judicial ethics

Law Students, Lawyers and Judges With Broken Ethics Alarms, 2009

/ Jack Marshall / Leave a comment

I won’t keep you in suspense: my favorite is the Harvard law school whiz who celebrated his job offer from a top law firm by getting drunk and burning down a church. Forgot to check the batteries in the ol’ ethics alarm, I guess!

Here are two cautionary end-of-year lists: from the Avvo blog, the “Top Lawyers Behaving Badly” list for 2009, and, though not rich a source for  black humor, the even more disturbing “Year’s Most Infamous Lawyers” from the Business Insider.

Ethics Alarms thanks  Robert Ambrogi for finding them, as well the Avvo and the Business Insider for doing such an excellent job of compiling them.

Age and the Judge

/ Jack Marshall / 2 Comments

U.S. District Senior Judge Malcolm Muir recently turned 95.  Many articles in the media celebrated his long and distinguished career, but none made the observation that should be as obvious as it is indelicate. Judge Muir should not be on the bench. He should probably not have been on the bench for the past decade. It is irresponsible for him to continue to be a federal judge. Continue reading →