Law360 interviewed Manatt's Benjamin Shatz, co-chair of the firm's Appellate practice, for an article on how lawyers wade into dangerous ethical waters when they fail to properly cite sources in filings.
Law360 reports that lawyers who borrow freely from other people's work in court filings are rarely accused of plagiarism absent other perceived missteps. Recently, an administrative law judge in Texas recently sanctioned Jackson Lewis PC lawyers for a verbatim rip-off of a government document.
The sanction order levied against Jackson Lewis partners "fits a pattern of lawyers getting in trouble for filing something that has problems, which attracts more scrutiny," said Shatz. "Then the judge notices something else is going on and is really offended."
Read the article here.