Colorado Bar Authorities Enable Gun-Wielding Lawyer Clyde E. Hook, Again

Denver, Colorado lawyer, Clyde E. Hook, received his second stayed suspension from the practice of law according to the Legal Profession blawg after some pretty scary conduct. 

The new stayed suspension for a controlled substance, in isolation, makes some sense.  This is obviously a lawyer with some alcohol and substance abuse history which if successfully treated would not be of the type of thing to disqualify him as an attorney.  But when viewed on top of an earlier disciplinary history where Clyde got all shoot-y in public with his .357 magnum outside of a closed Colorado pub that refused him service because he was intoxicated, you have to begin to question the reasonableness of the Colorado bar authorities. 

Scary.

NC Lawyer Gary B. Kivett's Quite a Character

The guy in the picture holding the rattlesnake is North Carolina attorney Gary B. Kivett. 

He's also the respondent to a North Carolina Bar Complaint for getting all touchy, feely, and intercourse-y with a number of his female clients.  In other words a real snake in the grass.

A colorful blawg item by Mike Frisch at the Legal Profession reports that the NC bar authorities are a little tired of Kivett's inappropriate relations with his female clients and in one case, the wife of a client  One charge relates to sex Kivett had with a client on Grandfather Mountain. 

I've said it over and over again:  Do not have sex with the client.  The client comes to a lawyer because they seek independent professional help while the client is in a legally vulnerable position of some sort.  Sex with the clients so completely compromises everything important about the trust relationship comprising the lawyer-client contract. 

Strangle Your Spouse, Lose Your License...for a While

A New Jersey attorney, Peter Jacoby (former in-house counsel for AT&T) is such a wife batterer--beating his wife so badly, that Jacoby has a felony conviction.  Jacoby did a year on a 3 year sentence of incarceration and he served a prior 3 month law license suspension.  After trying to kill his poor battered wife, the New Jersey disciplinary authorities really came down hard on him this time, a one year suspension!  God only knows what he would get if he kills her?  Two years? 

Hat tip to Legal Profession blawg.

Lawyers: Do Not Threaten to Turn Your Clients Into Popsicles

The Legal Profession blawg leads with the story of the Joseph Martin, an Illinois attorney and lobbyist for native American tribes, disciplined after threatening to violently turn a client's representative into a popsicle.  Here's Mike Frisch's account:

During the Tribal Council meeting [ed. the lawyer is the legislative lobbyist for the tribal council, Attorney Martin] entered the meeting room and inquired about the nature of the Tribal Council's discussions.

Upon learning that the discussions pertained to who had authority to terminate [Martin's] employment contract, Respondent [Martin] told the Tribal Council that he would sue them if his employment contract was terminated.

When Norbert Kelsey, one of the Tribal Council members, expressed concern to Respondent regarding Respondent's threat to file a suit against the LRBOI, Respondent referred to Councilman Kelsey as a "joke."

After Councilman Kelsey left the room, [Mr. Martin] made the following statements to the remaining Tribal Council Members about Councilman Kelsey:

"I will fucking kill that god damn pervert. I will kill him. If he thinks I won't I'll take that fucking cane of his and shove it right up his ass. Make him into a popsicle. I'm sick of his shit. Questioning me saying I was a token at Northwestern...

I'll kill his ass."
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For this, Martin receives only a reprimand.  Pretty sweet.

San Diego Foreclosure Lawyer Jailed

Pines in shackles

The ABAJournal reported, yesterday, via the San Diego Union Tribune website the story of the real estate lawyer who is charged with felony stalking following his disciplinary suspension for advising foreclosure clients to break and enter their former residences.  Here is reporter Lily Leung's story from SignOnSanDiego (the Union Tribune's website:) 

"A North County attorney whose [law] license was suspended in April for telling clients to break into their foreclosed homes and retake possession of them was arraigned Tuesday on several felony and misdemeanor charges related to stalking, filing false crime reports and practicing law with a suspended license, authorities said.

The District Attorney’s office, in a San Diego Superior Court case, filed the charges against Michael T. Pines in the Vista courthouse. Pines, who has made national headlines for his unconventional tactics, is being held on a $227,000 bail. He has decided to represent himself in court.

Prosecutors charge that the 59-year-old for roughly two months had been advising an evicted family to retake possession of their home, and during that process, stalked and harassed the current occupants — Phillip Ladman and his family — as well as Ladman’s business partner, Ronald Bamberger.

The District Attorney’s Office has filed a total of eight counts against Pines.   Of those, four are related to felony stalking in the Ladman-Bamberger incidents. Two of those stalking charges allege Pines violated a temporary restraining order, which was granted Feb. 23.

James Romo, the prosecutor assigned to the case, said the complaint against Pines lists one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime to a 911 operator on Feb. 24 when he said the Ladman residence was being burglarized.   The remaining charges include: placing a 911 call for purposes of harassment, falsely reporting a crime to a police officer and continuing to practice law despite a suspended license.

Pines’ [law] license [is] 'involuntarily inactive' pending a hearing, after a State Bar Court hearing in late April.  State Bar Court Judge Richard Honn, in his ruling, said: 'Legal decisions are to be made by the courts, not the litigant. (Pines’) unwillingness or inability to obey court orders and follow the law of this state has tarnished the reputation of other attorneys and the legal community as a whole.'"
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It's always interesting to see a lawyer sitting in the dock, especially as with this case, the lawyer still thinks he is the best qualified person to represent him in court.  As I've said many times--fool for a lawyer, fool for a client.

Further Southern Exposure

Maybe it's that Southern weather but the Legal Profession Blawg had this link to a South Carolina Supreme Court decision suspending a member (intended) for dropping trou.   The lawyer's name is J.M. "Buddy" Long, III, a Conway, SC family law practitioner.  

According to the opinion attorney Long liked to expose himself to passers-by standing behind the storm door of his house sans pants. 

Colorado Hit-Skip Attorney Suspended for 3-Years

In April I told you about Colorado attorney Jeffrey S. Detlefs (pic) who was convicted of vehicular assault, and hit-skip after striking a cyclist who by coincidence was a local public defender.

Detlefs was driving while drinking and his child was in his SUV.  In my April account I reported that he received a 9-year prison sentence.  This morning, the Legal Profession blawg reports that Detlefs received a 3-year license suspension, um Law license.   Here's link to the opinion syllabus and a link to the story at the Legal Profession blawg.

Curious Case of Constance Pinson Heard Candidate for DeKalb County Prosecutor

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the remarkable account of the local lawyer with serious prior disciplinary history who is a serious candidate to become the Dekalb County (Georgia) prosecutor.  As the Bad Lawyer I know I have a lot to offer the legal profession even from my lowly perch as a blawger, but run for public office?  I think not.  Then again, there's Yale Law graduate, Joe Miller, who is about aa unethical a character to come down the pike in a long time--who might just become a U.S. Senator from Alaska, of course that's Alaska.  Oh, and then there's: Sen. David Vitter, Sen. John Ensign, Sen . . . I digress, here's AJC reporter Megan Mattecucci's story:

"One of DeKalb County’s two candidates for district attorney has been suspended twice by the State Bar of Georgia.  Decatur attorney Constance Pinson Heard (pic) is running against former DeKalb Solicitor-General Robert James.  The two are competing for the seat vacated by Gwen Keyes Fleming, who resigned last month to become a regional administrator with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show Heard was suspended twice for violating State Bar standards. James has no complaints with the Bar, according to its records.  The state Supreme Court found Heard guilty of three Bar standards: dishonesty and fraud; willful abandonment to the detriment of her clients; and commingling clients’ funds with her own.

The director of the National Institute for Teaching Ethics & Professionalism, who is not involved in the DeKalb race, said he would be concerned about any lawyer who violated those specific standards.  'I have no hesitation in saying that someone who has been suspended for violating [these standards] should not be a candidate for district attorney.' said Clark D. Cunningham, who also teaches law and ethics at the Georgia State University College of Law.

According to court records, Heard accepted retainer funds from clients for divorces but never filed anything in court on their behalf or represented them.

In 1998, she admitted to violating the Bar standards and agreed to a six-month suspension. She subsequently was suspended again in 2002 and ordered to return the money to her clients, court records show.  For both complaints, Heard failed to respond to the Bar’s notices, according to court records.

Heard said the complaints occurred when she was suffering from depression, but she declined to talk about the specifics of her condition.  'That was medical. I’ve never done anything criminal,'  she told the AJC on Tuesday.  Heard said she stopped practicing from 1998 to 2002 and was treated. The Supreme Court reinstated her in 2002 after completing a mental evaluation, court records show.

'I’ve been practicing successfully since then,' she said. 'I’m doing quite OK.'

But Cunningham said those Bar standards, which are set by the Supreme Court, are some of the most important rules that govern lawyers.  The three standards Heard was cited for are all punishable by disbarment or suspension -- the highest punishments.

'If the Supreme Court suspended a lawyer from practice, that means the court did not find any circumstances that excused the misconduct,' Cunningham said.

Both candidates said they hope voters make a decision based on their records.  'My record speaks for itself. Her record speaks, including multiple suspensions, speaks for itself,' said James, who resigned as solicitor-general last month to qualify for the race.  Heard, 63, touts 15 years of working in private practice. Before becoming a lawyer, she taught in Atlanta public schools and at what is now Georgia Perimeter College.

James, 38, has spent his entire 11 years practicing as a prosecutor, including working with the DeKalb and Rockdale County district attorney's offices. In DeKalb , he served as the special prosecutor for crimes against children. In 2006, he was elected solicitor-general.

Both candidates said they are focused on public corruption, along with making DeKalb safer.  Fighting public corruption is one of the reasons its is essential that the right candidate for district attorney win, officials said.

'There is no public official in the U.S. with more discretionary power than a district attorney or the equivalent position in the federal government. For example, a decision not to prosecute is not reviewable by any court or higher official,' Cunningham said. 'Such incredible power should only be given to persons who exemplify the utmost in integrity and ethics.'"
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Some of the finest, most profound, and probably ethical people, I know, are active in recovery and professional mental health programming.  Could you reasonably expect that some of us might be able to one day, honorably serve in positions of trust and public service after recovery?  Sure.  Might one of us prove to be more ethical and more honest than someone who has not experienced what we have experienced--you betcha! 

Examples of this paradox work themselves out around the country all the time, witness, New York's Eliot Spitzer, Maricopa County;s Andrew Thomas, Cuyahoga County's William Mason--all paragons of piety and ethics.  All gentlemen who were all quick to see the moat in the eye of others but blind to their visual defects. 

Now objectively, does the idea of a lawyer who has been disciplined multiple times with a history of depression sound like a good candidate for prosecutor?  No.

Does Constance Pinson Heard sound pretty clueless?  Yes.

"You'll Screw Up Again"

After the Bad Lawyer's sentencing, and my post about the sentencing, an anonymous commentator offered the observation that the he or she detected that the Bad Lawyer was still all about self. My anonymous commentator opined that based on my age, 56, I would doubtless screw up again.  I sincerely hope not. While not a saint, I hope to grow and mature, even at my late stage--God willing, I'd like to become a better human being. 

But my commentator's remark struck a chord with me.  The local news websites and disciplinary cases are rife with precisely the sort of recidivist bad lawyers, I hope not to become.  Columbus, Georgia lawyer Mark Shelnutt (pic, above) didn't have enough.  After being acquitted in a 2009 federal drug and money laundering prosecution, he got himself on audio and video surveillance dealing prescription drugs.  Good job.

At the link you can read the ABAJournal.com summary with links to the original stories.

Coal Mine Lawyer Pulls Fast One Versus Un-represented Claimaint in Black Lung Case

Reporter Andrew Clevenger at the Charleston Gazette  reports on the disciplinary proceeding against Douglas Smoot (pic), a Big Law partner at Jackson Kelly LLP, who represented a Coal Mine operator fighting a Black Lung claim.  Smoot (who according to his law firm bio, is selected by "peers as one of the Best Lawyers in America")--altered a medical report which supporting a Black Lung claim against his client, Westmoreland Coal.  The claim involved an unrepresented miner with the mining-related respiratory disease.  The spoliation of evidence came to light after the frustrated miner finally hired an attorney.  Originally, Smoot tried to get away with giving the altered medical report to the miner.  Here's an excerpt from the Gazette story :

"An attorney for the State Bar asked [West Virginia] Supreme Court [. . . ] to suspend the law license of a black lung lawyer who removed part of a doctor's report before disclosing it to a retired miner seeking benefits in 2001. 'This conduct is deceitful. It's dishonest. It is misrepresentation,' Jessica Donahue, a lawyer with the bar's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, told the justices.

But Al Emch, a Jackson Kelly [Law Firm]  attorney who spoke on behalf of his colleague Douglas A. Smoot, insisted that the [law] governing black lung cases did not require Smoot to submit the entire report.

In 2009, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed formal charges against Smoot, alleging that he violated the state's rules for lawyers by removing part of a doctor's 2001 report before turning it over to a retired miner with an eighth-grade education who was representing himself in the black lung claim.  After a two-day hearing in June 2009, a three-member [disciplinary] panel recommended the dismissal of all charges against Smoot, concluding that his handling of the case was in compliance with applicable black lung law. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel immediately appealed that decision to the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, Emch maintained that the part of the report that Smoot did disclose contained evidence that was highly beneficial to the retired miner, who was representing himself when Smoot's client, Westmoreland Coal Co., decided to fight his claim in 2001.

'I see nothing in [the applicable] regulation that says a partial medical report can be submitted,' said Chief Justice Robin Davis.  [Attorney] Emch countered that there was nothing in the regulation that specified what a complete report is. He said that the removal of part of the doctor's report was not misleading.
'It was altered, Mr. Emch. The report was altered,' [Chief Justice] Davis shot back.

Justice Menis Ketchum wondered why, if the information they submitted indicated that Daugherty had black lung, the coal company continued to fight the case. In the years of litigation that followed, 14 doctors examined more than 30 X-rays, Daugherty underwent 11 exams by nine different pulmonologists, and six expert witnesses were deposed, he said. 'You could have just paid him and saved a lot of money,'  Ketchum said.  Ketchum also wondered why Smoot hadn't submitted the entire report to Daugherty and the administrative law judge presiding over the case.  'Why not give the whole report to the judge and let him decide what was most probative?' Ketchum asked. [ . . .]
Justice Brent Benjamin asked how much could be removed from a doctor's report before it could no longer be called a report, as it was in the cover letter that accompanied the submission of the partial report to Daugherty and the administrative law judge. 

Donahue argued that it was deceitful, and therefore an ethical violation, not to indicate that portions of the report had been removed. 'They took the report and tore it apart and only submitted the part they liked,'  she said. 'It is somewhat plausible to say that the [full] report would never have come to light if [Daugherty] hadn't gotten counsel.'

The litigation continued for three years after Smoot withheld part of the doctor's report.

Davis noted that when faced with a judge's order to disclose all of its information, Westmoreland decided to stop fighting Daugherty's claim.

Daugherty's lawyer, Robert Cohen, eventually pursued sanctions against Jackson Kelly from U.S. District Judge David Faber. Although Faber declined to impose sanctions, saying that a court was the wrong venue, he did forward the issue to the ODC.  'The court in no way approves the conduct of Jackson Kelly lawyers before the administrative law judge, assuming the alleged misconduct to have occurred,'  Faber wrote in his Aug. 30, 2006 order. He found Jackson Kelly's 'excuses and arguments flimsy at best.'"
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OUTRAGEOUS!

You used to see this sort of thing all the time, but huge verdicts by angry jurors, sanctions and disciplinary actions have sent a strong message.  It's hoped that the West Virginia Supreme Court sends a strong message.  As with the dirty DA case, you can bet that Smoot and his colleagues routinely pulled this sort of stunt.  It's particularly offensive when the man on the otherside is unrepresented. 

There is an important lesson, this came to light when the miner, hired a lawyer.

Stan Chesley Disciplinary Case Update--The Beginning of the End of the Mass Tort Class Action Era?

Last week the Louisville Courier-Journal buried the lede, in a story updating the disciplinary charges against the lawyers involved in the Fen-phen class action scandals.  Essentially the report was about an associate attorney taking a disciplinary suspension, but the real story, buried deep in the account, was that there are active disciplinary charges against legendary Cincinnati class action attorney Stanley Chesley (pic). 

When I saw the story, I knew immediately that the buried story would turn out to be the "big story" and sure enough, late in the week the ABAJournal.com and professional class action objector, Ted Frank at his blawg, PointofLaw.com had picked up the report.  This morning, Jim Hannah at the Cincinnati Enquirer had a feature on the charges.  This is Hannah's update:

"The Kentucky Bar Association is investigating Cincinnati class-action lawyer Stan Chesley in connection with two of Northern Kentucky's biggest legal cases of the past decade.

The existence of the two separate, confidential investigations was revealed in legal documents filed in ongoing litigation involving a $200million settlement for Kentuckians sickened by the diet drug fen-phen, and in the $84million settlement for people abused by Covington diocesan priests.

Chesley's attorney, Frank Benton IV, declined to comment, citing Kentucky Supreme Court rules intended to keep ongoing disciplinary investigations confidential. Chesley is licensed to practice law in Kentucky in addition to Ohio.

The bar association also declined to comment on the investigations, citing the same rules. One of the ways a disciplinary matter can become public is when a bar trial commissioner makes a recommendation for disciplinary action, an association spokeswoman said.  The investigation into Chesley's conduct involving the diet-drug settlement was publicly disclosed in a trial commissioner's recommendation that Lexington lawyer David Helmers be suspended from practicing law for five years.

The report, dated Aug. 12, states the disciplinary charges against Helmers were to be heard in November 2009 along with those against Chesley. During the hearing, the report states Chesley argued successfully to disqualify the trial commissioner from hearing the charges against him.

Although the report doesn't state why the trial commissioner, Roderick Messer, recused himself, his son is employed at a law firm that has worked in collecting the $42million civil judgment against three disbarred Lexington lawyers involved in the diet-drug settlement.

Chesley, who was paid about $20million in fees for his role in the diet-drug settlement, was also named as a defendant in the civil suit. Although a judge ruled in June 2007 that Chesley wouldn't be allowed to keep all his fees, the portion of the civil case involving Chesley has been put on hold while the plaintiffs wait for a ruling from the Kentucky Court of Appeals on an issue in the case.

Chesley testified in the federal criminal trial of the three lead attorneys in the fen-phen case that his role was negotiating the settlement with lawyers for the drug maker. He said he wasn't aware of how the money was distributed to the people who got heart-valve damage from the diet drug. Two of those lawyers were convicted of wire fraud and sentenced to prison.  The second investigation became public when a priest sex-abuse victim filed a federal lawsuit May 27 in Covington against Chesley, his law firm and a law partner claiming that Covington Diocese sex-abuse victims were awarded less if they didn't object to the attorneys fees being paid. The suit was filed without the aid of a lawyer.

When the suit was filed, it included an exhibit that was a Kentucky Bar Association document dated December 2008 that confirmed a 'disciplinary matter' arising from Chesley's representation of sex-abuse victims. The document was a protective order issued by the chairman of the Kentucky Bar Inquiry Commission to keep private the names of sex-abuse victims who were to be called as witnesses in a disciplinary case against Chesley.

The exhibit has since been removed from the public record because it contained information about a confidential bar investigation, according to federal court clerks. U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves granted a motion on Tuesday by Chesley's lawyers to seal all future proceedings in the case.

An executrix of a sex-abuse victim's estate has also filed a similar federal suit that names Chesley as one of the defendants.

In a letter to The Enquirer, Chesley's attorney said the allegations outlined in the suits are false and that he plans to file a motion to dismiss them. A federal judge has set Monday as the deadline to file such a motion.

Benton said a judge, and not Chesley, set the attorney fees in the sex-abuse case and that two independent settlement managers, one being a retired federal judge, determined how much each victim received.

'It should be fairly obvious that the information contained in the … complaints is untrustworthy and without foundation,' Benton wrote. 'If you delve into this matter, you will have every reason to doubt the truthfulness and veracity of the plaintiffs who filed these two complaints.'  Benton attached the criminal background history of the executrix to his letter and the multiple bankruptcy/creditor suits against the sex-abuse victim. Benton wrote in a second letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer that publishing the allegations in the suits would 'injure the reputations' of Chesley and another lawyer in the same firm. The letter stated suits were sources of 'untrustworthy information.'

While the two people who filed the suits declined to speak with The Enquirer, they filed identical addendums to their federal suits July 16 in which they alleged that Chesley and his lawyer have committed libel, slander and professional misconduct in trying to discredit them.

'The aforementioned violations go beyond personal slanderous, malicious, defamatory, and libelous attacks on plaintiffs,'  the addendum read. 'They are brazen examples of the professional misconduct that continues with these attorneys. Their violations are brazen and unethical and illegal, and they are daring the court to stop them.'"
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There is so much going on here, it is breathtaking in its scope and potential. 

As I said before, I do not know Stanley Chesley, but I was a personal beneficiary by virtue of attendance at more than one of his lectures on continuing legal education topics particularly "discovery of incriminating documents."    If you want to read the dirt on Chesley from the perspective of the defense Bar you will do no better than Ted Frank's blawg which is consistently filled with anti-plaintiff vitriol written by Frank, a brilliant lawyer and polemicist. 

It is my opinion that at the top of any of these high end plaintiffs' practices, Chesley et al., there is a scale of arbitrary exercise of ego in the decision making that directly effects the lives of clients which can perpetrate harm and result in just such an orgy of chaos and scandal.  Please be clear, I am not saying that happened here, but in my personal experience, particularly when you are dealing with clergy sex abuse victims, you are already dealing with persons who were severely injured, exploited and harmed.  Some of what is echoing around the edges of this story is some ferocious personal attacks upon the character of clients who were already profoundly injured by their clergy.  The attempt by Chesley's lawyers to discredit the clients that complained to the bar associations sounds awfully similar to the tactics of the church circa 15-20 years ago.  These lawyers should bear in mind, how well that worked out for the church.

But there is a much larger story about lawyers, greed and ego the scale rarely plays out as markedly as it promises to play out in this case.  Chesley is an accomplished senior lawyer with a sterling legacy.  Chesleys' connections to politics and the courts and class action practices is exhaustively explored by Ted Frank, and you can also read Chesley's wikipedia entry at the link.  The point is, this story suggests to me the potential for a sea change in Class Action administration and collapse of a admirable reputation built up over several decades.

The First Disciplinary Case

Last week on Bad Lawyer,I was telling you about the first law partnership:  Moses and Aaron [LLC]; forged by the Creator as recorded in Chapter 4 of Exodus.  Also, in the Oxford English translation (1970) of the Holy Bible, we find the first use of the term: "mouthpiece" in the context we use it, here. 

What I did not know until late last week is that near the end of this partnership, and it is certainly the most prodigious law partnership of all time, with the whole of what we know as Judeo-Christian law being received and implemented, Moses and Aaron commit the first disciplinary infraction and do not kid yourselves, the sanction is most profound.  For the story we go to Numbers Chapter 20:2-13, the Waters of Meribah.  As you will recall when Moses first talked to Yahweh at Mount Horeb, the Creator gave Moses a staff that was famously used by Charlton Heston to great pre-CGI effects in the Cecil B. DeMille version of the Ten Commandments.  This powerful tool, "the staff" was to be used by Moses for precisely the sorts of effects intended to persuade Egyptians and Israelites that there was one God, and that the God of Moses and the Jews was the real deal--which is not all that different from how the staff was used by DeMille.

One of the most important things to remember about the creation story is the role of words, and much of the writings about creation focused on the coming into being of not only the world, but also of the word especially, the formation of letters!  Thus the sacred aspect of God's name which we Christians read as Yahweh is not uttered by pious Jews, the letters the most sacred of name of God is not to be uttered.  In fact Yahweh is just one of some 72 names of God, or 42 names of God--go ahead and look it up.  But the point is that the use of words, and language is very important--and, it still is--ergo the study of linguistics and semantics, and even popular fiction like Dan Brown's the Lost Symbol.  But we're talking something very profound and instructive lost to most of our consciousness--Moses argues with God on his very first encounter as I talked about last week.  Moses, says--I am not a good talker, lousy with words.  God assures him that he, God--the, "I AM," will provided the words and Moses and Aaron will be his mouthpiece. 

Most of us know how well this works out, because the Semitic tribes, Moses leads out of Egypt are some pretty tough customers who are rarely happy or satisfied with anything or anyone often least of all: the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  The tribes of Israel are argumentative, and frequently sinful--leading to the actual receipt by Moses of Torah and Talmud:  the written and oral laws and procedures underlying all of International law.  So with that digression we come to Meribah where once again in a desert setting we have--no water.  The people are in near revolt and Moses is at wit's end.  He and Aaron go to the Tabernacle and throw themselves down and ask God what to do.  The Lord tells them, go to the prominent rock taking the staff with you and before the assembly speak to the rock, and it will bring forth water.  Got that? 

So what does Moses do?  Does Moses do exactly what God has commanded him to do?  Nah. 

Moses goes to the rock, staff in hand and he strikes the rock twice, water comes gushing from the rock, voila`--and guess who's angry?

The act of ignoring God's commandment costs the partnership their goal of the Promised Land.  Moses and Aaron are de-barred by God from entering the land of milk and honey, Judah, Israel, Zion. 

It's ridiculous to add at this point, that I am not a biblical scholar, nor am I even a competent homilist.  I did hear a brilliant homily on this topic and the teacher spoke of the "sin of Moses" as it is often called as not a sin at all, but an important demonstration of God's love and awesome power.  But intrinsic in this story is a "taste of hell," failure of faith in the power of mere words, and even darkness--and, in another sense it is a demonstration by Moses and Aaron of something they demonstrate repeatedly as they occupy this historical stage, the willingness to give up their lives for their followers and in that sense genuine unselfish love for mankind. 

Wednesday, I will enter a guilty plea to a tax felony, explicitly agreeing that I failed to follow the words (of my oath), and obey the law.  This is very serious, and it may spell the end of this "blawg" for the time being.  I don't yet know.  I recognize in all sincerity my complete responsibility for my situation and the justness of whatever outcome the Court may determine  I also am more than okay with not reaching whatever promised land I thought I would reach in my lifetime--I am fully satisfied that the next chapter in my life is what God intends for me and my family.

Next Witness, Counselor . . . What, Your Lawyer's Been What . . .?

That's right the final witness was on the stand in a Franklin County Court of Common Pleas (Ohio) trial on Attempted rape charges when the Ohio Supreme Court suspended the defense attorney Gerald T. Noel for two years according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch.  There's no indication on how the case was going, but while I'm sure this was an incredible inconvenience for the court, the jury, and participants, it may turn out to have been a lucky break for the defendant since the suspension was essentially for incompetence in prior legal matters handled by attorney Noel.  This is from John Futty and James Nash's story:

The final witness was on the stand yesterday when a judge halted the trial of a Columbus man accused of attempted rape because his attorney wasn't supposed to be practicing law. Judge Kimberly Cocroft of the Franklin County Common Pleas Court called a recess after the prosecutor's office told her that the Ohio Supreme Court had suspended the law license of Gerald T. Noel Jr. that morning.  Cocroft scheduled a hearing for 9 a.m. Monday to determine the next step, which could be a mistrial. She sent jurors home without telling them the reason for the recess. It might have been the first time a trial in Ohio was disrupted by a lawyer's suspension, said Bruce Campbell, who has been counsel for the certified grievance committee of the Columbus Bar Association since 1988.

Noel was defending Vincent R. Griffin, 51, who is charged with attempted rape, felonious assault, kidnapping and abduction. The jury was seated Monday and began hearing testimony Tuesday.  The Supreme Court suspended Noel's license after two other clients complained that he had botched their cases. The court also said he ignored requests for information from the Bar Association and the court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel about his dealings with the two clients.
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The visual I have here, is of the Rapture--and I'm not trying to be cute.  It's like you're going along in life and you're bodily lifted from the world.  It's a little bit like how I felt, yesterday as I was leaving my job.  I rode the elevator down with an older lawyer, Bobby Bottomfeeder with whom I had had a difficult matter a number of years ago.  Bottomfeeder eyed me warily while chatting with his associate and a secretary.  When we reached the lobby, I let the three of them exit the elevator and I followed behind.  The senior lawyer, now with his back to me, launched into telling the associate, "did you see that guy [me] on the elevator . . .?"  It was if I were dead. 

It is an interesting sensation to be removed bodily from your profession, it must be incredibly bizarre to be mid-trial when it happens. 

Near the end of my active law practice and as I related, here, on Bad Lawyer, I was involved in a workers' compensation defense for a food manufacturing corporation located near the town of WhiteBean, OurState. My defense resulted in a judgment for my client against the claims of "Big Dennis."  It's actually a pretty funny story if you go back and look at the narrative.

Just before my license was suspended I completed the briefing on the appeal pursued by Big Dennis' lawyer.  I learned a couple of weeks ago that my client won the appellate case, and the opinion upheld all of the legal and factual assertions made by me in my role as the defense attorney in that case.  But reading the opinion, it's as if I had been bodily removed from the world. The appellate court's opinion reflected a year-and-a half of effort mentions me not.  I am not listed in anyway as the attorney for the corporation that prevailed, none of the defenses documented in the opinion that I advanced or transcribed and cited questions I asked in the underlying proceeding are attributed to me, and I am not mentioned as author of the brief. I evaporated. Like Elijah, I disappear in a chariot.

Kabbalists talk about the concept of the klippot, which are the shell-like manifestations of ego: anger, selfishness, control, judgment, and pride that build up around us sometimes so dysfunctional as to actually create crippling phobias preventing all loss of light.  When I first returned to work in this building I worked in for a quarter century, as a lawyer, I was so filled with anxiety I could barely leave my office during the work day to get coffee for fear of running into former colleagues I was sure would look at me with contempt.  The challenge is to shatter these shells, these klippots. We do this through opportunities to crush our ego, I alluded to this in the post about "pie-in-face" and I noticed that one of the anonymous commentators there really addressed the challenge before me.  Now I walk freely from this office--yeah, I screwed up;  yeah, I deserve the consequences; yeah, there are people who judge me harshly, but I've been cheered by the love and empathy I receive from many former peers. 

Life is only going to get more difficult in the coming weeks.  I promise to keep my eyes open and tell you about it.

Orly on Her Way Out?

Talking Points Memo is reporting that the California disciplinary authorities are looking at everyone's favorite "Birther" lawyer/dentist, Orly Taitz.  Apparently submitting pleadeings and motions supported by perjurious affidavits and forgeries is not ok, afterall.  Taitz was admitted to practice law in California in 2002. 

Handicapped Parking

A Massachusetss, Lawyer, Garrison Corben, got himself a one year suspension for using a handicapped parking placard to which he was not entitled.  MassLawWeekly has the story.  Perhaps there is a slightly more expensive parking ticket somewhere, but as far as I know, this is it.

Disbarred Attorney, Just Keeps On Stealin'

Aisling Swift's article in the Naples News website gives us another example of why the Disciplinary authorites do all that they can do to shut down the disbarred attorney-class.  In Gary Gramer, we have a disbarred New York lawyer who pled guilty to stealing a little client money.  So what does Gramer do?

Why he takes his show on the road to the sunshine state, where he continues to practice law despite fugitive warrants and the NY disciplinary proceedings.  Oh, and he wasn't hiding, he actually had an office and multiple pending civil actions. 

When I got out of law school years ago, a lot of guys took the OurState bar, and promptly took the Florida bar, so they could "write off their Florida vacations," somone out there, please explain that one to me?  For those of us east of the Mississippi, Florida bar registration as your second state of admission was not an uncommon phenomena.  My guess is Gramer was one of those guys. 

Bigamist Lawyer Gets 6 Months

The Legal Profession Blawg had a link to an Ohio Supreme Court per curiam (by the court) opinion (link to pdf, here) suspending Dennis A. DiMartino a Youngstown lawyer for 6 months for lying on a marriage license application in North Carolina. 

Yes, that's right, Mr. DiMartino could not wait to divorce the first wife he already had back in Ohio and his "fraud" in swearing he had not been married previously in order to obtain a marriage license in North Carolina has cost him.  This fact and his short term bigamy status (he did divorce the first wife back in the Buckeye State after the fact) resulted in Mr. DiMartino taking a 6 month suspension (in reality a 1 year suspension with six months stayed,)

Bear in mind, this is the same Supreme Court that gave Anna Schmalz, a Cincinnati lawyer who screwed the criminal client; the criminal client that ended up in jail when he refused a plea bargain because he couldn't bear the idea of being away from attorney Schmalz (who continued to meet his needs after his incarceration with phone sex); and,  Mr. Schmalz lied about the relationship with the client to Bar investigators.  This lawyer's behavior drew a big fat public reprimand.  Mr. DiMartino's actions in his personal life seem pretty screwed up--and, probably merit the result meted out by the Ohio Supremes, but when you compare the outcome to Ms. Schmalz disciplinary-pass you might forgive the head scratching.   Does the expression arbitrary and capricious come to mind--as my daughter would say:  just sayin'.

What Assholes!

The Legal Profession Blawg brings attention to the story of Illinois divorce Attorney Dennis Shumacher who among other things, sexually assaulted a divorce client in his office.  This case is so upsetting, not because the behavior which in my mind is (an unprosecuted) crime, but because the Illinois Bar gives this piece of shit a one year suspension.   Here's what I want you to do, read the Legal Profession post and if you want, the opinion of the Illinois disciplinary authhorities which I've also linked and answer this question:  think this guy has been doing this to his female clients all along? 

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2009/12/an-illinois-hearing-board-has-recommended-a-one-year-suspension-based-on-findings-of-misconduct-involving-sexual-behavior-tow.html

and

https://www.iardc.org/07CH0020HB.html

Oh and, there's this guy, 83 year old Detroit, MI attorney, Murdoch Hertzog--suspended for a couple of months for soliciting sex in lieu of fees:

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2009/12/10/news/cops_and_courts/doc4b2100496edcb142339257.txt

Sick Lawyers

https://www.iardc.org/09CH0068CM.html  If the charges contained in the complaint of the Illinois Bar complaint are true, Deron Baker Elliott is a very sick lawyer.  According to the Bar complaint this lawyer has on several occasions engaged in racist verbal attacks on others in the community.  It is reported that attorney Elliott assaulted a police officer as part of a wild incident in which he verbally berated African-Americans and Jewish citizens.  In another incident Elliott referred to an Asian police official as "Detective Chairman."

It's not too difficult to appreciate the underpinnings of racism, recognizing that it underlies so much of what we all do and say, not excluding myself.  I recognize that as we try to explain the world to ourselves we include or exclude ourselves based on differences that we perceive.  If I'm uncomfortable I focus on the differences of others around me;  if I'm comfortable, I search our our similarities--is this it?  Aggressive and assaultive racism, in other words that behavior that excludes others through attitudes, words or violence--that, my Mother taught me was sin.  Wrong.  And my life experiences teaches me that racism is not only wrong but profoundly stupid.  What does racism contribute to my peace of mind or yours?

So when I read about Deron Baker Eliott, I conclude that he is not just racist, he is sick.  He is a very sick lawyer.  What's surprising to me is that Elliott made it through the process of being admitted to law school, admitted to take the bar exam, and admitted to practice with the attitudes that he holds.  That is why I've concluded that this lawyer is sick, clearly I'm just speculating but it certainly sounds to me like someone with an organic mental illness, like schizophrenia.

In my career, I worked for one profoundly (alcoholic and) racist lawyer.  During law school I clerked (filing legal papers, drafting legal documents, and writing briefs) with a small group of personal injury lawyers.  The most successful of these lawyers, Ronnie P had reached such prominence that he ran for Congress as the republican candidate, losing  in a heavily democratic district.  By repute, Ronnie P  was a brilliant businessman--I have my doubts.

Ronnie P's personal injury practice was based on advertising directly to African-Americans via Urban-format radio well before the era of widespread lawyer advertising. I did not know until late in my stay at this office, but Ronnie issued orders to his secretaries to clear the waiting room of black clients when business clients were due to visit and pass through the lobby.  Ronnie P. believed that Blacks people were "animals" interested in one thing, money that they could bleed from the system.

Ronnie P's racism became manifest as his drinking problem became more and more evident over time.  Shortly before I left this office as part of a revolt against Ronnie by all the other lawyers in the suite--Ronnie stumbled drunkenly into an office after lunch. I was interviewing two mature black ladies-clients who had had previous dealings with him.  One of the black ladies trying to be social with him asked Ronnie, Ronnie's opinion of mixed raced dating. This disgusting, mentally ill drunk uttered something so crude and vile, that today I count it as the most racist thing I ever heard one person say to another.

Within ten years, Ronnie P died a raving wet-brained maniac.