The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court imposed an 18-month suspension as reciprocal discipline for a two-year Maine suspension for judicial misconduct

On June 20, 2017, the Supreme Judicial Cou1t of Maine disciplined the respondent by suspending him from the practice of law in that State for violations for the Maine
Code of Judicial Conduct by way of: (1) directing the Register of Probate not to include attorneys whom he disliked on a court-appointed attorney list; (2) removing one such attomey from cases to which she had already been appointed; (3) ordering an attorney to destroy a lawfully obtained document, which was evidence of the first violation; (4) encouraging litigants to lobby local officials to increase court funding, which would have had the effect of increasing his own salary; and (5) soliciting campaign contributions. 

Analysis

Two of the respondent’s five violations, (1) urging litigants to lobby for increased court funds, and (2) soliciting campaign. contributions for his own judicial reelection campaign, ,are not sanctionable here because there are no corresponding rules prohibiting those actions for Massachusetts attorneys. However, I concluded that three remaining violations, i.e., causing certain attorneys to be left off of the court-appointed attorney list, removing a particular attorney from cases to which she had been appointed, and ordering an attorney to destroy a document that was evidence of the respondent’s misconduct, were violations of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct.

As a result, the court sanction was reduced