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Monday, February 18, 2008

Raise your gavel

Another year, another story about lawyers behaving badly. This year has started out with some cracking lawyer-related vitriol that would leave the better behaved within the profession reeling.

The UK's Lord Atkin said in 1936 that "Justice is not a cloistered virtue", and that is a lucky thing for any commentator on the legal profession. In the latest sample, a lawyer has been charged with assault for shaking a federal prosecutor's hand so hard that it injured her shoulder, authorities have said.

Post-hearing, the US lawyer in question asked to shake his attorney opponent's hand having lost the case. A court security officer has stated that the lawyer, with peer's hand in clasp, made an upward, then a quick downward motion and pulled their hand towards the ground. As you might expect, a US Attorney's Office spokesperson said: "Assaulting a federal officer is something that we will take very seriously and prosecute vigorously … As a member of the Bar, she should know better."

The same may be said for Judge Charles J Kahn Jr, from the District Court of Appeal in Florida, who reports claim yelled "Get out of my f---ing office" before ejecting his judicial colleague from his chambers. At a preliminary hearing of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, Judge Kahn (who was Chief Judge until deposed) explained his loss of temper in his testimony. His peer had gone to see him to disagree with a judgment he'd given, and this riled Kahn because: "I had been on the court for 14 or 15 years and he had been on the court for a week or two", TimesOnline reports.

But what started out as a one-off case fell into a jaw-dropping sequence of testimony in which senior judges accused each other of being "volatile" and "schizoid". Also flying about the hearing were allegations of lying, hotel sex with court employees, and threatening behaviour. According to newspaper reports, one court marshal from the Florida courthouse said he thought Judge Kahn was unstable. His concerns had been ignited when the judge "seemed set" to apply for a concealed weapons permit as well as a handgun.

"Anxiety deepened when two other judges decided to get guns," according to some reports. Brannon arranged for extra police security at a judicial ceremony.

Other evidence about Judge Kahn included stories of his affairs with female court staff, and liaisons with a clerk, complete with photos of them in a South Florida hotel. One of his critics has been even more harshly dealt with, and has been charged with "conduct unbecoming of a judge". He was handed this accolade after he wrote an opinion critical of Judge Kahn for sitting on a particular case.

Apparently evidence of up to 15 senior judges will be relevant at the upcoming full hearing, which Lawyers Weekly will keep you updated about. But in the meantime, be warned that the year is not looking great when it comes to the profession being on the front pages of the media regarding their behaviour rather than the work they actually do. It would be nice to focus on the clever things judges say, rather than the ridiculous episode we're witnessing as reported above. [Have Your Say]

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