Land Of The Giants

I had the privilege to sit on a panel discussing bar discipline transparency at the Austin Texas meeting of the National Organization of Bar Counsel.

As the odd blogger on a panel of disciplinary administrators, I came to sing the praises of the Ohio Supreme Court web page.

Richard Dove, Director of the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct , gave the group an understanding of the effort that goes into creating and maintaining a web page that provides full and ready access to bar discipline records.

Illinois and North Carolina – also leaders in transparency – were represented on the panel by Jerry Larkin and Root Edmondson, who combine about a thousand years of experience in bar discipline.

My hope is that the discussion will trickle back to the jurisdictions and inspire some thinking on the public interest in a web presence that offers access to all public lawyer discipline records.

Ohio provides everything. While that may not be a feasible approach in all states, there was a consensus that findings of misconduct – trial court/hearing panel reports as well as final orders of discipline – should be readily available on the web. 

The latest from the Ohio page