ABA Journal

I think suspension or disbarment is way to harsh here. It sounds like a warning and mandatory anger management is necessary. It sounds like the opposing counsel can give as good as she gets.

By That Lawyer Dude on 2012 05 14, 9:05 am CDT

@1:  “It sounds like the opposing counsel can give as good as she gets.”

Where are you getting that from?  I just read through the links and nowhere does it mention opposing counsel “giving” anything.

By EsqinAustin on 2012 05 14, 10:37 am CDT

It doesn’t sound so harsh when you read the linked article that says he has previously been disciplined four times for similar actions.  He is a repeat offender.

By Dr Phun on 2012 05 14, 10:39 am CDT

Lawyer Dude - Where is the evidence that “opposing counsel can give as good as she gets”?  I read the newspaper stories and there is no indication in any of them that Hurley said anything to provoke Nickitas.  Nickitas also is a prior four-time offender (the Star Tribune says three, but the Business Journal says four).  It appears that he tries to bully people as a matter of habit, women in particular, since one of his earlier disciplinary incidents involved the use of a sexist epithet, and another involved sex with a client.  The complaint was filed by the Minnesota Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, a 23 member group appointed by the State Supreme Court, which according to its Director doesn’t “get involved in the normal give and take of aggressive lawyers.”  It filed the complaint here because it “thought this was a little over the top.”  Do you read the story this way because you have issues with women as well?

By Pushkin on 2012 05 14, 10:47 am CDT

That Lawyer Dude @ 1: What bothers ME is that it seems like Hurley didn’t even attempt to give as good as she got. Bullies are cowards. They usually pick on people they think can’t or won’t fight back.

By BMF on 2012 05 14, 12:25 pm CDT

Suspension? Come on. Bullying? Good lord, now we lawyers are going to walk about and whine about bullying in our jobs? Stop. I’ve had DAs and Detectives get into my face after hearings and trials. Although irritated and angered, at no point did I think it was bullying. Welcome to the big leagues of litigation where folks get emotional at times. Move on, quit whining.

By Eric Sims Jr. on 2012 05 14, 5:33 pm CDT

It seems to me that Hurley came out on the measure where it really counts, which was who did the job for their client.

As for this Nikitas guy, he may have meant his fish remark in a lewd Merovingian sense, but either way he has no class, and doesn’t seem to be all that much of a lawyer either.  Maybe if he takes his intimidation tactics to an elementary schoolyard, he can manage to shake down a few second graders for their lunch money.

By B. McLeod on 2012 05 14, 6:50 pm CDT

#1, #2 & #5 I read that she went nose to nose with him. I didn’t get the idea she stepped down. I also read where he said she consistently made misleading statements to the court. I don’t know if he is a bully. This article didn’t speak of his prior offenses. That might change my mind if I had read that but I think I am more in line with #6 above

#3 Pushkin, your allegations are so off-base and rude that I will ignore you for the obvious idiot you are. Since you don’t know me, never met me, and have no idea what you are talking about, I suggest you do your arm chair psych on the guy you see everyday in the mirror. Tell me, have you every really tried a big case in your sad little life??
For the record, the only problem I have with anyone is when they prove they are a moron… You qualify.

#6 Yeah I probably come down here. I too am a defense attorney and I have had the same things happen. I’ve also been accused of being overbearing but as one of my favorite opponents says the one thing you can say about (me) is that I care and I care very much. Emotion is what happens sometimes. It happens less now that I am older but it still happens.

#7 McLeod you are right on. The best way to put out a lawyer bully is to beat them. I am not saying Nikitas is a bully, I don’t know him, but if he is, or even if this is isolated She got the best of him and she won. I think she knows it too.

Finally, Nikitas is a lawyer. He more than likely has a family he supports and clients who depend on him. I always think about that before I think about taking a persons ticket. If he had hit her or been at all violent (beyond his words and tone) I might agree that a suspension is needed. Here? No, emotions happen. Learning to deal with them is something we learn as kids. Maybe Nikitas didn’t learn it. Anger management ought to help him a lot. Passion is the right medicine, but maybe attorney Nikitas took the wrong dose.

By That Lawyer Dude on 2012 05 14, 8:56 pm CDT

Comment removed by moderator.

By Name removed by moderator on 2012 05 16, 9:44 pm CDT

@8 It’s good to know that “If he had hit her or been at all violent (beyond his words and tone)” YOU MIGHT AGREE to a suspension.  Would a full-blown murder convince you that he does deserve a suspension?  Do you see any distinction between professional ethics or criminal violence?

Having owned two of my own companies and establishing a separate career before going to law school, I am constantly amazed at how the legal profession earns its negative reputation through comments like these. 

I understand passion, emotions, and the general stress of engaging in real-world, high-stakes transactions, but to say that physically assaulting her after he followed her to the exit “might” lead you to agree to a suspension speaks volumes to me about you and your views on professionalism.

By Nontraditional Law Student on 2012 05 18, 7:54 am CDT

Hamilton Burger used to go nose to nose with Perry Mason, all the time.  Just sayin’.

By Podunk Lawyer on 2012 05 18, 8:46 am CDT

Maybe they’re both part of the same swinger’s scene and he thought the Fisches were a particularly attractive couple also open to some nontraditional consensual sex?

By jwzich on 2012 05 18, 9:21 am CDT

As a young lawyer, I had to deal with the older hands who had the mistaken belief they could bully and intimidate little old me through similar behavior.  As a former Army guy in my pre-civil litigation life, these tactics always tickled me…and didn’t intimidate one bit.
As the old saying goes, if the law is on your side, pound on it, if the facts are on your side, pound on that…if neither are on your side, pound on the table.  When people start pounding on the table, that is always a good sign of their evaluation of the position of their case…and that I’m kicking their butt.  As pointed out above, the way to deal with these lawyers (aside from sanctions when and where appropriate) is leaving them and their client in the fetal position in a smoking hole at the battlefield of the courthouse.

By Big Tex on 2012 05 18, 9:56 am CDT

Hope someday he goes to jail for his behavior. There they will show him what “bullying” really means. Such types are bold until somebody hits them in the nose. I think suspension will do him well.

By Anna Gray on 2012 05 18, 11:16 am CDT

Hey, Big Tex, well said.

By norman from nyc on 2012 05 18, 11:17 am CDT

suspension?! come on! i agree with tex ....... the best way of dealing with this would have been to look him in the eye and smile ....... the louder he got ....... the bigger the grin ...... what he was trying to do was knock her off her game ..... the unexpected result knocks him off his

best example ........ criminal jury trial, me a new atty, prosecutor had much more experience and going to the line but not crossing it in personal attack on me in closing argument ......... i started playing with my pen, standing it on end, knocking it over, by the time he noticed that the jury was not paying any attention to him, but rather me having a good old time, he had completely lost the jury ...........  he got bent out of shape ...... seriously bent ......... and lost whatever was left of his credibility ........... charge was assault with intent to commit murder ......... decent case, i was concerned until he started screwing with me ............. not guilty in a half hour

aside from that, as my favorite movie character michael would ask:  was it personal or business?

By rtp on 2012 05 18, 11:50 am CDT

Fellow wizards - read the bar complaint.  This has little to do with noses or supine fish, and concerns conduct we should all agree was seriously improper.

By Jon on 2012 05 18, 12:10 pm CDT

Being a relatively young, foreign-born, woman attorney, I’ve been talked down to, straight-out bullied, and even touched without any permission whatsoever, and each time I chose to ignore and move on. After a while the various attorneys (mostly older males) dropped their obnoxious behavior because I showed them no reaction. Most times I ended up winning, and that shut them up. I never thought of filing sanctions or grievances because the world of litigation is tough. Either play but the rules (or lack thereof) or go into mediation or ADR.

By CreazioneDiAdamo on 2012 05 18, 12:34 pm CDT

sometimes it is a test ...... a test I don’t approve of, but a test none the less, you go paisana!

By rtp on 2012 05 18, 2:50 pm CDT

Gripping. Thought I was reading a novel there for a moment.

By Tom Youngjohn on 2012 05 18, 3:32 pm CDT

Please read the complaint before you comment.  It’s not just the rude and bad behaviors to opposing counsel but also conflict of interest that got him in trouble.  And this is not the first time he got in trouble for conflict of interest.

By Bean Counter on 2012 05 18, 3:49 pm CDT