sunEthics
Covering legal ethics, judicial ethics, bar admissions in Florida, Tennessee, and nationally. See our Subject Index to past postings.
A conviction is reversed when trial counsel was found ineffective for misadvising the defendant about the number of his prior felony convictions in a case that was a “credibility contest" . . . (see more) [Added 1/22/26]
The ABA will no longer be the sole law school accrediting agency for eligibility to sit for the Florida Bar exam, per the Florida Supreme Court . . . (see more) [Added 1/16/26]
A court erred in finding a proposal for settlement ambiguous because it failed to properly analyze the proposal as a whole . . . (see more) [Added 1/15/26]
The Supreme Court rejects a proposal from the Attorney General’s Office to allow full, but temporary, bar admission for up to 3 years for certain government lawyers . . . (see more) [Added 1/13/26]
The Fourth DCA reverses a ruling that each party prevailed on a significant issue in a contempt proceeding and instead allows one party to recover prevailing party fees . . . (see more) [Added 1/9/26]
The Second DCA orders disqualification of a judge who erred in denying a successive motion to disqualify and a renewed successive motion . . . (see more) [Added 1/6/26]
An order setting aside a foreclosure sale is reversed because the objecting party had notice of the sale through its counsel . . . (see more) [Added 1/2/26]
The Fifth DCA affirms an order disqualifying a lawyer who switched sides in the same case, and then refers him to the Bar . . . (see more) [Added 12/30/25]
The Fourth DCA criticizes a pro se party’s misuse of artificial intelligence in citing to non-existent cases, but declines to impose sanctions . . . (see more) [Added 12/24/25]
The Supreme Court amends Rule 4-8.6 concerning entities authorized to engage in law practice in Florida and nonlawyers holding certain positions or titles in law firms . . . (see more) [Added 12/22/25]
Reminding lawyers “that technological advances do not dispense with ethical obligations,” the Second DCA refers a lawyer to the Bar for filing a brief with misquotes and citations to a non-existent case apparently obtained via artificial intelligence . . . (see more) [Added 12/17/25]
In a reciprocal discipline case, the Supreme Court approves the referee’s finding of misconduct but disbars, rather than suspends, the lawyer . . . (see more) [Added 12/15/25]
A charging lien judgment is reversed because it was based on a prior fee award against the opponent rather than the attorney-client contract . . . (see more) [Added 12/11/25]
An order compelling disclosure of materials claimed to be privileged and work product is quashed because the court’s ruling was based on the author’s job position rather than an individualized review . . . (see more) [Added 12/8/25]
An insurer who paid policy benefits after being sued by insureds must pay prevailing party fees under F.S. 627.428 even though the insureds sued without demanding appraisal under the policy . . . (see more) [Added 12/4/25]
The Supreme Court issues its annual opinion addressing the need to increase or decrease the number of judgeships for fiscal year 2026-2027 . . . (see more) [Added 11/28/25]
The Florida Bar Professional Ethics Committee publishes an advisory opinion regarding lawyers’ use of listservs and online discussion groups . . . (see more) [Added 11/14/25]
The Supreme Court disbars, rather than suspends, a lawyer for intentional misconduct including undisclosed conflicts of interest and diverting trust funds to an entity with which he was affiliated . . . (see more) [Added 9/25/25]
The University of Florida posts the state's highest first-time taker pass rate for the July 2025 general bar examination . . . (see more) [Added 9/22/25]
The Supreme Court amends Bar rules regarding judicial referrals to the Florida Bar and the provision of the Code for Resolving Professionalism Referrals dealing with Bar referrals back to Local Professionalism Panels when no discipline or diversion was imposed . . . (see more) [Added 9/2/25]
The Fourth DCA points out that the standards for use of generative AI (artificial intelligence) in court filings apply equally to pro se litigants and lawyers . . . (see more) [Added 8/15/25]
NEW in Florida Legal Ethics . . .