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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Law - Judges and lawyers behaving badly - a second example this week

Tuesday the ILB reported on the Indiana Supreme Court's censure of Judge Newman, Jr., Judge of the Madison Superior Court No. 3 - as a result of the judge's failure to process paperwork, a man spent more than an extra year in prison. Moreover, the Supreme Court found that Judge Newman "failed to exhibit meaningful remorse for the effect that his neglect had on Dawson’s liberty and, instead, blamed his court reporter, the DOC, and the Court of Appeals."

The second example this week comes from a story today in the New Jersey Law Journal, where a New Jersey attorney billed a client $52,742 for what looks to be a few hours service, and then:

When a client hesitated over paying his bill, Richard Ledingham threatened her with criminal prosecution for "theft of services" and he didn't stop there: He also warned that she might lose her business, her home and her professional license.

Those actions -- all to collect a fee judged to be exorbitant -- are cause for suspending the River Vale solo from practice for three months, says New Jersey's Disciplinary Review Board.

This story is pretty amazing; I'd urge you to read it in full.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 21, 2006 07:48 AM
Posted to General Law Related