Friday, August 19, 2011

ABA study urges NJ ethics committees be abolished - August 2011

ABA Panel Suggests Attorney Discipline Be Wrested From District Committees
http://www.law.com/jsp/nj/PubArticleNJ.jsp?id=1202509474397&hubtype=MAIN%20PAGE&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1

New Jersey Law Journal

August 3, 2011

An American Bar Association panel is recommending an overhaul of New Jersey's attorney disciplinary system, suggesting first and foremost that the functions now handled by the district ethics committees be assumed by the Office of Attorney Ethics.
The NJ Supreme Court has published the report from the ABA
http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/notices/2011/n110803a.pdf 
and is soliciting comments through Friday, September 30, 2011
Comments on this report may be submitted by Internet e-mail to Comments.Mailbox@judiciary.state.nj.us

My personal experience at an April 2011 district ethics hearing supports this recommendation.   I filed a complaint against an attorney who served a subpoena on the Marlboro Police to obtain all of the police reports that I filed relating to my stalking.  This subpoena was served without any litigation pending.  Judge Michael Guadagno's opinion in the case on the illegal use of subpoena became a published opinion.  This attorney kept the improperly obtained police reports and after Judge Guadagno was transferred to another county, the attorney began filing motions against me using the police reports.  Those motions also termed vexatious litigation lasted for two years and abused me and my family financially and emotionally.   On the morning of the ethics hearing held at Lomurro Davison Eastman and Munoz, the district secretary Kathleen Sheedy barged into a side conference room where i was standing with my attorney and the prosecutor.  The district secretary, who is at least twice my size, began screaming at me while walking towards me causing me to eventually back up against a wall.  District Secretary Kathleen Sheedy was upset about the submission of a victim impact statement.  With my back firmly against a wall, I told the district secretary Kathy Sheedy that her behavior was abusive and if she did not stop screaming at me, I would leave the room.  At that point the district secretary told me that if I left the room, the district hearing would be cancelled.  I had no choice but to endure the abuse.  The attorney brought up on ethics charges was a former member of this panel and as my attorney explained to me likely a friend of the ethics secretary.   This behavior by the ethics secretary was unethical and meant to intimidate me before I testified.    Local  ethics committees need to be abolished.