A 29-year-old special education teacher in Kentucky was arrested this week after she allegedly got drunk before driving to school, hitting and critically injuring a pedestrian on the way.

Jamie Caldwell was taken into custody at the school on Wednesday morning and charged with one count of aggravated operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and one count of leaving the scene of an accident with failure to render aid or assist with death or serious physical injury, authorities announced.

According to a news release from the Lexington Police Department, officers at about 6:50 a.m. on Wednesday responded to a call regarding a hit-and-run involving a pedestrian in the 1000 block of Georgetown Road, which is about 75 miles east of Louisville.

Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located the pedestrian and emergency medical personnel transported them to a local hospital for treatment of “life-threatening injuries.”

Police then utilized the department’s “Real-Time Intelligence Center” to quickly locate the vehicle and driver — later identified as Caldwell — involved in the collision. The “intelligence center” allows the department to access public traffic video feeds and footage from private surveillance cameras, with permission, to aid in investigations.

A copy of the arrest citation obtained by Lexington ABC affiliate WTVQ provided additional details about the circumstances of Caldwell’s arrest.

According to the report, police located Caldwell at Glendover Elementary School, where she is employed as a teacher. Officers at the scene said that Caldwell’s vehicle was in the school parking lot with visible damage.

They also reportedly noted that when they came into contact with Caldwell, her “eyes were bloodshot and watery.” They also said they “smelled alcohol coming from her,” Lexington NBC affiliate WLEX reported.

Benchmark data can prove to be invaluable when making decisions about the future of your law firm. Understanding how others in the legal profession are using technology to streamline workflows and increase revenues can make all the difference.

That’s where the recently released 2025 Legal Industry Report from AffiniPay comes in. This report, published annually, offers insight into how legal professionals from firms of all sizes and practice areas are approaching and benefiting from technology adoption. Over 2,800 legal professionals were surveyed for this year’s survey, which covers a wide range of topics, including artificial intelligence adoption, financial management software choices and the continued shift to remote and hybrid work environments.

The data reveals notable trends surrounding legal professionals’ technology choices and outcomes, including how software adoption impacts firm profitability and how remote work choices are changing the landscape of law practice.

Increased interest in AI adoption

With generative AI continuing to make headlines, it’s not surprising that the data shows that interest in it has increased since last year’s report. For example, in 2024, 31% of legal professionals reported using generative AI tools for work, up from 27% in 2023.

Interestingly, the rate of adoption varied across firm size and practice areas. Immigration practitioners led generative AI usage, with 47% incorporating it into their daily workflows. Other practice areas, such as personal injury (37%), civil litigation (36%) and criminal law (28%), also reported high usage.

Despite the individual growth rates, the survey showed that legal-specific generative AI adoption at the firm level slowed slightly. Only 21% of firms reported using AI in 2024, down from 24% in 2023. This decline is likely due to firms being in the exploratory phase—testing AI tools in specific use cases or pilot programs, rather than fully integrating the technology. The overall sentiment shows that while AI is still being explored, many firms are taking a cautious and measured approach.

At the firm level, civil litigation firms reported the highest generative AI adoption rate, at 27%, followed by personal injury and family law firms, at 20% each. Trusts and estate firms and criminal law practices had lower adoption rates, at 18% each. Immigration firms reported the lowest adoption rate, at 17%.

Overall, the data shows that for those who have adopted generative AI tools, they are relying on them quite often. Among frequent users, 45% use AI daily, and 40% use it weekly. The most common tasks accomplished with it include drafting correspondence (54%), brainstorming ideas (47%), conducting general research (46%) and summarizing documents (39%).

Financial management tools for profitability and stability

Survey data also highlights how firms are increasingly adopting financial management software to improve financial workflows. In particular, legal-specific accounting and bookkeeping software has become a key tool for many firms. Respondents indicate that 37% of their firms have legal accounting software built into their firm’s practice management system, while 16% said it’s built into their firm’s billing software. Another 11% use software that is integrated with, rather than built into, their firm’s law practice management platform, and 16% reported adoption of a stand-alone legal accounting tool.

The survey data shows that legal accounting and bookkeeping tools have notably increased efficiency, with nearly 26% of firms reporting one to five hours reclaimed per month. Another 17% reduced workloads by six to 10 hours, 7% saved 15 or more hours each month, and 4% recovered a whopping 11 to 15 hours.

Another valuable tool for improving workflows is legal billing tools. The legal professionals surveyed (80%) relied on invoicing software, with 27% saving one to five hours per month, 16% saving six to 10 hours, and 12% saving 11 or more hours. The end benefit of the time saved using legal accounting and billing tools? Significant gains in productivity and profitability.

Growth of online payment processing

The report also highlights the increasing adoption of online payment processing software, with 82% of respondents sharing that their firms accept credit and/or debit card payments in 2024, up from 78% in 2023. This adoption has resulted in time savings and financial impact. More than a third of respondents (35%) saved between one to five hours per month using online payment systems, while 14% saved six to 10 hours. Also of note is that firms accepting card payments reported improved collection rates, with 59% of firms noting that their collection rates increased “somewhat more” or “significantly more” each month.

The growing use of online payment solutions is indicative of a broader trend toward automating tedious and time-consuming administrative tasks that were previously manual. By offering more payment options, firms are not only improving their financial stability but also freeing up time to devote to more client work and firm growth.

Remote and hybrid work adoption

Finally, the report addressed remote and hybrid work, which has become a staple for many firms. About three-fourths of survey respondents reported using cloud-based remote working tools, with videoconferencing (79%), e-signatures (78%) and e-filing (76%) ranking the highest.

Additionally, the data showed that the hybrid work model has gained traction in the legal profession. According to the survey results, 28% of firms operate fully in office, while 21% use hybrid schedules for all team members. Another 19% of firms are fully remote, and 18% adopt hybrid schedules for some staff members.

Just as remote and hybrid work continued post-pandemic, so too did participation in virtual court proceedings, with 34% of respondents attending virtual hearings a few times per month, 21% a few times per week and 5% every day.

Even so, preferences for in-person appearances remain strong, especially for certain types of proceedings. Half of respondents prefer to avoid virtual hearings, followed by jury trials (45%), bench trials (43%) and motion arguments (39%). However, practice areas significantly impacted these results.

For example, trust and estate professionals were more likely than the overall average to prefer virtual litigation proceedings, with only 36% opting for in-person jury trials, followed by bench trials (35%) and motion arguments and depositions (at 30% each).

In contrast, civil litigation and personal injury lawyers showed a stronger preference for in-person proceedings, with 56% each favoring jury trials, and 46% and 49%, respectively, choosing in-person depositions. Similarly, criminal law practitioners also leaned toward in-person proceedings, with 59% preferring hearings, 58% jury trials, 55% bench trials and 49% motion arguments.

Immigration lawyers, on the other hand, were less likely to prefer in-person litigation, with below-average preferences for motion arguments (26%), status conferences (22%) and depositions (19%).

In conclusion

The AffiniPay 2025 Legal Industry Report highlights a range of preferences and trends within the legal profession. While generative AI remains a focus, the data shows that firms are also adopting proven cloud-based technologies for billing, payments and remote work, highlighting an increasing reliance on specialized tools that enhance efficiency, save time and improve financial outcomes.

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Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York-based attorney, author and journalist, and she is the principal legal insight strategist at MyCase, a company that offers legal practice management software for small firms. She is the nationally recognized author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers and is co-author of Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier, both published by the American Bar Association. She writes regular columns for ABAJournal.com and Above the Law, has authored hundreds of articles for other publications, and regularly speaks at conferences regarding the intersection of law and emerging technologies. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @nikiblack, or she can be reached at [email protected].

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This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.

Before artificial intelligence became a common legal tool, Jacqueline Schafer was hooked on it.

This was back in 2018, and Schafer, a litigator who had started her career in BigLaw at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and spent several years doing appellate work as an assistant attorney general in Washington and Alaska, was working as in-house counsel at a national nonprofit. She had taken on her first pro bono asylum case, representing a mother and her toddler at risk for deportation to Honduras.

“There were really terribly scary stakes, and at the final hearing, the judge was very biased,” Schafer recalls. So she pointed the judge toward one of her exhibits showcasing the medical evidence.

In an asylum hearing, Schafer says, you have one final chance to show the judge why your client deserves asylum. “I had written a long brief where I referenced factual evidence, like the medical declaration. But what truly appeared to make the difference was when the judge went directly to review the declaration himself,” says Schafer, 42.

The experience helped Schafer envision how technology could make this simple for every judge: With the click of a button, they could access hyperlinked pleadings.

“The case really had a huge impact on how I thought about change,” she says. “We could make it so much less stressful to prepare the documents.”

In 2020, Schafer raised capital for what would soon become Clearbrief, a system using AI to search through volumes of discovery to find relevant facts and related concepts. Once the data is extracted, Clearbrief provides a fact-checking link that displays every cited source and scores how well other evidence in the record supports it.

“Just the idea of Clearbrief was transformational,” says Mark Britton, a former lawyer, founding investor in Clearbrief and Expedia executive who founded the legal marketplace Avvo. “The idea that whatever you assert or would like to assert in a brief is rated by an AI assistant that tells you how supported the assertion is in both the facts and the law—I immediately had goosebumps.”

Clearbrief is used by hundreds of law firms, including large global firms, courts and government agencies, Schafer says. And it can help smaller law firms compete with larger ones, says Joseph McMullen, an attorney in San Diego who used the technology for a big immigration case last year, winning $1.5 million for his clients.

“Justice and accountability in the courts can feel elusive for people without pockets deep enough to afford expensive law firms with large document review teams to distill vast amounts of records and data down to their essential facts,” says McMullen, who relied on Clearbrief to help him with a case against Customs and Border Patrol after it kept two children in an underground holding area for 33 hours before being released.

Schafer says the process of building Clearbrief has been one gigantic lesson in learning. She did not have a tech background, so she reached out to many people prominent in the tech field, asking each if she could meet them for coffee to talk about AI.

“That’s how I learned,” she says. “I had to be humble: I sounded like an idiot at first, and lawyers are afraid of looking foolish.”

But it worked. She learned venture capital and AI lingo, and built her vision piece by piece with a goal that every pleading prepared globally will be written with Clearbrief.

“We’re at a tipping point that I dreamed about: When a certain number of the larger firms start using it, then others hear about it,” she says.

Legal Rebels Class of 2025

Rodrigo Camarena

Roy Ferguson

Joan Howarth and Deborah Jones Merritt

Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners

Swapna Reddy

Jacqueline Schafer

Noella Sudbury

In This Podcast:

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3. Judge who allowed secretary to work remotely…

Judiciary

Judge who allowed secretary to work remotely didn’t violate ethics rules, state supreme court says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

October 29, 2024, 8:45 am CDT

The New Jersey Supreme Court has tossed a pending ethics complaint against a judge who sometimes allowed his secretary to work remotely in violation of office policy.

The New Jersey Supreme Court found no ethics violations by New Jersey Judge Douglas H. Hurd in an Oct. 16 order, report Law360 and Law.com. Hurd is civil presiding judge in the Mercer vicinage in Trenton, New Jersey.

It is rare for the New Jersey Supreme Court to dismiss a disciplinary case before a ruling by the New Jersey Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, sources told Law.com.

New Jersey courts were working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. When in-person operations resumed, a new policy allowed remote work for one and then two days per week. But the new policy did not apply to judges, secretaries of judges, and judicial law clerks, according to the Jan. 30 ethics complaint.

Despite the requirement for in-office work, Hurd’s secretary was allowed to work remotely “on a periodic basis” for about six months in 2022, the ethics complaint said.

Hurd thought that he had discretion to allow remote work in light of the secretary’s “incredible work ethic,” according to an amended answer to the ethics complaint.

The secretary worked remotely about three to six days per month during a five- to six-month period. Hurd immediately ended his approval for remote work when he was advised that he didn’t have the discretion to allow it.

Hurd declined to comment on the dismissal of the complaint when Law360 contacted a representative.

Law.com spoke with lawyers who were relieved to hear that the ethics complaint was tossed.

Michael Donahue, managing shareholder of Stark & Stark in Hamilton, New Jersey, told Law.com that Hurd had “an unblemished reputation.” While the complaint was pending, Hurd “kept his head up and the vicinage running,” Donahue said.

“I am incredibly relieved and gratified to hear the news that the New Jersey Supreme Court has seen the right side of this issue,” Donahue said.

A new policy adopted after the ethics complaint was filed allows law clerks and secretaries to work remotely up to four days per month with judicial approval, according to Law.com.

WHITETHORN, Calif.  —  A mountain bike skills park in the Bureau of Land Management King Range National Conservation Area (NCA) will be undergoing important maintenance from Monday, Oct. 28 through Nov. 1. The BLM is asking riders to avoid the Tolkan Terrain Park while work is underway to enhance the riding experience for enthusiasts.

“This project is important to ensure that the features of the terrain park are in top shape for riders,” said Paul Sever, manager of the King Range NCA. “The 25 miles of mountain bike trails on Paradise Royale and Pacific Rim trail network will remain available during the project.”

The King Range NCA offers a wide variety of hiking and camping ranging from the Lost Coast wilderness trail to high elevation hiking routes offering spectacular Pacific Ocean vistas. A planning guide provides important information on visiting.

The King Range NCA encompasses 68,000 acres along 35 miles of California’s north coast. It is the Nation’s first NCA, designated in 1970. The King Range NCA’s Douglas fir-covered peaks attract hikers and hunters, while the coast beckons to surfers and anglers. World-class mountain bike trails, and 42,585 acres of coastal wilderness are two of the highlights of this incredibly unique area.

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3. 24% of law students expect to work in public…

Careers

24% of law students expect to work in public service, survey says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 13, 2024, 2:45 pm CDT

Public service appears to be more of a career goal among today’s law students than for those who came before them.

Twenty-four percent of law students surveyed by Bloomberg Law said they expect to work as a practicing attorney in public service. It was the second most popular answer, behind expecting to work as a practicing attorney at a law firm, chosen by 59% of the respondents.

Practicing attorneys surveyed, who had an average of 26 years in practice, had different expectations in law school, according to the survey. Eighty percent said they expected to work as a practicing attorney at a firm, while only 10% said they expected to work as a practicing attorney in public service.

Expectations don’t always align with reality, Bloomberg Law points out in a story on its Law School Preparedness survey. Only 0.5% of the surveyed lawyers said they primarily practice in public interest.

But there has been an increase in new lawyers working in public service, Bloomberg reports, citing information on employment outcomes from the ABA. The percentage working in such jobs was about 4% in 2016 and a little more than 8% in 2022.

The article suggests several possible reasons for increased interest in public-interest work, including a “Trump bump”—an increased interest in making a difference following the election of former President Donald Trump in 2016. Another reason may be an increase in diversity at law schools. Students with diverse experiences may have more of a desire to help marginalized communities.

More than 2,700 law students, practicing attorneys and others in the legal profession participated in the Bloomberg Law survey, which was conducted Nov. 15, 2023, through Dec. 4, 2023.

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3. Biden recalls time he bluffed knowledge of…

Careers

Biden recalls time he bluffed knowledge of torts case and why he changed his mind about civil-trial work

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 14, 2024, 2:34 pm CDT

President Joe Biden digressed when answering questions last fall about documents stored at his vice presidential residence to remember his tough torts class at the Syracuse University College of Law and the first job that he got after graduation.

Biden was responding in October to questions by then-special counsel Robert K. Hur, who later concluded that Biden shouldn’t be charged with mishandling classified information because jurors would perceive him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Reuters has the story on Biden’s law school recollection, based on this transcript. Above the Law noted the story.

Biden said he didn’t take law school very seriously. is torts professor, who was “really difficult,” called on Biden to discuss a case that he had never read.

Biden said he nonetheless stood up and spoke for 10 minutes.

“The whole class stood up, started clapping,” Biden said.

The torts professor noted that not a single thing that Biden said was relevant to the case. But he was apparently impressed by Biden’s performance.

“You’ll be a hell of a trial lawyer,” Biden recalled the professor saying.

After law school, Biden took a job with the best-known trial law firm in Delaware handling mostly civil-defense cases. Biden recalled a case involving a “poor kid” who was 23 years old when his jeans caught fire at his worksite. The man had been wearing the wrong pants, and when his jeans caught fire he lost part of his penis and testicles.

Delaware law barred a tort recovery if there was contributory negligence by the plaintiff. Biden was asked to write a motion to dismiss.

He did so, “and son of a b- – – -, it prevailed,” Biden said. “And I looked over at that kid and his wife home with two little kids, and I thought, ‘Son of a b- – – -, I’m in the wrong business. I’m not made for this.’”

He quit the job and became a public defender.

See also:

“Special counsel: No charges for Biden in classified documents probe”

“Trump-appointed US attorney is investigating classified documents found by Biden’s lawyers at office he used”

Ari Kaplan recently spoke with Alaa Pasha, the CEO of Maptician, a cloud-based workplace management software company and an end-to-end solution for law firm hybrid operations.

They discussed the current state of remote and hybrid work in law firms, strategies that firms are using to maximize their workspaces, mistakes that they are making in managing and training their teams, and the future of firm operations given the rise of generative artificial intelligence.

Ari Kaplan: Tell us about your background and your role at Maptician.

Alaa Pasha: I have been a technology executive building business-to-business tools in multiple industries for over 20 years. I came to Maptician about two years ago, and as the CEO, I am responsible for setting the company’s strategy and direction, including our focus on supporting law firms.

Ari Kaplan: Maptician won ALM’s 2024 Legalweek Leaders in Tech Award in the Tech-Enabled Hybrid Work Environment category. How would you characterize the current state of remote and hybrid work in law firms?

Alaa Pasha: This category recognizes companies that are making it possible for law firms to enable or change their culture through technology by empowering their employees to perform some of their work outside the office regularly. We submitted a case study with a law firm that leveraged our solution to successfully transition its 700 attorneys and 1,200 total professionals on 32 floors throughout nine offices into a hybrid schedule. The firm’s chief innovation officer advised us that transforming into a hybrid organization was one of the largest innovation projects taking place at the time. They tried to leverage Microsoft Outlook, which is a great platform, but was not purpose-built to solve this specific use case. They lacked the visibility to see who was in the office or working remotely, which we call presence, not to punish or reward people but to drive more effective collaboration and efficiencies. We are delighted to be working with this client, and this recognition of our partnership was just icing on the cake.

Ari Kaplan: What strategies are law firms using to maximize their workspaces?

Alaa Pasha: First, understand how your space is being used to establish a strategy that helps to maximize it. In the past, everyone had a desk. Today, a dedicated desk is an option, but it is not mandatory. Second, consolidate your workplace management applications, such as visitor entry data, conference room reservations and catering orders. Third, use technology to better understand the habits of your team to enhance their output. Knowing the days that different team members are in the office can help craft a strategy that increases productivity and enhances interaction.

Ari Kaplan: What challenges do law firms use Maptician to overcome?

Alaa Pasha: The most common challenge that law firms use our technology to overcome is to determine the total amount of space they need on a given day, as well as in general, especially in lease negotiations. It also drives collaboration because it instantly highlights who is in the office and which office for firms that have multiple sites. In some cases, it is even more important to know who is in the office the next day or in the next week to gauge the services that might be necessary, such as food and administrative support. And firms want to consolidate their suite of applications.

Ari Kaplan: Why do firms need dedicated technology for this when widely available scheduling tools or a spreadsheet could provide a solution?

Alaa Pasha: We prefer to work with prospects who try this approach first because we need not persuade them that a purpose-built tool is more effective and efficient. Email and calendaring tools are helpful, but they cannot adequately give a firm or individual sufficient data to determine whether and when they are or will be in the office. We display this information visually and give users the tools to encourage conversation and collaboration. Some firms who are trying to do it themselves are not seeing sufficient levels of collaboration or the in-office presence that supports it.

Ari Kaplan: In a hybrid work environment, what mistakes are law firms making in managing their teams and training their employees?

Alaa Pasha: There is no one-size-fits-all, so we provide analytics to incorporate a firm’s feedback from what it has already tried and tweak its process. The mistake is to apply the same strategy to all types of organizations. After all, there are often differences in how firms operate in certain locations, such as in a small town where people live close to the office and a large city that requires a long commute. The in-office requirements and strategies may vary between practices. Some cities could be different, as well. It is also important to lead by example. When the managing partner and practice group leaders encourage the use of technology to empower teams working on a hybrid schedule, it enhances communication, culture and mentoring, and the application sees broad adoption. Firms that deploy it for the associates first and wait to give the partners access based on the feedback of their peers see less usage.

Ari Kaplan: Do you expect that most law firms will be in the office fewer than five days per week permanently?

Alaa Pasha: I am biased, but I do, especially for midsize to large firms because the pandemic proved that legal professionals have the technology and the maturity to be very productive while working remotely. This does not mean firms will shut down all of their offices and send everyone home because that would eliminate the culture of the organization and limit mentoring. But it does give leaders the freedom to lower their overhead by reducing office space, which they can reinvest in more luxurious offices, better technology and higher-level training. It is also important to have a physical presence for teaching new professionals, as it is harder and less effective to learn certain skills remotely.

Ari Kaplan: What do you think the future of how and where law firms operate will look like, particularly given the rise of generative AI?

Alaa Pasha: I am a computer engineer by profession and think we should all be focusing on artificial intelligence very seriously to leverage its potential for self-improvement, communication and productivity. While it will not eliminate jobs, AI is causing major disruptions in the market. Law firms seem to recognize this and the ways that it is changing the expectations for how people work. That said, it will always be crucial to maintain some type of face-to-face interaction and mentoring.

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Listen to the complete interview at Reinventing Professionals.

Ari Kaplan regularly interviews leaders in the legal industry and in the broader professional services community to share perspective, highlight transformative change and introduce new technology at his blog and on iTunes.

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This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.

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3. Dechert will pay millions of dollars to settle…

Law Firms

Dechert will pay millions of dollars to settle ‘hack-for-hire’ allegations stemming from ex-partner’s work

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 5, 2024, 10:54 am CST

Dechert has agreed to pay $3.8 million plus costs to settle claims in the United Kingdom that a former London partner conspired to hack and release the emails of a client’s opponent.

The costs have not yet been determined, but they are about $11 million, bringing the total to nearly $15 million, according to Farhad Azima, the aviation executive who said his email was hacked.

Law360 and Bloomberg Law have coverage.

A spokesperson for Azima told Law360 that he has also resolved his claims against the former partner, Neil Gerrard, as part of the U.K. settlement. But the settlement does not resolve Azima’s a RICO suit against Dechert and Gerrard in the United States, according to Bloomberg Law and Law360. A motion to dismiss that federal lawsuit is pending in the Southern District of New York.

Gerrard was global co-chair of Dechert’s white-collar and securities litigation practice before his retirement in 2020.

Azima has alleged that his emails were hacked and released to reporters in a bid to silence his complaints about human rights abuses by Dechert client Ras Al Khaimah, one of the United Arab Emirates. Azima alleges that he was the victim of a “massive hack-for-hire operation” orchestrated by Girardi, according to Law360.

Dechert said there was no admission of liability in connection with the U.K. settlement.

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3. Judge faces potential discipline for allowing…

Judiciary

Judge faces potential discipline for allowing secretary to work remotely

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 8, 2024, 9:55 am CST

An ethics complaint alleges that a New Jersey judge abused the power of his office by allowing his secretary to work remotely in violation of office policy.

The New Jersey Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct accused Judge Douglas H. Hurd in a Jan. 30 ethics complaint, Law.com reports. He is the civil presiding judge in the Mercer vicinage in Trenton, New Jersey.

According to the ethics complaint, courts were working remotely beginning in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the judiciary resumed in-person operations, it instituted a policy in September 2021 that allowed one day weekly of remote work for eligible staff members who obtained approval. The policy was updated in April 2022 to allow two days of remote work each week.

Judges, secretaries of judges and judicial law clerks were not eligible for remote work, however.

Hurd’s secretary, identified as “L.C.” in the ethics complaint, moved out of New Jersey in 2021 and obtained an exemption from a residency requirement. She began working remotely “on a periodic basis,” with Hurd’s “knowledge and consent,” when the remote work policy began in September 2021, the ethics complaint said. She continued to work remotely until December 2022.

When Hurd was interviewed by advisory committee staff members, he acknowledged that L.C. worked remotely for about six months in 2022 and he authorized it, thinking that he had the power to do so.

The ethics complaint alleges that Hurd abused the power and prestige of his office to benefit his secretary, demonstrated an inability to conform his conduct to the high standards expected of judges, and failed to act in a manner that promoted public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.

A person who identified himself as Hurd’s law clerk told the ABA Journal that the judge had no comment at this point.