Every month the Louisiana Legal Ethics site publishes “This Month in Discipline.” The post reports each lawyer who was the subject of Louisiana Supreme Court disciplinary orders or Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board recommendations published during that month.
For examples of past posts, click here: Louisiana Legal Ethics–This Month in Discipline.
Finding Discipline Cases
The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board reports new orders and recommendations here: LADB Decisions. Limit the “new” decisions to those reported here. This site is not always up to date, but it is exclusivley what we use to find decisions to write about.
Writing the Monthly Post
You need to get a “User” login for the Louisiana Legal Ethics site from Prof. Ciolino. Once you do, you login, go to “Posts,” and copy the last month’s post as a template. Note that Prof. Ciolino publishes the site using WordPress; you need to learn the basics of how to use WordPress by finding a recent YouTube video.
Each post uses a simple formula:
- The name of the post is the name of the lawyer. You must hyperlink the lawyer’s name to the opinion as reported on the LADB website. Be very careful to make sure you use the correct link–particularly with the first reported decision on the site.
- The first sentence reports what the court ordered or the board recommended. For example: “The court suspended the respondent for one year and one day.” Notice you must write this in active voice.
- The next 1-2 sentences explains in narrative format the misconduct at issue. For example: “The respondent failed to provide competent representation to clients, neglected legal matters, and failed to communicate with clients.” Notice that you must write this in the active voice. Also, use the Oxford comma.
- The final sentence lists the rules that the lawyer violated. For example: “In so doing, the respondent violated Rules 1.1, 1.3, and 1.4.”
- That’s it.
For grammar, style, and usage conventions, see the last section in this post.
Publishing Schedule
Prof. Ciolino publishes the “This Month in Discipline” post on the last day of each month. Please have a draft ready on that day (of course, check the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary website at the end of the day to be sure that there are no new opinions).
Once you are done writing the post, proofread it very carefully. Then save it in “Draft” format, and send Prof. Ciolino an email that it is done.