Legal ethics round-up (July 31, 2010)

• The LA Times reports that the lawyer who represented the city of Bell, and who had a hand in approving huge salaries for city officials, has been sacked as city attorney by another California city, Downey.  There are no allegations of impropriety being made, but Downey wants to distance itself from scandal.
• If a lawyer offered discount fees to clients who would have sex with him, should the lawyer be suspended or disbarred?  Additional story, via ALM, here.
• Clifford Chance predicts that India will be open to foreign law firms within two years, if an expected trade agreement is finalized.  (h/t: The Lawyer)
• In light of the prior item, which demonstrates the pervasive role of regulatory law in today's legal profession, here's a link to a new article by John Flood, focusing on the UK and international contexts and titled, appropriately, enough, "From Ethics to Regulation: The Re-landscaping and Re-Professionalization of Large Law Firms in the 21st Century (Part 2)."  (More from Flood here.)  In the US, regulatory control will presumably come not through one agency but rather through piecemeal control as Congress enacts statutes and as the US enters into trade agreements.  
• It's not legal ethics, but Carrigan v. Commission on Ethics of the State of Nevada is a case where a public official disclosed a personal interest in a matter and then voted on it -- only to be brought up on ethics charges.  The Supreme Court of Nevada reversed on First Amendment grounds.
• Life after the Bar has some good tips on how lawyers should conduct themselves online.
• Cross-professional comparison: a lawyer talks about the ethics of poker. 
• A new California Court of Appeal case, Tucker v. Pacific Bell Mobile Services, deals with a lawyer who used notes on a yellow pad to coach the witness on the critical issue, in front of opposing counsel and with questions pending!  That's objectionable, even just as a matter of lawyerly craft.