Afternoon Briefs: Controversial judge transferred; billionaire charged with trafficking minors

• An administrative law judge who refused to watch an LGBTQ sensitivity training video has been transferred from Texas to Tennessee after resolution of his suit seeking to block discipline. The controversial judge, Gary Suttles, had said the video didn’t comport with his religious views. Said one concerned lawyer for…

Jul 8, 2019 4:36 PM CDT

Lawyer disbarred for claiming paralegal’s work as his own; he regrets only ‘one license to lose’ for clients

The Tennessee Supreme Court has disbarred a Knoxville lawyer for alleged false and exaggerated time entries when he submitted a request for more than $103,000 in legal fees for the time that he spent fighting Lowe’s Home Centers over a discovery violation. The lawyer, Loring Justice, claimed his paralegal’s work…

Jul 8, 2019 3:52 PM CDT

Judge who said he ‘lost track’ of cases is admonished for 3 untimely rulings

Judge Brian Lamb of Inyo County in California had an explanation for untimely rulings in three family law cases. Lamb said he “lost track” of two of the uncompleted cases, and he had met the 90-day deadline in a third by issuing a tentative decision—albeit not a final statement of…

Jul 8, 2019 1:16 PM CDT

Criminal cases that involved lawyers’ spitting and shoving match are resolved

Two cases brought by a personal injury lawyer and the father of another attorney after they got into a spitting and shoving match are no longer sitting in criminal court in Providence, Rhode Island. Last week, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha filed the assault case against attorney Stephen J.…

Jul 3, 2019 2:51 PM CDT

Lawyer charged after smuggling binders of drugs to client in prison

A Baltimore lawyer has been arrested and charged with smuggling drugs to a client in a Maryland prison. Steven Thurman Mitchell brought two binders to his client, Mandel Brown, during a visit to the Roxbury Correctional Institution on Friday and attempted to leave without them, according to a Maryland Department…

Jul 2, 2019 3:01 PM CDT

Missing lawyer with troubled past is disbarred after he ‘abandoned his law practice without notice’

A criminal defense attorney from Fort Myers, Florida, has been permanently disbarred after failing to appear for court proceedings in three counties since October 2018. The Florida Supreme Court suspended David Allen Brener’s license in November 2018 after he “abandoned his law practice without notice to his clients and without…

Jul 2, 2019 10:04 AM CDT

How to make a website accessible

Jul 1, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

Lawyer who gave incarcerated boyfriend $11 lands in ethical trouble for contraband

An Ohio lawyer who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after admitting that she passed $11 to her incarcerated boyfriend found herself in disciplinary trouble for the conduct. The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Conduct is recommending a stayed suspension for the lawyer, Virginia Riggs, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Thursday.…

Jun 24, 2019 7:00 AM CDT

Lawyer suspended amid accusations of ‘inappropriate diatribes’ and ‘vitriolic emails’

A Chicago lawyer accused of sending “vitriolic emails” to opposing counsel and making false claims and “inappropriate diatribes” in pleadings has been suspended from law practice. In an order on Wednesday, the Illinois Supreme Court suspended lawyer Joel Brodsky from law practice “immediately and until further order of the court.”…

Jun 20, 2019 3:24 PM CDT

Top 10 rules to be a successful lawyer

“We are here to live life and be as successful as we can possibly be,” writes trial attorney James Gray Robinson. Check out his top rules about practicing law—and life in general—that can help lawyers to be successful, whether they are young or old.

Jun 20, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

Lawyers accused of misconduct for offensive, inappropriate emails about colleagues, minorities

Two lawyers should be disciplined or subjected to remedial action for participating in an email chain with a group of people calling themselves the “Forum of Hate,” according to the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland. One of the lawyers, James Markey, was an administrative law judge at the Board of…

Jun 19, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

Lawyer engaged in ‘sustained campaign of unfounded litigation,’ disbarment recommendation says

An Illinois lawyer should be disbarred for trying to gain control of a long-running case by filing several unfounded suits alleging malpractice, fraud and a “virtual kidnapping,” according to an ethics hearing board. The actions by Waukegan, Illinois, lawyer David Alan Novoselsky caused an “astonishing amount of harm” to several…

Jun 14, 2019 1:17 PM CDT

Second state adopts ABA model rule barring discrimination and harassment by lawyers

Maine has adopted an ABA model rule that bars discrimination and harassment by lawyers. Maine is the second state to adopt Rule 8.4(g) of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, according to Bloomberg Law. Vermont was the first. Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court adopted the new rule, which takes effect…

Jun 13, 2019 11:39 AM CDT

Judge engaged in ‘inappropriate and harassing behavior’ toward women, complaint alleges

Cook County Judge Mauricio Araujo “engaged in a pattern of inappropriate and harassing behavior toward women with whom he has interacted in professional settings and in his official judicial capacity,” according to a complaint filed Thursday by the state’s Judicial Inquiry Board. The complaint cites specific incidents in which Araujo…

Jun 7, 2019 2:37 PM CDT

Lawyer admonished after he’s caught on mic saying he has prosecutor in his pocket

The New Jersey Supreme Court has admonished a lawyer who was caught and recorded on a courtroom microphone saying he has the prosecutor “in my pocket.”

Jun 5, 2019 7:00 AM CDT