Ed. note: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, Legal Ethics Roundup, here.
Welcome to what captivates, haunts, inspires, and surprises me every week in the world of legal ethics.
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Here are your headlines.
Highlights from Last Week – Top Ten Headlines 📰
#1 ABA Issues New Opinion on Judicial Ethics. Two headlines for #1. First, “ABA Formal Opinion 521 Re: Judicial Canons of Ethics Applying to Administrative, Supervisory Role,” from the American Bar Association: “The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released a formal opinion that provides guidance on the ethical obligations of judges under the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct when exercising administrative, employment and supervisory authority. Formal Opinion 521 says that the canons and rules governing impartiality, integrity and independence — particularly Canons 1 and 2 and associated rules — require judges to administer chambers and court staff with the same fairness and neutrality that guide adjudication. This opinion explains that ethical duties extend beyond the courtroom to include merit-based appointments, the prevention of bias and harassment and the avoidance of favoritism or the appearance of impropriety in all administrative decisions. Judges fulfill these obligations by ensuring that their use of administrative authority promotes public confidence in the judiciary’s independence and integrity.” Read more here. Second, “Judges Only Hiring Clerks From Their Alma Maters is Bad Look, New ABA Ethics Opinion Says,” from the ABA Journal: “Judges should use merit-based selection for court hires and not use their positions to influence outside officials, according to an ethics opinion released Wednesday by the ABA. Additionally, Formal Opinion 521, from the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, states that jurists have ethical obligations extending far beyond the bench. Promoting and preserving public trust in the judicial system ‘requires attention to both substance and perception,’ according to the opinion. Numerous rules from the ABA’s Model Code of Judicial Conduct are referenced in the ethics opinion, which includes various scenarios that may cause concern.” Read more here.
#2 “Supreme Court Adopts Automated Recusal Software to Avoid Ethics Conflicts.” From CNN: “The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will start using software to assist in justices’ decisions to recuse themselves from cases that present a potential conflict of interest. A brief press release issued by the court described an electronic matching process already used by some lower courts to compare a case’s parties to lists judges assemble of individuals and organizations they have ties to. A 2023 code of conduct statement from the justices said they were considering adopting such a tool themselves.” Read more here.
#3 “Illinois Lawmakers Seek to Limit Private Equity in Law Firms.” From JD Journal: “Illinois lawmakers are advancing new legislation that would significantly restrict the role of private equity firms and outside investors in the state’s legal industry, signaling growing concern over how financial backing could reshape the practice of law. The proposed measures, introduced in the Illinois General Assembly, seek to reinforce longstanding ethical rules that prohibit non-lawyer ownership of law firms. As private equity firms increasingly explore partnerships with legal organizations through management services organizations (MSOs) and similar structures, lawmakers say clearer statutory guardrails are needed to protect attorney independence and client interests.” Read more here.
#4 “Top Lawyers’ Fees Have Surged—Here’s Why $3,400.” From The Wall Street Journal: “That’s the hourly rate charged by some senior partners at the largest U.S. law firms, according to data from Persuit. Legal fees have escalated to once-unthinkable levels for several reasons, including a more competitive market for talent and the high stakes of litigation and corporate dealmaking. And perhaps most of all, ego. … Some lawyers with specialized skills are even more aggressively pushing the upper limit. Eric Troutman, a partner at a Southern California firm, has already told his clients that he is upping his rates to $6,000 for consulting on compliance issues in his niche specialty of telecom regulation. Last year he charged $4,200 an hour.” Read more here (gift link).
#5 “Legal Leaders Take Historic Step To Protect Americans Under Guardianship, Conservatorship.” From Forbes: “In July 2021, in the midst of her prolonged public battle to end her father’s appointment as her conservator, popstar Britney Spears testified that she had just learned that she could ask for the conservatorship to be ended: ‘I’m sorry for my ignorance,’ she told the judge in her case, ‘but I honestly didn’t know that.’ Spears’ apology suggested that the attorney who had been hired to represent her had not actually informed her of a key option. This month, the American Bar Association (ABA) took an historic step to prevent such problems. It revised its ethics rules for attorneys to make it clear that they must advocate for their clients’ wishes even when their clients are—as Ms. Spears was—under guardianship or conservatorship.” Read more here.
#6 “The Slaughtering of the Mansfield Rule – And Why It Hurts.” From Vivia Chen’s Ex-Careerist Substack: “Just a few weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission sent ’warning letters’ to 42 law firms that participated in a program aimed at improving female and minority representation at the top echelons of the legal profession. The FTC warned that their DEI efforts threatened competition, ‘with the effect of reducing pay and other benefits below competitive levels.’ That’s right, DEI is a form of price fixing that violates antitrust laws. Who knew that the real agenda of DEI was market manipulation? … [The] Diversity Lab, which ran the program (known as the Mansfield Rule), is essentially gutted. Diversity Lab founder Caren Ulrich Stacy informed participating firms in a February 12 email that the program is no longer viable because of continuous assaults by the Trump administration” Read more here.
#7 “Update: Judge Rakoff Issues Written Opinion That AI-Generated Documents Are Not Protected by Privilege.” From Debevoise & Plimpton: “Last week, we wrote about a decision in which Judge Rakoff of the Southern District of New York denied the claim of defendant Bradley Heppner that documents prepared by Heppner using the consumer version of the AI model Claude for legal research were privileged. On February 17, 2026, Judge Rakoff issued a written opinion explaining the reasoning behind his February 10 ruling.” Read more here.
#8 “Jeffrey Epstein Gave Her a $9,350 Handbag, But Did Goldman Sachs’ Departing Top Lawyer Violate Any Rules?” From Reuters: “Goldman Sachs top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler faced fierce criticism on social media and calls for her ouster following revelations that she accepted thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts from Jeffrey Epstein when she was previously a partner at a law firm. As a matter of attorney ethics, her conduct didn’t appear to violate any professional rules — but it raised questions of judgment, some legal ethics experts told me. … Ethics rules for lawyers offer few guardrails on the propriety of accepting gifts. Most state bars have adopted an American Bar Association rule that says a lawyer may not solicit a ‘substantial’ gift from a client. But the rule doesn’t prevent a lawyer from accepting an unsolicited client gift, no matter how valuable, said Fordham School of Law ethics professor Bruce Green. Nor are lawyers barred from soliciting or accepting substantial gifts from a former client or other non-client.” Read more here.
#9 “A Legal Practitioner’s Guide to AI & Hallucinations.” From the National Center for State Courts: “AI tools are transforming legal work with the ability to scan millions of cases, statutes, and regulations in seconds. These systems use machine learning, natural language processing, and large language models trained on vast legal datasets to ‘understand’ legal terminology and concepts within their specific domains, and provide insights, identify relationships, and generate content requested by a user. Beyond serving legal professionals, AI is expanding access to legal help for people navigating the legal system without an attorney. Chatbots and virtual assistants can prepare legal materials and assist with governmental filings, making verification of AI outputs even more critical. Using AI carries both responsibilities and risks for legal professionals, who may be tempted to overrely on AI output without adequate verification. This guidance helps attorneys and other legal practitioners understand how generative AI works, what it does and does not do well, and how to use it responsibly.” Read more and download the guide here.
#10 Law School Accreditation News. It was a big week for law school accreditation news, so you get three headlines for #10. First, “Top Judicial Officials Form Workgroup Studying Law School Accreditation,” From the ABA Journal: “As the path forward for law school accreditation is reconsidered in several states, a group of chief justices and court administrators launched a workgroup this week to dig deep into accreditation, including the role of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The group of the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators was created seven months after the Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform’s 2025 report, which recommends ‘law school accreditation that serves the public’ and proposed the creation of this workgroup.” Read more here. Second, “ABA Weighing Repeal of Law School Diversity Standard,” from Law.com: “The American Bar Association’s accrediting council voted Friday to send a repeal of Standard 206 for notice and comment. Following an emotional discussion about the future of the American Bar Association’s accreditation standard that governs diversity and inclusion requirements in law school admissions, the ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has decided to advance a proposal to repeal the standard. The council voted Friday to send a proposed repeal of the standard out for notice and comment and extend the current suspension of Standard 206 until Aug. 31, 2027. A year ago, the council voted to suspend the standard until Aug. 31, 2025 and then extended the suspension during its May meeting until the end of August 2026.” Read more here. Third, “ABA Council to Seek Comment on Inclusion of Alternative Licensure Pathways Language in Accreditation Standards,” from Law.com: “The council voted Friday to send the proposed changes out for notice and comment, which are intended to ‘modernize the language’ to ‘explicitly recognize that law school graduates may achieve attorney licensure through means other than a bar exam.’” Read more here. (Full disclosure: I am a member of the Accreditation Council for the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.)
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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: SCOTUS’s New Recusal Software, Is $9,350 Handbag Gift A Legal Ethics Violation?, IL May Limit Firm Investment, ‘Slaughtering’ Mansfield Rule, Law School Accreditation & More appeared first on Above the Law.