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Former Probate Lawyer Leonard Brady Target of FBI Investigation
Archive for the ‘Discipline’ Category
Former Wisconsin Probate Lawyer Leonard Brady Target of FBI Investigation
July 30, 2010WI Supreme Court Strips Leonard Brady of His Law License and Orders Him to Pay Over $1mil Resitution
July 30, 2010CT Confidential: Ethics Judge Faces Charges
July 28, 2010
A probate judge who provides training to other judges on ethics, Bryan F. Meccariello, now faces misconduct charges arising from his approval to change the will of a woman without bothering to tell the man who was due to inherit much of her estate.
This is the same probate system that tells you that all my complaints about probate misconduct are the rants of an extremist. One of their own ethics “experts” has been nabbed abusing the system. In this case, Meccariello approved the change in a will at a hearing nobody was informed of.
Full Article and Source:
CT Confidential: Probate “Reform” — Ethical Judge Faces Charges
Former Judge Michael Conahan Pleads Guilty
July 25, 2010
A former judge in northeastern Pennsylvania pleaded guilty Friday to a racketeering conspiracy charge for his role in a kickback scheme that put juvenile defendants, many without lawyers, behind bars for sometimes minor offenses.
Michael Conahan, 58, faces up to 20 years in prison after his plea in Scranton federal court. No sentencing date was set.
Court documents do not indicate if Conahan will testify against the other former Luzerne County judge charged in the case, Mark Ciavarella Jr. Conahan’s lawyer, Philip Gelso, declined to comment Friday.
Ciavarella has maintained his innocence and plans to go to trial.
Prosecutors accuse the pair of taking $2.8 million in kickbacks from two private detention facilities. Conahan, as president judge, shut down a county-owned juvenile center while Ciavarella, the juvenile court judge, filled beds at the for-profit facilities, they charged.
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Ex-Pa. Judge Pleads Guilty in Kids-for-Cash Scheme
‘Socially Inept’ PA Judge Gets Two Months Suspension
July 23, 2010A district judge described by his attorney as “socially inept and challenged with women” was suspended without pay Tuesday for two months for behavior that included calling female lawyers repeatedly and making uninvited visits to their homes or offices.
The Court of Judicial Discipline also placed North East District Judge Gerard Alonge on probation until his current term expires at the end of next year and directed him to continue getting mental health treatment.
The 51-year-old Alonge apologized in court for behavior that the court described as “bizarre and weird” and “conduct akin to ‘stalking.'”
“Never did I act or speak with malice, nor did I ever seek to cause distress to the women,” Alonge said during a court hearing that included videotaped testimony by lawyers who praised his work as a judge.
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“Socially Inept” PA Judge Gets 2 Months Suspension
Editorial: Justice Shines a Light on Bad Lawyering
July 19, 2010Once their secrets are revealed, some lawyers leave no doubt that they crossed the line and left it far, far behind.
Take Scott Rothstein, who will be spending the next 50 years in a federal prison for running a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme out of his law office in South Florida. An outraged judge pitched the book his way last month, giving Rothstein a decade longer behind bars than the prosecution recommended.
In the matter of disbarred attorney Steven Rondos, it isn’t so much the sum he stole, which prosecutors put at $4 million, but the sort of people he stole it from that made his crimes so despicable.
His 23 victims all suffered from some sort of disability – one had cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia, for example – which is why Rondos had been appointed their guardian.
Instead, he spent their money on himself and his home. A $31,000 television set here. A $10,000 set of kitchen curtains there. At that rate, you can go through a few million quickly.
Sentenced in May, Rondos is now doing up to 15 years behind bars.
But what about lawyers who hurt their clients while not actually stealing from them, or lawyers who act unethically for the benefit of their client?
In the term just finished, the U.S. Supreme Court took up an astounding number of cases related to attorney conduct or compensation, amounting to almost 20 percent of its caseload, according to Law.com, the National Law Journal’s site.
The court considered 16 cases touching on or centered on lawyering. A few had to do with fairly technical aspects of the profession.
[T}here was a Florida case in which the client was more on top of the law than his attorney was. Albert Holland begged and pleaded with his lawyer to please, please, please file a crucial document with the court by deadline or else his case was doomed.
The lawyer missed the deadline, anyway, so Holland missed his chance to claim his murder conviction and death sentence had been wrongly decided.
Oops.
Too bad, the lower courts ruled. Holland would just have to suffer for his lawyer’s slip. The state might as well schedule his execution.
The Supreme Court saw it differently.
So what message are we to take away from the Supreme Court’s rulings on lawyer conduct?
Just this one:
The Supreme Court is watching.
Full Editorial and Source:
Anne Woolner: Justice Shines a Light on Bad Lawyering
Former Judge’s Ethics Hearing Set
July 18, 2010
Former Superior Court Judge Steven Perskie will have his day in court regarding ethics complaints filed last September.
The Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct has scheduled formal hearings on the matter for July 19-21, in the Supreme Court Courtroom at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton.
Perskie, who presided over civil cases in Atlantic and Cape May counties, had a formal complaint lodged against him on Sept. 9 by Candace Moody, counsel for the Advisory Committee. The complaint charged Perskie with violations of four canons and two rules governing judicial behavior, specifically:
• Canon 1, which requires judges to observe high standards of conduct
• Canon 2A, which requires judges to respect and comply with the law and to act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary
• Canon 2B, which prohibits judges from lending the prestige of their office to advance private interests
• Canon 3C(1), which requires judges to recuse themselves in any proceeding in which their impartiality might reasonably be questioned
• Rule 1:12-1(f), for the conflict of interest
• Rule 2:15-8(a)(6), for bringing the judicial office into disrepute.
According to the complaint, Perskie failed to remove himself in a timely manner from a lawsuit initiated in February 2005 that involved a long-time business associate, political ally and personal friend Frank Siracusa. Perskie also failed to disclose the extent of his relationship with Siracusa, the complaint alleged.
After Perskie remove himself in October 2006, he allegedly visited the courtroom of Judge William Nugent to whom the case was transferred and spoke with lawyers involved in the case. The complaint further alleges that Perskie lied to a Senate Judiciary Committee about the incident during his reappointment hearing.
Perskie said he did nothing wrong.
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Former Judge’s Ethics Hearing Set
Former GA Judge Arrested for Theft and Exploitation
July 18, 2010Chief Magistrate Judge Chris Mathis is free on bond after being arrested on charges that include theft and exploitation of an elderly person, stemming from his operation of a cattle business.
He was released from the Floyd County Jail on a $500,000 bond to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, then was released from the Polk County Jail on $25,000 bond.
Warrants say the 45-year-old Mathis is accused of taking money with a promise to purchase cattle, but instead converted the funds for his own use.
Mathis resigned as judge May 13. District Attorney Leigh Patterson said she had received information about allegations of misconduct by Mathis.
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Former Floyd County Judge Charged With Theft
Former Iowa Lawyer Indicted for Mail and Tax Fraud
July 18, 2010A former Coralville attorney was indicted this week on three counts of filing false tax returns but a superseding indictment was filed Wednesday also charging him with 11 counts of mail fraud.
Dennis Bjorklund, 45, of Coralville, who lost his license in 2006 for an ethics violation, is charged with 11 counts of mail fraud and three counts of making and subscribing a false tax return, according to an indictment filed in U.S. Southern District Court.
Bjorklund, as a criminal defense attorney between Aug. 1, 2005 through Aug. 31, 2006, would encourage potential clients charged with drunken driving to make a voluntary charitable contribution to obtain a more “favorable resolution,” according to the indictment. The specific charity recommended was “Re-Adapt.”
Bjorklund on Sept. 2005 started an alleged non-profit organization, “Rehabiliative Enterprises for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Training, also called Re-Adapt, according to the indictment.
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Former Coralville Lawyer Indicted for Mail and Tax Fraud
CT Judicial Council Finds Probable Cause Against Probate Judge
July 17, 2010A council investigating a complaint of professional or ethical misconduct by Probate Judge Bryan Meccariello has found probable cause and will hold a public hearing in September.
Samuel Manzo, an apparent heir to property left by Josephine Smoron, brought the action against Mecarriello.
Smoron died one year ago, leaving most of her 80-acre estate to Manzo in a 2004 will. But two months before she died, Meccariello approved a request by her former conservator to establish two trusts to hold all her assets.
The conservator, local attorney John T. Nugent, was named trustee. Nugent funded the trusts with Smoron’s real estate and cash assets before Smoron died. According to court documents, the land was to go to three local churches, who would then sell it to local developer Carl Verderame for about $2 million.
Verderame needs the land for an access road to build a $118 million sports arena.
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Judicial Council Finds Probable Cause of Misconduct by Meccariello
National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse 