”Radical times call for radical measures.”
—-Thomas Walkley, a lawyer from Norton, Ohio, explaining why he dropped his trousers while counseling two 19-year-old youths as part of mentoring program to help at-risk young people.
Walkley denied that his conduct was sexual, claiming instead that it was “educational.” The two men told police they had gone to see Walkley about the possibility of performing court-ordered community service at the cafe Walkley founded, an at-risk center for troubled teens. As he discussed their problems, Walkley dropped his pants, according to one of the men, after asking them “whether he could make them think differently.” Walkley said that it wasn’t the first time he had employed this particular teaching device.
Does such conduct constitute professional misconduct for a lawyer, assuming he is not found to be guilty of any crime? Presumably not, as he was not practicing law when he dropped trow, and his explanation, though highly unlikely, would be difficult to prove dishonest.
After all, the two teens were almost certainly educated by their experience, sometimes radical times do call for radical measures, and the incident probably did make them think differently—at least about Walkley’s methods as a counselor.
Ethics Alarms 
Jack,
I’m just worried this may have scared the troubled teens off of counselors for good. In the immortal (though, apparently, now revised) words of Mark Twain: “The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid ever again. He won’t sit upon a cold stove lid, either.”
-Neil
“Immortal” is a dangerous label to put on words or quotations. For the record, here is what Mark Twain actually wrote on this subject, in his 1897 book FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR, chapter 11 (“Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar”):
“We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it — and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again — and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more.”
Tom,
Next you’re going to try and convince me that Humphry Bogart never said “Play it again, Sam” or that the bridge I just bought isn’t a really good deal.
-Neil