Sex Scandals

Lawyer of the Day: George Hunter

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George Hunter George D Hunter Above the Law Above the Law.jpgIf Aaron Charney’s lawsuit against Sullivan & Cromwell is to be believed, some S&C lawyers think that Canadians are “irrelevant.”
Feel free to debate the relevance in Canadians in the comments. One thing that can be said for them, though, is that their lawyers have pretty good sex scandals.
From an article in the Toronto Star, by the provocatively named Tracey Tyler (who is a guy for all we know):

The former head of the governing body for Ontario lawyers has been suspended from practising for 60 days after admitting to a sexual affair with a client. George Hunter, 59, offered an emotional apology to his colleagues, family and ex-lover yesterday after pleading guilty to professional misconduct.

The irony here is too rich. Maybe all those years of administering slaps on the wrists to lawyers who improperly slept with clients got Hunter thinking, “Maybe I should give this a whirl?”[FN 1]

The relationship ended abruptly after Hunter asked X.Y. to meet him at an Ottawa restaurant, where he informed her that during the time they had been sexually involved, he had also had affairs with two other women….

In a move that might be worthy of entry in the annals of unromantic gestures, Hunter, just before disclosing those affairs, presented X.Y. with a copy of section 2.04 of the law society’s Rules of Professional Conduct.

It deals with conflicts of interest between lawyers and clients. Hunter wanted X.Y. to acknowledge that she had read it….

And THIS is why George Hunter is ATL’s Lawyer of the Day. Say what you will about Hunter, but the man was a LAWYER — to the bitter and embarrassing end.
[FN1] We say “improperly” because, as noted by the Globe and Mail, “[t]here are no professional or statutory rules in Canada which prohibit lawyers from having sexual relations with clients. [There are simply] conflict of interest codes which restrict lawyers from sexual relations with clients without informed consent and when the relationship might harm the client’s interests.”
In this case, Hunter admitted to misconduct. So there’s no claim that his affair — or the two other affairs he had while having affair #1 — were above board.
Sex with client sinks top lawyer [Toronto Star]
Ex-Law Society official suspended for affair with client [Globe & Mail]
Law Society of Upper Canada investigates former Treasurer [The Lawyers Weekly]
George D. Hunter bio [Borden Ladner Gervais]

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State Court Judges Are Icky — Quite Literally

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A similar thing happened to the paralegal manager at our former firm. Her Burberry raincoat was ruined. But that incident happened on the New York City subway, not inside judicial chambers.
Woman Sues Texas Judge for Ejaculating On Her In Chambers [Legal Reader]

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Lawyer of the Day: Larry Charles

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Larry Charles naked girl.jpgPeople celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day in different ways. Some attended remembrance services for the slain civil rights leader. Some participated in public service projects.
And some tried to get busy with adolescent girls:

A criminal defense lawyer was arrested after a sheriff’s deputy found him naked with a 14-year-old girl in a courthouse conference room, authorities said Tuesday.

Larry Charles, 49, has been charged with solicitation, attempted statutory sexual assault and related counts, said Lt. Dan Bagnell of the Police Department’s Special Victims Unit.

A sheriff’s deputy making his rounds in the Criminal Justice Center on Monday afternoon looked into a lawyers’ conference room on the third floor and discovered Charles and the girl, Bagnell said.

This reminds us of the story of Kweku Hanson. But at least he had the decency to wait until the girl turned 16.
Attorney Found Naked In Courthouse With 14-Year-Old [NBC10.com (Philadelphia)]
Earlier: What’s a Little Kiddie Porn Between Friends?

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State Attorneys General Are Icky, Too

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Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton behind bars.jpgThe Drudge Report headline blared, “Michigan Law: Adultery could lead to life in prison!” Fearing that Bill Clinton might be eligible for the death penalty — he’s been on our mind, since we rented Primary Colors yesterday — we clicked through to the underlying article, from the Detroit Free Press.

In a ruling sure to make philandering spouses squirm, Michigan’s second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison.

“We cannot help but question whether the Legislature actually intended the result we reach here today,” Judge William Murphy wrote in November for a unanimous Court of Appeals panel, “but we are curtailed by the language of the statute from reaching any other conclusion.”

And then the Free Press got catty:

No one expects prosecutors to declare open season on cheating spouses. The ruling is especially awkward for Attorney General Mike Cox…. In November 2005, Cox confessed to an adulterous relationship.

The AG’s office didn’t take kindly to the snark:

Cox’s spokesman, Rusty Hills, bristled at the suggestion that Cox or anyone else in his circumstances could face prosecution.

“To even ask about this borders on the nutty,” Hills told me in a phone interview Saturday. “Nobody connects the attorney general with this — N-O-B-O-D-Y — and anybody who thinks otherwise is hallucinogenic.”

Hills said Sunday that Cox did not want to comment.

Finally, this struck us as strange. When was the last time you heard of a sitting judge discussing an appellate panel’s deliberations with a news outlet, concerning a case that’s still pending in the courts? (The defendant is seeking leave to appeal from the Michigan Supreme Court.)

Chief Court of Appeals Judge William Whitbeck, who signed the opinion along with [Judge William] Murphy and Judge Michael Smolenski, said that Cox’s confessed adultery never came up during their discussions of the case.

“I never thought of it, and I’m confident that it was not something Judge Murphy or Judge Smolenski had in mind,” Whitbeck told me Friday.

But he chuckled uncomfortably when I asked if the hypothetical described in Murphy’s opinion couldn’t be cited as justification for bringing first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges against the attorney general.

“Well, yeah,” he said.

Adultery could mean life, court finds [Detroit Free Press via Drudge Report]

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Morning Docket: 01.15.07

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* So apparently the feds knew about law firm bonuses before ATL. [MSNBC]
* Guess which party just picked up two swing states. [CNN]
* Shutting down YouTube: the ultimate jealous boyfriend move. [MSNBC]
* OJ’s money is going nowhere for now. [AP]
* Federal court allows suit against Vatican. [MSNBC]

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Morning Docket: 01.02.07

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Monica Lewinsky Monica S Lewinsky Monica Lewinsky Monica Samille Lewinsky.JPG* The nation mourns President Gerald R. Ford. Federal government employees and stock exchange workers thank him for a four-day weekend. [Washington Post; Associated Press]
* Plaintiffs’ class-action lawyer William Lerach claims that firing him would cause “delay, duplication of effort and extra costs.” So does hiring him. [WSJ Law Blog]
* A new year, an old question: Are federal judges underpaid? Maybe; maybe not. [New York Times; Washington Wire; SCOTUSblog; National Review Online (via How Appealing)]
(We think Chief Justice Roberts is being a bit alarmist. Is it truly a “constitutional crisis” that Sidwell Friends doesn’t accept payment in prestige?)
* This seems sensible. But since when has the Senate cared about common sense? The inefficiency quirkiness of that institution is why we love it so. [Los Angeles Times via How Appealing]
* Can New York Governor Eliot Spitzer live up to the hype? Several scandals have at least given him a lot to work with. [New York Times]
* WaPo columnist Richard Cohen shares our love for Monica Lewinsky. Why can’t the media give her the respect that she’s entitled to? Making double entendres about oral sex is no way to treat a lady. [Washington Post]

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Morning Daily Docket: 12.28.06

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(Yes, this is ridiculously late. But we hope, for the love of God, that you don’t rely upon us for real legal news. News aggregation is not our primary purpose, and there are many other sites that do it better and faster.)
* Now that President Ford has passed away, everyone must write the obligatory article about his long-lived SCOTUS appointment, Justice John Paul Stevens. [Chicago Tribune, ABC News, Los Angeles Times, WSJ.com; all via How Appealing]
* State bars tend to give government lawyers a wide berth. So when a bar brings ethics charges against a prosecutor, you know something stinks to high heaven. [Associated Press]
* Videotaping an execution is pretty grotesque. But then again, it’s probably no more disturbing than this video. [CBS News]
* You can accuse the Catholic Church of many things; but selective application of their teachings is probably not one of them. The Vatican opposes the death penalty even for Saddam Hussein. [Associated Press]
* Speaking of death penalty cases, the Supreme Court’s incredible shrinking docket may be getting even smaller. [SCOTUSblog]
* Biglaw + Racial Issues = Lively Blog Comment Threads. [Overlawyered; WSJ Law Blog]
* Tax lawyers at Cravath aren’t the only ones with a weakness for underage girls. [Associated Press]
* Oyez, oyez: Interested in an administrative gig that pays over $150K? The Second Circuit is seeking a new Clerk of Court. [2nd Circuit (PDF) via How Appealing]

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More on Steinbuch v. Cutler

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We were pretty lazy in our recent discussion of the upcoming trial in Steinbuch v. Cutler. And even our former colleagues at Wonkette were kind of phoning it in.*
But not everyone is so unmotivated. Over at Eat the Press, Melissa Lafsky — of Opinionistas fame — has penned an excellent analysis of this case and controversy. It’s exactly the sort of informed yet accessible account that would one expect from a lawyer-turned-writer, and we recommend it highly.
* We can hardly blame the Wonketteers for tiring of L’Affaire Washingtonienne. Wonkette has been covering that blogospheric sex scandal since since blogging was in its infancy.
(And yes, we think blogging has moved beyond the infant stage. But we concede that it’s not yet potty-trained.)
Sex, Bloggers & Privacy: Let The Lawsuits Begin [Eat the Press / Huffington Post]

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Steinbuch v. Cutler: The Blogospheric Trial of the Century

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Robert Steinbuch Jessica Cutler Washingtonienne sex playboy.jpgSince we’re feeling lazy and under the weather, we’re not going to do anything more than provide you with a bunch of links (collected below). Also, we don’t get want to get sued by the famously litigious* Professor Steinbuch.
Happy Reading!
* Please note that our characterization of Robert Steinbuch as “famously litigious” is merely a statement of our personal opinion. Furthermore, we believe it to be a fair comment on a matter of public interest, with ample factual support.
It is factually supported by Steinbuch’s filing of multiple lawsuits against his ex-lover, Jessica Cutler, in multiple jurisdictions, both state and federal. It is further supported by Steinbuch’s decision to add former Wonkette editor Ana Marie Cox as a defendant, even though she merely linked to (and commented upon) Cutler’s salacious blog.
Old Sex Blog Scandal Soon To Bore Judge, Too [Wonkette]
Former IRS Attorney Proceeds to Trial in $20M Suit v. Former Girlfriend for Revealing Details of Their Sex Life on Blog [TaxProf Blog]
Senate Sex Blog Suit Heads Toward X-rated Trial [CNN]
Steamy D.C. Sex Blog Scandal Heads to Court [Associated Press via MSNBC]
Robert Steinbuch bio [UALR Law]

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Congratulations to Ms. Monica Lewinsky!

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Monica Lewinsky Monica Lewinsky Monica Lewinsky oral sex blow job Bill Clinton impeachment.jpgAmerica’s SweeTart just graduated from the London School of Economics with an M.S. in Social Psychology. Interestingly enough, her LSE master’s thesis was law-oriented: an examination of the effect of pretrial publicity on jury selection.
(Monica: Please don’t treat that rolled-up diploma like a cigar. Thank you.)
Lewinsky graduates from London School of Economics [Reuters via Drudge Report]
In Search of the Impartial Juror: The third person effect and pretrial publicity [London School of Economics (Psychology Dept.)]
Nature of President Clinton’s Relationship with Monica Lewinsky [Starr Report]
Now Here’s an Oral Sex Scandal for You [Volokh Conspiracy]

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