A Reason For Public Confidence In Bar Regulation

The Nebraska Supreme Court has suspended an attorney for 30 days followed by a year of supervised probation for an attorney’s mishandling of a guardianship and probate matter.

There were record-keeping violations as well.

The attorney contended that the referee erred in declining to consider post traumatic stress disorder resulting from his status as a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran in mitigation.

The court agreed that the misconduct was not caused by PTSD, citing a letter from the attorney’s own psychiatrist that declined to find a causal link between the condition and the ethical violations.

The court did consider his long years of unblemished practice in rejecting the referee’s proposed 90 day suspension.

One thing that the casual reader might overlook stood out to me.

The charges were filed in November 2013. The referee heard the case in February and March of this year. The court has now decided it by the end of the year.

That promptness reflects well on the Nebraska bar discipline system.

There are plenty of jurisdictions (hello, D.C.) where the idea of moving a bar discipline matter from initial report to final resolution in a single calendar year is unfathomable.

Believe it or not, in the District of Columbia, it takes about a year for charges filed by Bar Counsel to be reviewed and approved for a formal hearing. It can then take as long as six months to  schedule a hearing.

What’s worse, no one in a position of authority seems to care. (Mike Frisch)