Ed. note: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, Legal Ethics Roundup, here.
Welcome back! I hope August gave you some time to step away, look up, and enjoy the remains of summer.
One of my favorite moments was sailing beneath Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge, five miles of steel suspended between the mitten state’s two peninsulas and dividing Lake Michigan from Lake Huron. Looking up from the bow of the boat, I was overwhelmed by both its scale and the intricate structure required to keep something so consequential standing. (Lake Michigan also took on a more personal place in my life this summer, though I’ll save that story for another day.)
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I’ve found myself thinking about how our institutions are a lot like that bridge. Courts, law schools, the legal profession, and our democracy can appear enduring from a distance. Up close, their strength depends on structures that require attention, maintenance, and people willing to take responsibility for them. There is a great deal happening in our corner of the legal world, and, as ever, plenty that captivates, concerns, surprises, and inspires me.
I’m glad to be back, and very happy you are here with me.
The Year Ahead
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As we enter our fourth year, my reason for offering this free resource remains unchanged: there has never been a greater need to understand the ethical duties of lawyers and judges. I’m grateful for this community of lawyers, judges, students, academics, journalists, and others who care about the role legal ethics plays in our democracy.
I look forward to continuing this service over the coming year. A few reminders:
FIRST, as always, the LER remains free to all subscribers. So, if you haven’t subscribed, take a moment now to sign up at the link below and you’ll never miss the latest edition.
SECOND, the LER will largely continue in the same format. On Mondays you’ll receive a summary of the top ten legal ethics headlines. On the first Monday of the month, you’ll receive a longer version (“First Monday Edition”) with the headlines plus reading recommendations, teaching resources, job postings, events, and other features. And occasionally you’ll receive bonus content posts, free to all subscribers, for breaking news that can’t wait until Monday or for other special announcements. This year I’m adding a new “On My Calendar” feature to share some of theconferences, programs, and professional conversations I’m helping to shape, along with opportunities for LER readers to join in, contribute ideas, and connect in person.
THIRD, please also consider becoming a paid subscriber, which helps to support this newsletter and demonstrates that you value its content. Paid subscribers also receive special access to past posts which become paywalled after six months. (If you need a comp paid subscription to read an older post, let me know at [email protected].)
FOURTH, I welcome feedback as well as news tips, announcements, events, job postings, and reading recommendations via email.
Since this is my first Monday post of September, you get a ‘First Monday Edition,’ even though technically we’re already on the second Monday of the month. And because I’ve been away for a while, we will begin with fifteen headlines instead of the usual ten. Let’s dive in!
Highlights from the Past Few Weeks – Top Fifteen Headlines
#1 “How Two Men Without Lawyers Got Their Cases to the Supreme Court.” From The Wall Street Journal: “An Orthodox Jewish father of five who plays rock music in his spare time. A federal prisoner serving a 20-year sentence for a Mafia-linked racketeering conviction. These two men have one unlikely thing in common. Without legal representation, they asked the Supreme Court to hear their cases. And against long odds, the court said yes.” Read more here (gift link).
#2 “What We Learned from a US Bus Tour of Judges.” From Waging Nonviolence: “A recent bus tour of US judges proves the power of meeting people in their communities to talk about why the rule of law matters in their everyday lives. Over four days in July, roughly 30 judges, sitting and retired, state and federal, climbed on and off a bus at courthouses, coffee shops, a Cracker Barrel, and community centers and libraries from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, to Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The goal was straightforward — to visit with people in their communities to talk about why the rule of law matters in their everyday lives. They engaged one on one, in small groups and in front of large audiences. The tour was called Justice in Motion, and was created and run by our organization, Democracy Rising Collaborative, together with Keep Our Republic. We borrowed the model from judges in Poland, who figured out, the hard way, how to defend an independent judiciary when the traditional tools weren’t enough.” Read more here.
#3 “Ninth Circuit Delivers Sweeping Victory to News Service on Public Access.” From Courthouse News: “A three-judge panel on the highest federal court in the Western states ruled that Idaho had violated the First Amendment by enforcing a ‘process-first’ policy that resulted in a blackout of new court pleadings when they are received. In clear and undiluted language, the Ninth Circuit addressed and rejected the arguments against public access advanced by Idaho and other states in fighting cases brought by Courthouse News. ‘The right of public access to judicial proceedings ensures that the individual citizen can effectively participate in and contribute to our republican system of self-government. The right therefore falls within the heart of the First Amendment’s coverage,’ wrote Judge Margaret McKeown.” Read more here.
#4 “An Unconventional Solution to Trump’s Student Loan Caps.” From Politico: “Republicans capped federal student lending for graduate degrees, so a few schools are starting their own loan programs.” Read more here. Meanwhile, from Law360: “This year’s U.S. law school applicant pool is up nearly 8% over 2025 with significant growth in Asian and Black prospective attorneys, according to new data from the Law School Admissions Council.” Read more here.
#5 “How Wall St. Profits When Personal Injury Lawsuits Pay Out.” From The New York Times: “Personal injury cases have exploded, in number and magnitude, funded by companies betting on a win — and offering investors a piece of the action.” Read more here (gift link).
#6 “Florida Bar Rejects Bid to Review DHS Lawyer Over Judge Posts.” From Bloomberg Law: “The Florida Bar has declined to investigate a complaint by dozens of retired judges against the Department of Homeland Security’s top lawyer over a social media thread highlighting the ‘worst of the worst’ judges. The Florida Bar ‘does not investigate or prosecute sitting officers appointed under the U.S. Constitution while they are in office,’ Christopher Stephen Wackes, bar counsel, wrote in a letter to Peggy Ann Quince, a retired Florida Supreme Court justice who led the complaint against DHS General Counsel James Percival.” Read more here.
#7 “Federal Judges’ Interns May Accept Stipends From Law Firms, Ethics Panel Says.” From the ABA Journal: “The U.S. Judicial Conference’s Committee on Codes of Conduct has determined that law students who work as unpaid interns for federal judges may accept stipends from law firms looking to recruit them as summer associates—so long as the payments meet certain requirements.” Read more here.
#8 “Supreme Court Holds That Filing a State Bar Charge May Support a Lawsuit for Wrongful Institution of Civil Proceedings.” From the Arizona Supreme Court Administrative Office of the Courts: “The Arizona Supreme Court today held that a State Bar of Arizo