Oof, this has got to sting.
No one *likes* being benchslapped by a federal court, but getting called on the carpet for your “hubris and disregard of procedural rules” and ordered to “personally pay” opposing counsel costs? That’s… no bueno.
But that’s exactly what happened to Cooley attorney Jon Graves. Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Michael M. Baylson did not take kindly to Graves’s behavior in his representation of Medical Technology Associates in a case against former top executive Carl W. Rausch. Specifically, the judge was peeved over his filing of 61 pages of evidence, after discovery deadlines.
As reported by Law360:
Graves was ordered to “personally pay” the lawyer representing Rausch and his company for all the legal fees incurred following Graves’ decision in May to file “a 61-page ‘submission’ that included 7 pages of legal argument, citing testimony and documents, and ten exhibits.”
Discovery had already ended in the case. None of the filings were presented during depositions in the case and Rausch’s lawyer called the move a blatant attempt “to evade the page limits set by this court.”
And he’s also headed to extra CLE classes:
“The court orders Mr. Graves to attend six hours of continuing legal education courses on the subject of federal practice and procedure, to be completed within six months of this decision,” Judge Baylson added in his ruling on the matter. Graves would have to submit “certificates of attendance for each course, to include the name of the course, sponsoring organization(s), date of attendance, and length.”
And the the judge reminded Graves there’re more consequences he can dish out, noting, “Furthermore, Mr. Graves is reminded that appearing pro hac vice is a privilege.” And even though Graves’s client has “filed for bankruptcy,” that “does not prevent this court from imposing sanctions for prior conduct of counsel.”
In opposing any sanctions, Graves hired ethics expert Gregory P. Joseph, who wrote:
“In light of the damaging effects sanctions would have on a lawyer with no history of sanctionable conduct, in my opinion, to a reasonable degree of certainty, the court should decline to impose sanctions of any sort on him, his law firm, or his client,” Joseph had implored. “Sanctions of any sort imposed on a lawyer are devastating. They live forever on the Internet.”
Awww, that sure feels like an Above the Law shout-out.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
Biglaw Attorney Benchslapped Over ‘Hubris,’ Told To Open Checkbook To Personally Pay & Latest News Update
Biglaw Attorney Benchslapped Over ‘Hubris,’ Told To Open Checkbook To Personally Pay & More Live News
All this news that I have made and shared for you people, you will like it very much and in it we keep bringing topics for you people like every time so that you keep getting news information like trending topics and you It is our goal to be able to get
all kinds of news without going through us so that we can reach you the latest and best news for free so that you can move ahead further by getting the information of that news together with you. Later on, we will continue
to give information about more today world news update types of latest news through posts on our website so that you always keep moving forward in that news and whatever kind of information will be there, it will definitely be conveyed to you people.
Biglaw Attorney Benchslapped Over ‘Hubris,’ Told To Open Checkbook To Personally Pay & More News Today
All this news that I have brought up to you or will be the most different and best news that you people are not going to get anywhere, along with the information Trending News, Breaking News, Health News, Science News, Sports News, Entertainment News, Technology News, Business News, World News of this made available to all of you so that you are always connected with the news, stay ahead in the matter and keep getting today news all types of news for free till today so that you can get the news by getting it. Always take two steps forward
Credit Goes To News Website – This Original Content Owner News Website . This Is Not My Content So If You Want To Read Original Content You Can Follow Below Links