For the second time this year, the Supreme Court suspends the wrong lawyer
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The U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged on Monday that it once again suspended the wrong lawyer.
This time, a lawyer who worked at the high court for seven years was suspended, the Associated Press reports. The court mistakenly suspended Jim Robbins of San Francisco, rather than James A. Robbins of New York, who had tried to cover up his loss of a client’s will and was not a member of the Supreme Court bar, according to the AP.
In May, the Supreme Court wrongly suspended a Robins Kaplan partner who was president-elect of the Massachusetts Bar Association. He had the same first and last name of the lawyer the court intended to suspend.
AP explains that nearly 4,000 lawyers join the Supreme Court bar on average each year, though most never argue a case before the high court. “Bar members get a certificate suitable for framing, a credential for their resume and the chance to join a shorter line for lawyers who want to see Supreme Court arguments,” the article explains.
The Supreme Court checks its roster against state discipline notices. When a match is found, the lawyer is suspended and ordered to show cause why he or she should not be disbarred from Supreme Court practice.
Though Robbins of San Francisco is a member of the Supreme Court bar, he has never argued a case before the court. According to AP, he had “worked on the business side of the court in the early 1980s.”
