A Key Component Of Transparency

When disciplinary counsel determines to file ethics charges against an attorney, the complaint (and response, if any) is a public document in most jurisdictions.

A transparent disciplinary system makes these documents public.

A consumer -friendly system makes charges readily available on line.

Bravo Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission, which does provide such access.

The web page gives one a good sense of the level of activity of the Michigan disciplinary system, By my count, thirty four charging documents have been filed in 2016. 

The most recently-posted complaint alleges that two attorneys from Paw Paw and a former judge engaged in discourteous and disrespectful treatment of opposing counsel in civil litigation.

The two accused attorneys attended a chambers conference in person. Opposing counsel was on the telephone.

The conversation was at least partially recorded and later transcribed.

The Court: Alright, thank you, What a fucking dickhead.

Attorney Stewart: Now you understand why his son is such a fucking dick.

WWMT.com had reported on related (and dismissed) civil litigation in federal court.

A series of  video reports  (also here and here) from WWMT 3 TV also raise the issue whether the “post-d***head” substantive discussion of the case (recited in the charges) were inadvertently overheard ex parte communications.

The 2013 reports note the judge’s recusal from the case and later retirement.

I do not read the charges to make the allegation of improper ex parte communication.

High on my D.C. Bar wish list is for the online posting of public charges. 

Jacob Gershman in  The Wall Street Journal reported in 2015 on efforts to open up the New York disciplinary system.

Responding to the importunings for needed reform by Professor Stephen Gillers

In nearly 40 states, according to Mr. Gillers, disciplinary charges against attorneys are automatically made public upon a finding of probable cause. That’s when there’s reasonable grounds to believe that an attorney has committed an ethical violation.

Commission members who objected to more disclosure said it would risk damaging the reputation of an attorney who is accused of wrongdoing but later exonerated. The risk of harm — potentially leading to, in the words of the commission’s report, “career-damaging publicity which, in the era of social media, could never be fully retracted — outweighed whatever extra confidence and trust in the disciplinary system that more openness would bring, the critics said, according to the report.

The report didn’t say how often attorneys who face complaints are exonerated. “We were told that there were very few,” Mr. Gillers told Law Blog on Tuesday.

Declining to respond to the professor’s criticisms, New York court system spokesman David Bookstaver told Law Blog the court system’s leadership appreciates Mr. Gillers’s input. “He brought to light an issue that certainly hasn’t been addressed over the years, and the chief judge thought it was important to address his concerns,” Mr. Bookstaver said.

Law360 (Andrew Strickler) also reported on New York’s hostility to transparency and notes that the commission’s report to perpetuate secret hearings is entitled Fostering Efficiency And Transparency.  (Mike Frisch)