Ethics

Judge Rebuked for Demeaning Comments

A Seattle-area judge was admonished today for a lewd exchange with a defendant in his courtroom and for making demeaning references to the ethnicity of others. Specifically, King County District Court Judge Mark Chow responded to a defendant to threw out a “sexual demand,” according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Chow…

Oct 24, 2007 10:05 PM CDT

‘Girls Gone Wild’ Lawyer Files Misconduct Complaint

The lawyer for the now infamous founder of the “Girls Gone Wild” video series has filed a prosecutorial misconduct motion against the Florida state attorney who pursued charges against his client. Miami attorney Roy Black claims State Attorney Steve Meadows exhibited a “pattern of blatant abuse” in dealing with Joe…

Oct 24, 2007 9:50 PM CDT

Can’t Blame the Boss for Ethical Lapse

John B. Bowden learned the hard way that blaming the boss gets you nowhere. Indeed, the South Carolina lawyer discovered shortly after beginning work in Greenville that his firm was inflating government recording fees on settlement statements for HUD-1 real estate transactions. When Bowden asked his boss about it, he…

Oct 24, 2007 9:18 PM CDT

Sex Joke No Laughing Matter for Judge, Defender

A Miami judge and public defender have apologized for joking in court last week about a case involving a man accused of having sex with a teenage boy. The mea culpa came from Judge Jeffrey Levenson, 50, and Assistant Public Defender Brian Reidy, 49, who was docked a week of…

Oct 24, 2007 7:50 PM CDT

Client Conflict Disrupts Partner’s Move

An IP litigator who decided to switch firms experienced a bumpy landing because of a client conflict issue. Baker Hostetler’s James Doroshow planned to move to Los Angeles’ Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. But, according to the Recorder (sub. req.), a client put a kibosh on Doroshow’s firm choice. After some…

Oct 24, 2007 5:58 PM CDT

Lawyer Accuses Judge of ‘Subconscious Homophobia’

A lawyer ordered to stop dancing around a Bronx courtroom in a flamboyant manner told the New York Post the judge may be showing his “subconscious homophobia.” Lawyer Robert Feldman, described in the newspaper account as a “boisterously eccentric defense attorney,” said he was chastised by the judge after “gesticulating…

Oct 24, 2007 2:06 PM CDT

Convicted Client Cites Lawyer’s Stalking Indictment in New Trial Bid

A convicted murderer is seeking a new trial because his lawyer was under indictment for stalking. The appeal by Mylee Cottle of Newark, N.J., argues his lawyer was likely reluctant to oppose or negotiate with prosecutors because he needed to curry favor with them in his own case, the New…

Oct 24, 2007 12:01 PM CDT

Judge Scolds Lawyer Litigant for ‘Vitriolic and Venomous Allegations’

A New York family court judge has refused to modify a visitation agreement and scolded the feuding parents, one of whom is a lawyer. Judge Conrad Singer of Nassau County said the parents had appeared before three different judges in three years to air their disputes, the New York Law…

Oct 24, 2007 11:14 AM CDT

Chief Judge Accused in Handicapped Parking Spat

A Denver lawyer has filed a complaint claiming the chief judge of the Colorado federal courts threatened to call authorities when she confronted him about parking in a handicapped space. The lawyer, Jeanne Elliott, was paralyzed in 1986 when she was shot by an angry litigant. She told KUSA in…

Oct 24, 2007 10:27 AM CDT

$54M Pants Suit Takes Judge to the Cleaners

Uproar over a Washington, D.C., judge’s unsuccessful $54 million lawsuit against his local dry cleaner for allegedly losing a pair of suit trousers is apparently going to cost Roy L. Pearson Jr. his job. In a story today relying on unnamed sources, the Washington Post says a city commission voted…

Oct 23, 2007 7:33 PM CDT

Judges Accused of Fixing Traffic Tickets

Four municipal court judges in Jersey City, N.J., have been accused of fixing parking and traffic tickets. Former chief judge Wanda Molina was among the judges charged with official misconduct, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. She is accused of dismissing five parking or traffic tickets for a companion. The…

Oct 23, 2007 11:44 AM CDT

MA Judge Accused of Moonlighting

A state commission has filed misconduct charges against a Massachusetts judge, accusing him of moonlighting in violation of judicial rules of conduct. Judge Michael Livingstone allegedly both operated a real estate business and accepted fees from a lawyer who took over his practice, while simultaneously serving on the Plymouth County…

Oct 22, 2007 10:44 PM CDT

Seyfarth Shaw Malpractice Defense Claims Catch-22 Similarities

Lawyers for Seyfarth Shaw claim in a dismissal motion that a $75 million malpractice suit is “distressingly similar to Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22.” Seyfarth’s motion does not explain how the suit is like the Heller book, the Recorder reports. But it says “the allegations against Seyfarth [are] muddled, and, when…

Oct 22, 2007 12:19 PM CDT

Ex Jenkens Partner Named in Fraud Case

A New York partner of Baker & McKenzie has been indicted in a federal securities fraud case involving alleged corporate kickbacks, along with executives and two individual investors. Attorney Martin Weisberg and the five other defendants “face a variety of charges, including conspiracy, securities fraud and money laundering,” reports the…

Oct 19, 2007 9:34 PM CDT

Investor Pleads Guilty in Milberg Probe

An 80-year-old Palm Springs investor who spent more than 50 years practicing law has pleaded guilty to charges he was paid about $2.6 million to be a lead plaintiff in securities class actions. Prosecutors are recommending home detention for the defendant, Seymour Lazar, because of his declining health and advancing…

Oct 19, 2007 2:59 PM CDT