A strongly worded dissent in an appeal about bonds and garnishment raises this question: Is it OK to bend the rules of professionalism to give your client an edge?

Judge Vance Salter clearly doesn’t think so. Salter, a respected jurist who gives lectures on ethics, criticized lawyers for taking advantage of a timing anomaly that let them freeze—without notice—$2 million of their opponents’ operating funds pending the outcome of a separate appeal.