There are various ways in which lawyers can run into legal-related problems or issues of legal ethics including civil lawsuits, legal malpractice, and breach of fiduciary duty or lawyer criminality and its consequences for discipline.
Topics: legal malpractice, legal ethics, civil lawsuits, fiduciary duty, lawyer criminality, and discipline.
WITNESSES AND SWEARING “THE” OATH
TRUTH, WHOLE TRUTH, NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH Michael Sean Quinn In America, and other places, just before they testify, witnesses are required to swear or affirm an oath that looks like this: "Do you swear or affirm that you will tell the truth, the whole...
LAW FIRM’S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ERROR CAUSES NEEDLESS LOSS
ANTI-SPAM INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) ERROR INDUCES LEGAL MALPRACTICE Emerald Coast Utilities Authorities v. Bear Marcus Pointe, LLC, A Florida Limited Liability Company, # 1D15-5714 (Fla. 1st Dist. Court of Appeals, decided August 10, 2017) Roughly speaking, a...
LEGAL DISCOURSE & SEMANTICS
TRUTHS, LIES AND UNTRUTHFULNESS Michael Sean Quinn, Ph.D., J.D.* In a deposition not long ago, I was asked whether I thought a liability insurance company defending an insured had a duty to be truthful with the insured. I...
ADVICE FOR LAWYERS
THOUGH NOT LEGAL ADVICE LAWYERS ARE NOT WELL ADVISED TO SENT CLIENT SECRETS ACCIDENTALLY TO NEWS PAPERS, TV OR RADIO MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA OUTFITS WHEN DRUNK OR ITS EQUIVALENT. TREAT THIS AS MORAL OR ETHICAL ADVICE IF YOU WSH. Michael Sean Quinn, Ph.D.,...
Debtor’s Rights
IDIOT CREDITORS Michael Sean Quinn, Ph.D., J.D. Memo to Besieged Debtors: If a creditor unjustly badgers you, consider complaining to it directly, just as it complains to you. The chances are it has fouled something up. Don't give up. If you...
QUINN’S OBSERVATIONS (ETC) ON LAW PRACTICE
OBSERVATIONS, RECOLLECTIONS, OCCASIONAL SUGGESTIONS SOME INITIAL OBSERVATIONS Michael Sean Quinn* I conjecture that there are a goodly number of lawyers who more-or-less fit at least some of the following descriptions and who have similar problems. I...
DEPOSITION QUESTIONING
Leading Questions and Depositions: A Modest Proposal Michael Sean Quinn* Many lawyers taking depositions focus on non-leading questions to find out what the witness is going to say. They see leading questions as restricted, or best used only, in cross...
LYING AND LITIGATION
NATION OF LIARS--TAKING THE OATH MAKE A DIFFERENCE? MICHAEL SEAN QUINN* Consider the following quote: Lying, it turns out, is something that most of us are very adept at. We lie with ease, in ways big and small, to strangers, co-workers, friends and loved ones....
REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION: TWO THEORIES OF MEANING
MEANING OF KEY WORDS: "ADMIT," "DENY," "UNABLE" Michael Sean Quinn* The law on the topic under discussion here is almost the same everywhere, but not completely. As is common in Quinn's blogs, however, Texas law is used as a paradigm, for better or for worse. Much of...
LEGAL MALPRACTICE IN TEXAS
(AND MOST EVERYWHERE ELSE) A successfully prosecuted cause of action for what is generally thought of as the tort of legal malpractice is as follows: (1) The defendant attorney owed the plaintiff a duty as the result...
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