the all-Republican court voted to end the state’s decades long relationship over the ABA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements. The move tracked attacks on the group by the Trump administration and other Republican states. But after four Democrats, including Ellis, unseated GOP incumbents Tuesday, she said she wants to revisit that decision when she joins and leads the nine-justice court in January. ‘My hope is that we’re able to each share ideas and the new supreme court can look at it and not base it on following in the footsteps of initiatives of the governor,’ Ellis told Bloomberg Law on Thursday.” Read more here.
#6 “Ex-Sidley Associate Becomes First Gen Z Woman Elected to Congress.” From Law.com: “Melat Kiros had worked at Sidley as a first-year associate in New York for about a year when the law firm terminated her in November 2023 for penning an open letter on Medium titled, ‘Dear Law Firms.’” Read more here.
#7 “The Ethics Rules Behind Weil Gotshal’s ‘Partner Run.’” From The Wall Street Journal: “Bans on outside ownership and noncompete agreements make it hard for law firms to innovate—and sometimes even to survive.” Read more here (gift link).
#8 “Government Backs ‘Comprehensive Review’ of Legal Services Regulation.” From LegalFutures (UK): “The government is to undertake a ‘comprehensive review’ of whether legal services regulation remains fit for purpose, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) revealed today. Legal services minister Sarah Sackman said she agreed with the conclusion of the Lloyd review earlier this year that ‘significant change is needed to strengthen the effectiveness of legal services regulation.’” Read more here.
#9 “Is Legal Advice Developed By Or With An AI System Legally Privileged?” From JD Supra: “A year ago, we published an analysis on legal privilege and AI. At the time, there was limited judicial or regulatory guidance on how using AI in legal work might affect privilege, and no case law on the issue, so we took a first principles approach. In this article, we revisit this topic with the benefit of recent case law in key jurisdictions, judicial commentary and regulatory guidance. As before, we concentrate on the impact of AI on legal advice privilege over litigation privilege, where the impact of the use of AI may have a different result.” Read more here.
#10 “The New Hot Job in Law Doesn’t Require a J.D.” From The New York Times: “Big law firms, legal tech vendors, and in-house legal departments at companies like Microsoft and Nvidia are all hiring legal engineers, a new position for lawyers with A.I. skills.” Read more here (gift link).
On My Calendar 🗓️
This week takes me to Washington, DC, Springfield, MO, and Palm Springs, CA. In DC, I’ll attend The Governance Challenge in College Athletics, a conference hosted by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). I was appointed to AGB’s Council of Public Board Leaders this fall.
Then I’m off to Springfield, where I was born and where many members of my extended family still live, for a special Veterans Day event honoring relatives who served in World War II.
My week concludes in Palm Springs for an ABA Accreditation Council meeting. You’re welcome to join our open session on Friday, November 13, from 1–3PM PST, either in person or virtually. The agenda and registration information are available here.
Looking for other upcoming ethics events? You’ll find a list here.
Keep in Touch 📝
- News tips? Announcements? Events? A job to post? Reading recommendations? Email legalethics@substack.com – but be sure to subscribe first, otherwise the email won’t be delivered.
Renee Knake Jefferson holds the endowed Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics and is a Professor of Law at the University of Houston. Check out more of her writing at the Legal Ethics Roundup. Find her on X (formerly Twitter) at @reneeknake or Bluesky at legalethics.bsky.social.
The post Legal Ethics Roundup: DOJ Ethics Probe, Bar Exam Tampering, AI Billing Limits, TX Reconsiders ABA Accreditation Council, Biglaw Shakeup, AI Privilege & More appeared first on Above the Law.