Attorney Misconduct, California, Law Professors, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Sex, Sex Scandals, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns

California Judge Accused in 'Quid Pro Quo' Sexual Affair... With a Law Student?

In this job market, trading sex for employment is allegedly a reality. Sad.

By Staci Zaretsky

onMarch 8, 2013 at 11:06 AMMarch 11, 2013 at 11:45 PM

The job market sure is rough right now, but the blow job market is an entirely different playing field. If you really want to be counted as one of those employed nine months after graduation, you’ve got to to put up or shut up — or in this case, put out or get out.

It seems that Scott Steiner, a California judge and adjunct law professor at Chapman University School of Law, allegedly decided to trade sex for job placement opportunities. The woman whom he allegedly entered into an affair with eventually landed a position with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the place where he used to work. Steiner used to work in the DA’s Gang Unit, but given the allegations here, the good judge may as well have worked in the Gang Bang Unit.

Oh, and we should probably mention that this woman may have been a law student….

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From Pilot and Above The Law

At this point, the facts are sparse, but we do know that the investigation into Steiner’s sexual proclivities started at Chapman Law where he taught California Evidence and Criminal Procedure. The law school apparently called the DA’s office to make an inquiry on or about February 26, and that’s when things got sticky (including Steiner’s courthouse desk, at least according to the allegations). Here are some details from the OC Weekly:

Judge Scott Steiner, the target of the investigation, has been reassigned away from weighty duties in the county’s central courthouse in Santa Ana to minor duties in Fullerton court, according to multiple, well-placed sources.

Steiner, a part-time law professor at Chapman University’s law school, has not been answering phone calls or email, but has hired acclaimed, high-price criminal defense lawyer Paul S. Meyer of Costa Mesa.

Meyer declined an interview and a Chapman spokeswoman refused to discuss Steiner’s status, but other well-placed legal sources say that the allegations may include courthouse sex.

At this time, no one’s talking — neither Steiner, nor his attorney, nor the law school — but maybe someone should. KTLA 5 says it’s “unclear how the woman is connected to the law school,” but we’re left to believe that she was a law student. Why else would the school launch an inquiry into the DA’s hires? We know that hiring statistics are a law school’s bread and butter, but when jobs allegedly come at the expense of students’ dignity (not that the search for entry-level legal employment these days is all that dignified in the first place), greater investigation is warranted. KTLA 5 has video coverage on Steiner’s alleged quid pro quo arrangement: