Comments on: A lawyer gets sued

By: American Phoenix

American Phoenix — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 16:21:38 +0000

This hasn’t been the first high profile case I’ve read about. Most of the cases, however, are things you read about in your state bar journal - in the disciplinary section.

By: Moonage

Moonage — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 01:41:35 +0000

Wonder why this is the first high profile case if these abuses happen all the time?

By: American Phoenix

American Phoenix — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 01:21:50 +0000

It’s worse than you think. I know of lawyers in one case that withdrew a civil suit, so they could proceed criminally.

They do get in trouble while executing such cases. They get in trouble all the time. The only difference is this case is high profile.

But as I said, some state bars are better than others.

By: Moonage

Moonage — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 17:18:14 +0000

I have seen and heard of lawyers being prosecuted locally for actions OUTSIDE of their practice, and have seen some lose their bars for other actions such as embezzlement, but I have never seen one get into trouble like that while actually executing a case. I’d like to see a LOT more of that because I know from experience what happened in this story is not an exclusively stupid act. Some lawyers ( can’t say a lot because I have no clue what the percentage would be ), have relied on legal bullying tactics to shake down opposition for years ( see Rainbow Coalition for example ). This is what needs to stop and why I am hopeful that the publicity of this case and the Supreme Court backing it will have a chilling effect on those tactics.

By: American Phoenix

American Phoenix — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 16:11:56 +0000

Very good article but you are wrong on one key point. Attorneys can be sued civilly for money damages, prosecuted in criminal courts for crimes, AND they are always subject to their state bars for ethical violations. These are not mutually exclusive causes of action and all three of them can be brought in different arenas. The aim of a civil suit is money. The aim of a criminal suit is punishment. The aim of an ethics proceeding within the state bar is the revocation of an attorney’s license to practice law or some lesser disciplinary action that is focused on the attorney recognizing and resolving any unethical conduct. Professions are professions because they have standards and police themselves. Some state bars are more effective than others.

Frankly, this is a very clear cut case. I have no idea what this attorney was thinking as this is one of the first things you learn not to do in ethics class. Extortion is not a settlement offer. I’d be more than happy to see this bad apple lose his bar ticket.

My state bar spends approximately 95% of its revenues on policing attorneys. That’s a really huge percentage, but California is also a really big state. Our professional magazine has a section in back which lists all attorneys which have been disciplined or had their licenses revoked.