Lawyers Need to Know (or read) and Follow Rules
It seems to be painful to be a stickler for rules (which appellate judges often are) and read some appellate submissions. From time to time the Court of Appeals will send a subtle message to the Bar about the quality of advocacy, but subtly was not the tool used in Judge Bradford’s opinion in Duensing v. Johnson. The appellate lawyer was 3 for 3 in footnotes admonishing him for rules violations or for confusing the court. A couple other chiding comments come through over the weakness of the arguments submitted.
Appellee lawyer also took a shot for citing a NFP opinion as authority for an argument as well.
Read the case and remember that some trial judges also expect the lawyers to know the difference between different kinds of motions made at different times in the trial.
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Hamilton the Birdman – Two Lessons in One Headline: What do you know about CFAF? How are you with the Attorney Surrogate Rule?
Bradley Hamilton, a Kokomo lawyer appears to have closed shop and fled to Australia. He had some notoriety in the Howard County area for his willingness to “flip the bird” to news cameras. The story reports that several clients had paid funds to Hamilton, and may have lost their retainers. No criminal charges have yet been filed.
Local Kokomo lawyer Brent Dechert is stepping up to help the clients of Hamilton. He filed a Petition for Appointment of an Attorney Surrogate* to allow him to access the files and trust account of Hamilton. The Petition was granted and Dechert has given public notice of the appointment. This results in the clients getting their files back, or transferred to a new lawyer who will work with them on their matters. Dechert said that he does not handle the kinds of cases Hamilton did, so there is little likelihood that he will take over many of the cases.
Not reported in the article is the existence of the Clients Financial Assistance Fund, of the Indiana State Bar Association.** The fund, created by the ISBA several decades ago, provides a partial remedy to those clients who have had funds stolen from them by their lawyer. An individual client can recover up to $15,000 with a standing cap of $50,000 total reimbursement for all client losses due to the acts of a single lawyer.
The CFAF committee meets as needed (and fortunately it is not needed too often) to consider and investigate claims. The funds in the CFAF are a part of the annual dues of ISBA members. The claim application is available.at the ISBA website here.
* I am chair of the ISBA Special Committee on Attorney Surrogate Rule
** I served more than ten years as a member of the Clients Financial Assistance Fund Committee for the ISBA.
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Sharing evidence on YouTube can get you suspended.
An IL lawyer thought his client was entrapped by police in a drug bust, so he posted the undercover video taken by the police online. He titled the video “Cops and Task Force Planting Drugs.”
By doing so he exposed a confidential informant of the police department, and he violated the client’s confidentiality without informed consent. The Disciplinary Counsel also accused Jesse Raymond Gilsdorf of Mount Sterling, IL with implying police wrongdoing without evidence to back up the charge.
Apparently he watched the video on a small monitor and thought it showed entrapment, but after posting the video, and then seeing the recording on a large screen monitor realized it proved the client’s guilt. She took a plea, he got charged.
The IL Hearing Board recommended a five month suspension of Gilsdorf’s license. We will see what happens.
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Party in Rochester, courtesy of PWP
This Friday, the Peterson Waggoner & Perkins law firm will host “A Grand Night for Music III.” It is an occasional celebration for clients and friends of the law firm The Atlanta Music Hall Band, straight from Atlanta Music Hall in Atlanta IN, will perform Swing and Jazz standards, and the dance floor will be out. Love to have you here. Call the office for tickets.
Lawyers with Troubles 