Lawyer Discipline

Longtime municipal judge is charged with grabbing woman’s breasts at his law office

A municipal court judge in New Jersey has been charged with fourth-degree sexual contact for allegedly grabbing a woman’s breasts when she was at his law office.

Sep 16, 2019 4:43 PM CDT

14 ways to discuss diversity in your law firm

Dallas lawyer Sara E. Inman has seen the topic of race make even the most confident attorneys squirm. A law firm cannot reach the goal of diversifying if attorneys in the office are uncomfortable talking about diversity past the surface level.

Sep 12, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

Lawyer reprimanded for discriminatory statements about Chinese optometrist

A New Jersey lawyer was reprimanded Friday for demeaning and discriminatory statements about the Chinese culture in a letter to a medical malpractice defendant.

Sep 9, 2019 10:36 AM CDT

How lawyers can be more mindful and embrace their spirituality

Lawyers have to be aware of how their philosophy—no matter what it is—affects their lives and the lives of others, says lawyer James Gray Robinson. The core of the mindfulness philosophy is the concept of awareness. It is critical to a well-lived life.

Aug 29, 2019 10:14 AM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: Once-high-profile lawyer disbarred; prescription diet cat food lawsuit reinstated

Lawyer who represented Oklahoma City bomber is disbarred A Colorado lawyer who once represented Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh has been disbarred at age 77. Dennis Hartley’s misconduct included converting client funds, disobeying a prior suspension order and failing to report drunken driving and impaired driving convictions. A lawyer who…

Aug 22, 2019 4:02 PM CDT

Readers respond to conservative student’s perspective on controversial ‘MAGA’ hat column

The ABA Journal’s Aug. 7 Your Voice piece, “Conservative student says law school biases infringe on his right to free speech,” by Gonzaga University School of Law student Austin Phelps, has kept the conversation going after lively responses to Gonzaga Professor Jeffrey Omari’s first column on free speech, racism and…

Aug 22, 2019 2:00 PM CDT

Judge was too quick to find contempt and too slow to write opinions, ethics complaint says

An ethics complaint filed Tuesday against a Philadelphia family court judge claims that the judge was too quick to fine or jail people for contempt but too slow to write opinions in cases involving child abuse and neglect. The ethics complaint against Judge Lyris Younge was filed after state appeals…

Aug 22, 2019 1:01 PM CDT

2 former prosecutors suspended for failing to report suspect’s beating

Two former prosecutors with the St. Louis circuit attorney’s office have been suspended from law practice for failing to immediately report a detective’s beating of a suspect. The Missouri Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Ambry Nichole Schuessler and Katherine Anne Dierdorf on Tuesday. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has coverage, while the…

Aug 15, 2019 3:06 PM CDT

Former Ohio judge who wrongly defined rape, made demeaning comments gets suspension

A former Ohio judge has been suspended from law practice for a range of misconduct that included failing to follow precedent when he ruled that a defendant had not committed rape because he didn’t penetrate the victim far enough. The Ohio Supreme Court suspended former Judge James Burge of Lorain…

Aug 14, 2019 3:15 PM CDT

Blagojevich faces new ethics complaint amid Trump’s talk of possible clemency

President Donald Trump has suggested that he might commute Rod Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence for political corruption, but that wouldn’t put an end to all the former Illinois governor’s legal troubles. Illinois legal ethics regulators filed a new ethics complaint against Blagojevich on Aug. 1 that cites his federal conviction, the…

Aug 12, 2019 4:54 PM CDT

Lawyer who threatened to pursue citizen’s arrest of judge is suspended for 30 days

A Tennessee lawyer has been suspended for a courtroom confrontation in which he threatened to pursue a judge’s citizen’s arrest and later criticized the judge on social media and in an ad he placed in the local newspaper. Edward Lee Kershaw of Greeneville was suspended for 30 days and placed…

Aug 8, 2019 2:48 PM CDT

Judge admonished for ‘deep-seated antagonism’ blames overzealous protection of child’s interests

A Texas judge has been publicly admonished for showing a “deep-seated antagonism” toward a father seeking to retain parental rights to a baby named Luke who was placed in a foster home.

Aug 6, 2019 1:21 PM CDT

Suspended lawyer can’t shield home in bankruptcy from malpractice judgment, 7th Circuit says

A suspended Illinois lawyer who had owned his home as a tenant by the entirety before his wife’s death won’t be able to shield the property in bankruptcy from a former client who won a default malpractice judgment.

Aug 6, 2019 10:13 AM CDT

Lawyer’s hip-hop defense fails in case involving ‘an overarching pattern of misconduct’

Maryland’s highest court has disbarred a lawyer for a “myriad of rule violations” that included calling a social worker who testified in one of his cases a “bitch.” The Maryland Court of Appeals explained why it disbarred Garland Montgomery Jarrat Sanderson in a July 23 opinion noted by the Legal…

Aug 1, 2019 10:13 AM CDT

11th Circuit affirms removal of ‘horrifying’ juror who ‘laid on the couch,’ disrespected female jurors

A federal appeals court has affirmed a decision to remove a holdout juror from a case after he called female jurors “bitches” and referred to others as “white asses.” The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Atlanta ruled in an unpublished, per curiam opinion Monday, Law360 reports. A federal…

Jul 30, 2019 10:34 AM CDT