Most lawyers know that you can’t disclose a current client’s confidential information. But many lawyers—when they are either telling a war story or are trying to illustrate a point— voluntarily reveal confidential information about their former clients. Lawyers also are tempted to use their former clients’ confidential information when they are offered a lucrative case […]
Years ago, I represented a lawyer in a lawsuit against his former law partner. Our defendant had abused his law partners, stolen from the firm, and then tried to insult them during a settlement conference by suggesting that his cufflinks cost more than their entire wardrobes. After a weeklong trial, the jury returned a large […]
Texas law recognizes judicial admissions, which “are assertions of fact, not pleaded in the alternative, in the live pleadings of a party.” Lyons v. Lindsey Morden Claims Mgmt., 985 S.W.2d 86, 92 (Tex. App.—El Paso 1999, no pet.) (citation omitted). In other words, a judicial admission is a factual statement made by a party to […]
There is a reason that major trials today almost always involve appellate lawyers on both sides. The best trial lawyers in America recognize the value an appellate lawyer adds to the trial team—and the danger inherent in proceeding without one. Unfortunately, too many clients remain reluctant to incur the costs associated with having an appellate […]
Tell me if you’ve been here: the client comes in and tells a story that sounds like it just might be a really good case. In fact, it might even settle without two years of discovery—if you can just package present it properly. You ask some pointed questions about when these events occurred and quickly […]
Traditionally, when major wire houses recruited brokers as trainees or from other firms, they required these brokers to sign non-solicitation agreements preventing them from soliciting employees and customers of the firms when they left for greener pastures. For many years, our firm represented Morgan Stanley in suing brokers who left the firm and violated the […]
Advances in technology have made it very easy to record what people say. Not so long ago, the decision to record a phone call or personal meeting required advance planning. People did not walk around with recording equipment at the ready, so a decision to record usually required a specific purpose and a plan to […]
In 2015, the Supreme Court of Texas decided Cantey Hanger, LLP v. Byrd, 467 S.W.3d 477 (Tex. 2015), clarifying what is known as the “attorney immunity doctrine.” Essentially, the doctrine posits that, “as a general rule, attorneys are immune from civil liability to non-clients ‘for actions taken in connection with representing clients in litigation.’” Id. […]
Hiring a lawyer is an important decision. It should involve knowing more than just what certificates a lawyer has on the wall. Most of the people who know me well would say that one of the qualities which most defines me is my willingness to share my beliefs and my thoughts—and to hear yours too. […]
We are both blessed and cursed that people who want to sue their lawyers dial our phone number a lot. We spend a tremendous amount of time screening cases to separate the ones that can get to the finish line from those that can’t. Many times when we meet with potential clients, they say “just […]
