Foley & Lardner is preparing “a thorough response” to the U.S. Supreme Court's unusual show-cause order last month that could result in sanctions against Foley partner Howard Shipley, the firm's general counsel says.

In the firm's first public comment about the disciplinary action, Foley general counsel James Clark said in a statement to The National Law Journal this week: “We are preparing a thorough response to the court's order, which Mr. Shipley and the firm take very seriously. Given the court's practice that such proceedings remain confidential and our obligation to client confidentiality, we have no further comment at this time.”

On Dec. 8, the court included this in its list of orders published that day: “Howard Neil Shipley, of Washington, D.C., is ordered to show cause, within 40 days, why he should not be sanctioned for his conduct as a member of the Bar of this Court in connection with the petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 14-424, Sigram Schindler Beteiligungsgesellschaft MBH v. Lee.”