Lawyers and judges provide an endless supply of antics. What were they thinking? I wish I knew. I think that they wish they knew. Otherwise, their various faux pas might have never seen the light of publicity’s glare and not in a good way.
A judge in New Jersey has been suspended for one month for his advice to a domestic violence defendant in “how to treat women.” The good thing is that the judge told the male defendant that he can’t punch women. A point in his favor. The bad thing? The judge told him to “treat women as if he is holding a feather just to let them know you’re the man and in control.” Prize-fighting analogies were a favorite of this judge as he told the defendant that he went at the five (5!) women as if he were Mike Tyson.
But wait! There’s more. The judge said that women are “curves,” and thus amenable to being straightened out. Thanks for sharing, but on behalf of women everywhere, we don’t need your advice. Is a month suspension without pay by the New Jersey Supreme Court enough for these biased comments? Would any women, either client or attorney, ever want to appear in front of this judge? Of course, the judge was remorseful and of course his remarks were just his good faith effort to discourage violence. Please.
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Attention newbie lawyers: don’t continue to file amended pleadings to try to correct defective pleadings. An Ohio lawyer, who passed the bar on his fifth try in 2019, has filed a series of lawsuits challenging COVID-19 restrictions, including shutdowns, mask mandates, and vaccination requirements. However, a district court in Ohio has found that the lawsuits were incomprehensible and at least one has been dismissed. The attorney has obviously taken a page from the Kraken lawsuit in Michigan.
We all have had occasions when a judge would cut off either you or opposing counsel or both. “That’s enough, counsel,” but a judge leaving the bench while court is in session and counsel is speaking?
A federal court judge in the Western District of Virginia did just that, ditching the courtroom during defense counsel’s argument. No announcement of a recess, no announcement of any sort, but just an abrupt departure. Do you think that such conduct might have violated the judicial canon of ethics?
It will be interesting to see if there is any disciplinary fallout from the court’s discourteous behavior. If counsel had acted that way, there would have been an OSC re: contempt in a hot minute, if not a trip to the hoosegow forthwith.
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And on another matter altogether, but one which is near and dear to every lawyer’s heart, no matter the jurisdiction, the licensing of legal paraprofessionals. California has now taken one step closer to that with the state bar’s issuance of a nearly 1,500 (not a typo) page report on that issue. The recommendations are now out for public comment for 110 days, which, given the length of the report, may not be enough time for everyone interested in the issue to weigh in. Here is a synopsis of the various recommendations.
Do you think that lots of peeps are going to jump at the chance to become paraprofessionals, given all the requirements? They include having either a J.D. or LL.M., or completion of a paralegal program, or qualified legal document assistant. There will be coursework, ethics training, 1,000 hours of practical training, testing, and a moral fitness evaluation. These licensed paraprofessionals (with a name yet to be chosen) will be able to appear in court but will not handle jury trials. Rollout would be in 10 of the 58 counties, Los Angeles not included.
We all agree that access to justice is a critical issue, but I am not sure that this is necessarily the best way to do it. I’m not saying that as a matter of turf protection. There will be a requirement of a $100,000 bond, but what if there’s a claim or two that exceeds the bond? What happens then? Being able to have a remote practice will be a plus for paraprofessionals as all the attendant overhead costs may be relics of a bygone era, but that’s also true for attorneys in these pandemic times. What about the cost of malpractice insurance for attorneys? We all know that the longer in practice, the higher the rates for inclusion of prior acts coverage. Will attorneys be at a competitive disadvantage unless they go bare?
The chair of the California Assembly Judiciary Committee, Mark Stone, who has been critical of the state bar on a number of issues, has already weighed in. He thinks that this latest effort by the California State Bar shows that it’s getting a little ahead of itself, given the failures in the discipline system, such as the high-profile Tom Girardi case. Stone says due to the Legislature’s lack of trust in the state bar, licensing paraprofessionals may only increase the legitimate concerns of the bar’s apparent inability to demonstrate any disciplinary rigor and to enforce its statutory duty of public protection. The Legislature doesn’t get to approve this pilot program; that’s up to the State Bar Board of Trustees and ultimately the California Supreme Court. But the Legislature is responsible for the bar’s funding, and that’s where things could get interesting next year.
Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at [email protected].