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It by no means ceases to amaze me how individuals may be so careless of what they’ve labored their entire profession for: that’s, the transition from being a lawyer to being a decide. Maybe being a decide doesn’t have fairly the cachet it used to (given all of the TV judges, whether or not they’re real-life judges, have ever been so, or by no means have been), however the seeming indifference to what the gown conveys astounds me.
One latest instance is up within the far reaches of Northern California. The California Fee on Judicial Efficiency (CCJP) has filed a discover of formal proceedings against Gregory Kreis, a Humboldt County Superior Court docket decide. (Humboldt County is roughly 300 miles north of San Francisco.) Decide Kreis is charged with “willful misconduct in workplace, conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial workplace into disrepute.” The discover alleges 19 separate costs of judicial misconduct.
The panoply of costs vary from silly, offensive conduct at a social gathering to rather more severe offenses whereas presiding over numerous issues. Alleged misconduct contains having an affair with the courtroom’s household regulation facilitator (on the time, Kreis was assigned to household regulation courtroom), suggesting that he would report an lawyer to the California State Bar for submitting a movement to disqualify him, a failure to recuse himself in sure specified instances, a failure to reveal the existence of sure friendships between the decide and counsel in numerous instances, utilizing cocaine, making inappropriate feedback in courtroom … the record goes on.
Kreis confronted a major problem two days in the past and misplaced to April Van Dyke, a contract protection lawyer who received 60% of the vote. In the meantime, the decide has denied the allegations of drug use, ethics violation, and sexual harassment in his formal response to the CCJP.
The CCJP’s discover within the Kreis case makes fascinating studying and offers a cautionary story for all of us. Antics on the bench can price you your seat.
Attorneys can create mischief that will get them fired. Even should you suppose that the judicial officer isn’t well worth the gown she is sporting, it’s drummed into us from our very first day in regulation college that judges are to be handled with respect, it doesn’t matter what under-the-breath mutterings are made. Ben Aderholt clearly didn’t get the lesson, as he took a judge to task, with the primary insult in a letter to her being the usage of her first identify. The conduct proceeded downhill from there. “Who do you suppose you’re?” could also be an applicable recreation present query, however asking the decide that query is sure to get the lawyer in hassle, and it did. How do you spell fired? What made it even worse was that the letter was written on the agency’s letterhead. Whoops. How do you clarify that fake pas to future interviewing companions and company counsel?
Keep in mind after we have been simply beginning to apply and we heard the time period “incorporation by reference,” which was a useful dandy approach to keep away from having to recite no matter doc or pleading wanted to be included, however was too prolonged? So, we integrated by reference. Mark Perry, a Biglaw lawyer, got benchslapped for doing precisely that. He tried to avoid the web page limitation by incorporating by reference 2,000 phrases from one other doc. Too intelligent by half? The Federal Circuit thought so.
Don’t do this in your case.
And one other cautionary story: in case your opposing counsel is your former employer who terminated you for “work-related points,” no matter you do, don’t deal with that former employer (aka now opposing counsel) like a jerk, that’s, should you worth your regulation license.
Brian Manookian’s harassment included intimidating, demeaning, embarrassing, and harassing communications to opposing counsel and others. As one instance, when Manookian and his companion realized that opposing counsel in a case had died, that very same day Manookian filed a movement for default judgment. Good, huh? The harassment focused members of the family of opposing counsel and prompted fears for his or her security, and it didn’t stop, even when there was new opposing counsel.
In disciplinary proceedings, a Tennessee Board of Skilled Accountability listening to panel discovered that the aim of the communications was to intimidate opposing counsel with a view to achieve an unfair benefit in pending litigation. The Tennessee Supreme Court docket in its virtually 80-page opinion was so appalled by Manookian’s conduct that it determined that solely disbarment can be the right treatment. “Victimizing the households of opposing counsel and inflicting concern for his or her well-being and security is an particularly grave offense and a profound dishonor as a lawyer.”
By the way in which, has anybody else observed that there are extra incidents about male judges and male attorneys misbehaving than of ladies judges and attorneys? Simply asking.
Jill Switzer has been an lively member of the State Bar of California for over 40 years. She remembers practising regulation in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a various authorized profession, together with stints as a deputy district lawyer, a solo apply, and a number of other senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which provides her the chance to see dinosaurs, millennials, and people in-between work together — it’s not all the time civil. You may attain her by e mail at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.
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