Ed. note: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, Legal Ethics Roundup, here.
Hello from Maine. This week I’m writing you from Rockport, Maine, where I’m attending the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) Annual Meeting. Much of the conversation has focused on reforms to legal education, so even though *technically* I am here as a plus-one (my husband is a former president of the CCJ which is how we received an invitation), I feel right at home and I’ve been learning a LOT. As a bonus, I got the chance to catch up with my wonderful former Dean at Michigan State University College of Law, Joan Howarth (UNLV), who spoke about her work on bar exam reforms (for more on that, check out her book Shaping the Bar: the Future of Attorney Licensing).
In addition to your regular list of legal ethics headlines below, this week I want to highlight a piece by Etienne C. Toussaint (South Carolina) in Current Affairs: “How Ta-Nehisi Coates Helped Me See Palestine.” Here’s a brief excerpt:
Eleven years ago, I stood smiling before the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, posing with other Christian tourists as cameras clicked around us, eager to capture proof of our spiritual devotion. We were on a pilgrimage designed to draw us closer to the sacred. Yet just beyond the frame of our photos, checkpoints loomed, armed soldiers patrolled the streets, and Palestinian life endured under occupation. We cropped those inconvenient truths out, not only from our photos but from our consciousness, desperate to preserve the purity of our religious experience. At the time, we believed we were innocent pilgrims. But I now understand that our sense of innocence masked a deeper truth. We were complicit.
That memory, along with my struggle to face my own complicity, has clarified how easily faith can become a veil that obscures our proximity to violence. It has made me think about how often, throughout history, ordinary people have borne witness to brutality not with resistance, but with silence—or worse, with a smile. I used to wonder how someone could stand beneath a lynched Black man—dangling legs grazing the tops of grease-slicked hair, wide-eyed children staring in bewilderment nearby—and pose for the camera. What kind of world cultivates such moral decay that families could discover joy in the public spectacle of Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze?
Then I read “The Gigantic Dream,” the final chapter of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s latest book, The Message. In it, Coates reflects on his visit to the West Bank and explores the parallels between American racial apartheid and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. His vivid observations—of segregated roads, militarized borders, and the quiet complicity of onlookers—made me feel something I couldn’t ignore. As shame washed over me like cold February rain—slow, steady, and sobering—I began to recognize in those silent onlookers a part of myself. The person I had long condemned for their inaction, their silence in the face of white supremacy and racial terror, their ease in the shadow of death, lived in me too.
Read more here.
And now for your headlines, once again too many to limit at ten.
#1 “A DOJ Whistleblower Speaks Out.” From The Daily Podcast (New York Times): “An explosive whistle-blower report claims that the Justice Department is asking government lawyers to lie to the courts, and that this has forced career officials to choose between upholding the Constitution and pledging loyalty to the president. Rachel Abrams speaks to the whistleblower Erez Reuveni about his career in the Justice Department and his complaint saying he was fired for telling the truth.” Listen here. (It’s just under an hour, and well-worth your time.)
#2 “Big Law Firms Bowed to Trump. A Corps of ‘Little Guys’ Jumped in to Fight Him.” From the New York Times: “President Trump’s executive orders seeking to punish big law firms have led some of them to acquiesce to him and left others reluctant to take on pro bono cases that could put them at odds with the administration. But as opponents of the White House’s policies organized to fight Mr. Trump in court on a vast range of actions and policies, they quickly found that they did not need to rely on Big Law. Instead, an army of solo practitioners, former government litigators and small law firms stepped up to volunteer their time to challenge the administration’s agenda. ‘I don’t know if the administration knew how many little guys are out there,’ said Michael H. Ansell, a solo practitioner in Morristown, N.J., who earlier this year joined the Pro Bono Litigation Corps, newly launched by Lawyers for Good Government, a legal nonprofit. He answered the nonprofit’s plea for lawyers willing to give at least 20 hours a week to an upcoming case. More than 80 volunteered.” Read more here (gift link).
#3 “A Slightly Less Sorry State of Disclosure.” From the Fix the Court: “Once again Fix the Court has rated the judicial financial disclosures in the 50 states based on how long it took us to get them — we requested the 2023 and 2024 reports of each state’s chief justice — and the amount of content useful for oversight therein. The report we’re releasing today, termed ‘A Slightly Less Sorry State of Disclosure,’ reflects the changes in New Jersey, Colorado and Hawaii as well as proposed improvements in Michigan and Vermont, both of which may be adding new disclosure categories to their forms in the near future. (The database with links to all the disclosures is here.)” Read more here.
#4 “Disinformation is Driving the Rule of Law Crisis.” From the International Academy of Trial Lawyers : “This week, Joe Tucker sits down with Karen Burgess of Burgess Law in Austin, Texas, to discuss how disinformation is fueling the global Rule of Law crisis. Together, they examine the increasing influence of state actors in driving disinformation campaigns, the rise of deepfakes and AI-generated content, and how social media algorithms are accelerating the dissemination of false narratives that erode trust in courts, elections, and democratic institutions.” Watch here.
#5 “DOJ Appeals Ruling for Jenner & Block in Trump Big Law Battle.” From Bloomberg Law: “The Trump administration’s court battle with Andrew Weissmann’s former law firm is moving to a DC appeals court. The Justice Department on Monday asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review a federal judge’s order that struck down President Trump’s directive against Jenner & Block, according to a notice of appeal filed by Justice Department lawyer Richard Lawson. Trump’s directive against Jenner & Block cited the firm’s previous employment of Andrew Weissmann, a former partner who worked on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Judge John D. Bates of the US District Court for the District of Columbia found Trump’s March 25 order against the firm violated its First Amendment rights by retaliating against Jenner for its work in court and ties to lawyers the president perceives as enemies.” Read more here.
#6 “Ethics Appeal Over Columbia Letter Nixed As Judge Joins USDA.” From Law360: “In its first decision of 2025, the Judicial Conference’s conduct committee on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to the Seventh Circuit Judicial Council’s decision to toss ethics claims against a U.S. Court of International Trade judge who threatened not to hire law clerks from Columbia University over the school’s handling of Israel protests.” Read more here.
#7 “New Bill Aims to Protect State Judges as Threats Surge 400%.” From the Georgia Sun: “A bipartisan bill introduced by Reps. Lucy McBath and Michael McCaul would create the first-ever threat monitoring center for 30,000 state and local judges who currently lack federal protection.” Read more here.
#8 “DOJ Fires Newly Appointed US Attorney in NJ After Judges Vote Against Keeping Alina Habba in Role.” From CNN: “The Department of Justice quickly fired the newly named US attorney in New Jersey on Tuesday after federal judges in the state declined to extend Alina Habba’s interim appointment. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s announcement came after the district court voted to elevate Desiree Leigh Grace, New Jersey’s first assistant US attorney, to replace the Trump ally.” Read more here.
#9 “Judge Scraps Opinion After Lawyer Flags Made-Up Quotes.” From Bloomberg Law: “A New Jersey US district court judge withdrew his decision in a biopharma securities case Wednesday after lawyers complained that his opinion contained numerous errors, including made-up quotes and misstated case outcomes. Judge Julien Xavier Neals of the US District Court for the District of New Jersey on June 30 denied CorMedix Inc.’s request to dismiss a lawsuit by shareholders. ‘That opinion and order were entered in error,’ according to a notice the court posted in the case docket on Wednesday. ‘A subsequent opinion and order will follow.’” Read more here.
#10 “Ohio to Review ABA Accreditation for Lawyers as Political Pressures Mount.” From Reuters: “Ohio on Thursday became the third U.S. state to reconsider rules requiring attorneys to attend an American Bar Association-accredited law school to be admitted to practice, after the Trump administration threatened to revoke the ABA’s status as the federal government’s designated accreditor of law schools due to its diversity and inclusion efforts. The Supreme Court of Ohio said it has convened an advisory committee to review its law school accreditation process, citing a need to ensure ‘excellence and innovation.’ Texas and Florida have launched similar reviews.” Read more here.
#11 “Stefanik Ethics Complaint Against D.C. Judge Is Tossed.” From Bloomberg Law: “A Washington federal judge who lamented the impact of the ‘big lies’ on Capitol rioters facing criminal charges didn’t breach judicial ethics rules, a federal judicial council has found. The judicial council for the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit dismissed a complaint by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) against Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, related to a speech the judge delivered at a white collar defense attorney event in November 2023. Howell said during the speech that she and her colleagues ‘regularly see the impact of big lies’ at sentencing hearings for participants in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. She also described ‘a very surprising and downright troubling moment where the importance of facts is dismissed, or ignored.’ Howell didn’t mention former President Donald Trump by name during her remarks. Chief Judge Jerome A. Holmes of the Tenth Circuit held in a decision posted Monday that the judge’s comments ‘do not reasonably appear to reflect adversely on impartiality, nor could they lead to disqualification.’ Her perspective is ‘consistent’ with those raised by her and other judges ‘on the record in numerous cases they presided over prior to the event at issue,’ he wrote. Holmes also noted that Howell gave her speech at a ‘law-related event, not a political function,’ and didn’t name any modern politicians.” Read more here.
#12 “Immigration Courts Hiding the Names of ICE Lawyers Goes Against Centuries of Precedent and Legal Ethics Requiring Transparency in Courts.” From Cassandra Burke Robertson (Case Western) in The Conversation: “Something unusual is happening in U.S. immigration courts. Government lawyers are refusing to give their names during public hearings. In June 2025, Immigration Judge ShaSha Xu in New York City reportedly told lawyers in her courtroom: ‘We’re not really doing names publicly.’ Only the government lawyers’ names were hidden – the immigrants’ attorneys had to give their names as usual. Xu cited privacy concerns, saying, ‘Things lately have changed.’ … This secrecy violates a fundamental principle that has protected Americans for centuries: open courts. Here’s how those courts operate and why the principle governing them matters.” Read more here.
#13 “DOJ Faces Credibility Questions as it Investigates Jeffrey Epstein.” From NPR: “As the Department of Justice continues its investigation into disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, some are raising questions about its credibility under the current administration. … [Todd] Blanche’s direct involvement raises a key question. His boss, Attorney General Pam Bondi, herself a former Trump lawyer, reportedly told the president in May that his name appeared in the Epstein files, in a breach of the attorney general’s independence. Would Blanche similarly tip off Trump? Stephen Gillers is a legal ethics expert at the NYU School of Law and says it’s safe to assume Blanche will debrief Trump. He also believes the Justice Department should assign a career prosecutor to question Maxwell, who likely has her own motivations at play.” Read more here.
#14 “Ex-Bank Robber and Georgetown Law Professor Found Guilty of Assaulting Wife.” From the ABA Journal: “A former bank robber who became a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center has been convicted of multiple criminal charges related to a domestic violence incident involving his wife. A superior court jury found Shon Hopwood, 50, of the District of Columbia guilty of three counts of simple assault, five counts of contempt and two counts of obstructing justice, the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia announced Friday. ‘A D.C. jury is demanding accountability from the batterer who not only beat his wife but was on the faculty of Georgetown Law teaching criminal law,’ said Interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro in a statement. ‘This D.C. jury wasn’t afraid to demand accountability no matter who the defendant is.’ Hopwood is well known for the story of how he turned his life around after becoming a skilled jailhouse lawyer while in prison for bank robbery. He went to the University of Washington School of Law and clerked for a federal appeals judge before becoming a law professor.” Read more here.
#15 “Remote Court Appearance Pilot Program Launched.” From the Hometown Register: “The Illinois Supreme Court’s Commission on Access to Justice (ATJ Commission), partnering with the Second Judicial Circuit of Illinois and Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, Inc., announced the launch of a two-year pilot program on remote court appearances in southern counties of Illinois.” Read more here.
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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.