Legal Ethics
Biff! Bam! Wallop! 2 Lawyers Duke it Out in Oregon Courthouse
Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:36 AM CST
By Molly McDonough
Lawyers are used to being adversarial, but two lawyers in the Portland, Ore., area apparently elevated their conflict to an actual fistfight in front of a crowd of courthouse spectators last week.
Attorneys David Lawrence and Aaron Matusick had just left a Multnomah County landlord-tenant court hearing Thursday when they began shouting at each other, the Portland Oregonian reports.
"Although it's not clear exactly who did what, witnesses said one man slapped the other and the other responded with a punch to the forehead," the paper reports.
Both men were next called to Judge Pro-Tem Lewis Lawrence's chambers for "a talking-to." The Oregonian reports that the judge determined each man was equally responsible, ordered them to apologize and said he'd ban them from his courtroom if the let it happen again.
Judge Lawrence, no relation to the lawyer, told the paper he would not report the men to the state bar and no citations were issued, even though several witnesses were reportedly sheriff's deputies.
"Isolated incidents are not a good gauge of who someone is," Judge Lawrence is quoted saying.
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Comments
Marc Cameron
Apr 4, 2008 5:16 AM CST
“Isolated incidents are not a good gauge of who someone is,” Judge Lawrence is quoted saying.
I’m sure judges say that in attorney discplinary cases all the time. What a joke. They should at the very least receive a private reprimand.
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MBMCN
Apr 4, 2008 6:59 AM CST
Yes, a private reprimand. So called “isolated incidents” get blasted all over the media as entertainment, and the public’s opinion of lawyers goes down another notch. They should do community service as penance.
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T. Andersen
Apr 4, 2008 8:05 AM CST
This is just zealous advocacy. They should have been given an award.
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B. Hullinger
Apr 4, 2008 8:52 AM CST
This is made even more embarrassing by the fact that it began when “one man SLAPPED the other”. What is this, a soap opera? At least have the guts to throw a punch.
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JPC
Apr 4, 2008 9:26 AM CST
What did the five fingers say to the face? SLAP!!
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The Bird
Apr 4, 2008 10:05 AM CST
I think, if were one of these lawyers, I might be more embarrassed by being a slapper than being called out for a fistfight over a landloard-tenant issue.
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Perfect way to settle discovery disputes.
Apr 4, 2008 10:51 AM CST
You don’t wanna gimme the documents? Well TAKE THAT “POW”!! Absolutely fabulous.
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AbsoluteBANNES
Apr 4, 2008 11:04 AM CST
They should both be disbarred.
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John Odom
Apr 4, 2008 2:05 PM CST
A number of years ago two lawyers got into a fight in the elevator of the local courthouse and literally spilled out onto the lobby floor when the doors opened. I wrote a short ditty about their encounter, to be sung to the tune of “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain When She Comes”:
“We’ve been fighting in the hallways of the court; we’ve been fighting in the hallways of the court; honing pugilistic talents while your case hangs in the balance; we’ve been fighting in the hallways of the court.”
OK, you folks calling for disbarment—lighten up.
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J. Cornehls
Apr 5, 2008 11:47 AM CST
Some years ago, two New York lawyers came to Texas for a deposition. All parties agreed to conduct the deposition at night because of scheduling problems. In a dispute over physical possession of a document by the deponent, a fight broke out between all the parties, lawyers and clients alike. They were rolling under the conference table, punching each other, kicking, cursing each other and the fight lasted quite a while. Meanwhile the court reporter kept on transcribing and had a complete verbal record of the fight. (Pity the depo wasn’t being videotaped) A federal judge fined each of the lawyers involved in the fight up to a maximum of $50,000 for the lawyer who had initiated the battle. It was not reported, which side, if any, won the fight. But all of them lost a lot of money.
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