Intellectual Property Law
New Matter SPRING 2024, VOLUME 49, EDITION 1
Content
- 2024 New Matter Author Submission Guidelines
- Copyright Roundup
- Federal Circuit Report
- In Memoriam
- Inside This Issue
- INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SECTION Executive Committee 2023-2024
- INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SECTION Interest Group Representatives 2023-2024
- Intellectual Property Section New Matter Editorial Board
- Letter From the Chair
- Letter From the Editor-in-chief
- Ninth Circuit Report
- Online Cle For Participatory Credit
- Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. V. Personal Genomics Taiwan, Inc.
- Privacy Law Updates
- Quarterly International Ip Law Update
- Table of Contents
- The California Lawyers Association Intellectual Property Alumni
- Trade Secret Report
- Ttab Decisions and Developments
- THE SNITCH WHO STOLE BIZ'NESS: The New Ethics Reporting Rule
THE SNITCH WHO STOLE BIZ’NESS: The New Ethics Reporting Rule
Robert Payne
Payne IP Law
(See end of this article for information on receiving 1.0 hour MCLE in ___ self-study credit.)
Maybe it escaped your notice: On August 1, 2023, a new ethics rule was adopted by the California Supreme Court, Rule of Professional Conduct 8.3. California lawyers have lovingly labeled it "The Snitch Rule."
Rejected twice before, the Girardi scandal1 apparently turned the tide. The State became the last in the nation to enact a colleague-reporting rule or statute.2 Tom Girardiâwidely known as counsel for Erin Brockovich in her 1996 environmental lawsuit against PG&E and for his marriage to a "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" starâwas disbarred3 for allegedly skimming millions of dollars of client settlement money for decades. Knowledgeable attorneys repeatedly had failed to report him.4