Remember back in 2023 when everyone like me posted about the Mata v. Avianca case, which seemed to be the first (or at least, the first to earn national attention) case in which lawyers filed briefs with citations hallucinated by
Ethicking
Ethicking is a blog published by Halling & Cayo S.C., authored by attorney Stacie H. Rosenzweig, focusing on legal ethics and professional responsibility issues primarily affecting lawyers and credentialed professionals. The blog covers topics such as lawyer discipline, confidentiality and withdrawal from representation, conflicts of interest, social media conduct, information security best practices, and the intersection of legal ethics with current events and law practice management. It also addresses practical questions about ethical dilemmas lawyers face, including civility, professional conduct rules, and navigating complex regulatory environments. The content reflects insights from Wisconsin and Illinois jurisdictions but often discusses broader national ethical standards and developments.
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Latest from Ethicking
"I need to bail. What can I tell the court about why I'm withdrawing?"
I get this question a lot, and for good reason. On one hand: Every bit of information related to representation is presumptively confidential per Rule 1.6 and its state equivalents. (Different states interpret the rule differently; Wisconsin takes a particularly…
DC Bar to Capitulating Law Firms: FAFO (plus: Ethicking is Six! And other news)
Greetings, folks, and I know, I know, I have been absent long enough that readers may wonder if “she blogs frequently at ethicking.com” (which is in various forms of my biography) is an 8.4(c) issue. (If I had readers who…
Stacie’s Explainer for What the Heck Happened with Gableman Last Week
Last week, a referee appointed by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin recommended that former Justice Michael Gableman’s license to practice law be suspended for three years, in accordance with a stipulation between the parties. This recommendation stems from Gableman’s…
So It’s Come To This: No, It Is Not Misconduct For A Lawyer To Say Mean Things On The Internet
(*Some exceptions apply and are discussed below.)This is something I shouldn’t have to write about at all, but I guess this is where we are. I’ve gotten some reports of lawyers being threatened with disciplinary complaints for posting about the…
Information Security Best Practices Are Stupid And I Hate Them
***but I do them regardless Last week, I traveled to Toronto, and attended the 2025 Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers annual meeting. As always, I enjoyed hanging with my nerd friends and learning a lot. I completed my Board service after two…
What's a little UPL between friends?
Making the social media rounds today is the Matter of Yu, a disciplinary decision out of New York, that is a case study in how not to be My Cousin Vinny. To quickly summarize:
- The respondent attorney is
…
That’s What Friends [May Not Be] For
Last week, I co-presented a session at the “Life Is a Highway: Handling Traffic Cases”* seminar at the State Bar of Wisconsin, with my friend Emily Bell. Our session was about dabbling—when you want to work on matters not…
Unconquered Suns and Orders to Show Cause
I like to think I’m up on current events. Prior to today, I was aware that members of the Proud Boys, who were convicted of various offenses stemming from the January 6, 2021 insurrection but later pardoned or had their…
I can't talk about a lot of things right now so here's a post on the intersection of legal ethics and morals
“Young lady, where have you been?”I logged in to my blogging platform and realized it has been nearly two months since I’ve written anything. It has been an incredibly busy two months, and there are a lot of things I…