ACTION ALERT: Support the Bar Ethics Grievance Filed Against Sen. Vitter

The Louisiana State Bar Association has finally received an ethics complaint regarding the allegations, many of which he has admitted, that Sen. David Vitter engaged in multiple instances of adulterous and criminal conduct.  Charlie Melancon, who is challenging Sen. Vitter in Louisiana’s 2010 U.S. Senate race, notes his frustration with the lack of accountability Sen. [...]

Sen. Vitter, why DID you lose your license to practice law?

Update on 03-30-09: Senator Vitter is an inactive member of the LSBA.
As I wrote last week, I began researching whether Senator David Vitter’s adulterous and criminal conduct violated the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct. A check of the Louisiana State Bar Association Membership Directory Active Member Search and Martindale.com, however, yielded no results for [...]

Is Sen. David Vitter licensed to practice law?

Update on 03-30-09: Senator Vitter is an inactive member of the LSBA.
Because Senator David Vitter (R-LA) keeps showing up like a bad penny, I decided to research whether his various criminal activities violated any professional conduct rules of any bar associations to which he might be admitted. I first checked the Louisiana State Bar [...]

Senator-for-now Stevens’ good news, bad news and Lisa Murkowski.

Crossposted at Oxdown Gazette.
The good news: Sen. Stevens won’t lose his right to vote until he’s sentenced, so he’ll be able to vote for himself.
The bad news: It may not be enough.
And Lisa Murkowski: Although Alaska’s junior Senator has been keeping a fairly low profile since getting caught in an improper land deal that she [...]

Patrick J. Rogers – predictably and unbelievably – denies charges of Vote-Suppression

Crossposted at Oxdown Gazette.
Patrick J. Rogers is the New Mexico attorney who represents and advises the Republican Party of New Mexico on its voter suppression efforts. In this prior post , I documented how Mr. Rogers’ conduct in this matter violates the New Mexico Rules of Professional Conduct. Mr. Rogers “was too busy [...]

E-mail to Patrick J. Rogers (Updated)

Patrick J. Rogers, Esq.
Modrall Sperling
PO Box 2168
Albuquerque, NM 87103-2168
Telephone: (505) 848-1800
Fax: (505) 848-1891
Email: pjr@modrall.com and patrogers@modrall.com
cc: contact@modrall.com
Mr. Rogers,
I have been researching the conduct of various attorneys such as yourself, whether that conduct is a violation of the rules of professional conduct with which each such attorney must comply and authoring factual allegations of the conduct [...]

Patrick J. Rogers

Crossposted at Oxdown Gazette.
Patrick J. Rogers is the New Mexico attorney who represents and advises the Republican Party of New Mexico on its voter suppression efforts. I have documented from the public record Mr. Rogers’ conduct that violates the New Mexico Rules of Professional Conduct. Unfortunately, the state bar system requires that a [...]

E-mail to Robert H. Bork, Jr.

Robert H. Bork, Jr.
gonzalesfacts@gmail.com
Mr. Bork,
As the media contact for GonzalesFacts.com, I would request a response on the record to these allegations that Alberto Gonzales has engaged in conduct that calls into question his fitness to practice law. I have also previously requested a response from George J. Terwilliger III via this e-mail:
George J. Terwilliger [...]

E-mail to George J. Terwilliger III, counsel to Alberto Gonzales

George J. Terwilliger III
White & Case LLP
701 13th Street NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20005
Telephone: 202-626-3628
Fax: 202-639-9355
gterwilliger@whitecase.com
Dear Mr. Terwilliger:
I have been researching the conduct of various attorneys who, in the service of the government of the United States, have engaged in conduct that violates the rules of professional conduct with which each attorney must comply. [...]

E-mail to Michael J. Elston

Michael J. Elston
McGuire Woods, LLP
Washington Square, 1050 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 1200
Washington, District of Columbia 20036-5317
Telephone: 202-857-1700
Fax: 202-857-1737
melston@mcguirewoods.com
Dear Mr. Elston,
I have been researching the conduct of various attorneys in the service of the government of the United States, whether that conduct is a violation of the rules of professional conduct with which each such attorney [...]

Michael J. Elston

On July 7, 2008, CREW filed a complaint against Michael J. Elston with the Virginia Bar for his role in the illegal politicization of hiring practices at the Department of Justice. However, CREW did not file a complaint with the Illinois, Kansas or Missouri Bars, jurisdictions in which Mr. Elston is also admitted, as [...]

Some good news?

In his 1,000th column at White House Watch, Dan Froomkin quotes from Washington Post Staff Writer Carrie Johnson’s article that the Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility notified unspecified bar associations of the findings of wrongdoing in An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and Other Staff in the Office [...]

Update: E-mail to Professor John Yoo

Professor John C. Yoo
U.S. District Court Judge
jyoo@law.berkeley.edu
Dear Professor Yoo:
I previously sent this e-mail back in April of this year, but, unfortunately, left out the ‘j’ so I sent it to y-o-o @ law.berkeley.edu. I noticed this error today after reading your op-ed, Supreme Court grabbed more power in recent term, in The Philadelphia Enquirer, [...]

Web-mail to Sen. Lisa Murkowski

Updated 08-11-08 with this ‘reply‘ from Sen. Murkowski.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski
United States Senate
Contact via webmail
Washington, D.C. Office
709 Hart Senate Building
Washington D.C., 20510
202-224-6665
Fax 202-224-5301
Anchorage Office
510 L. Street, Suite 550
Anchorage, AK 99501
907-271-3735
Fax 907-276-4081
Fairbanks Office
101 12th Avenue
Room 216
Fairbanks, AK 99701
907-456-0233
Fax 907-451-7146
Juneau Delegation Office
P.O. Box 21247
709 West 9th Street, Room 971
Juneau, AK 99802
907-586-7400
Fax 907-586-8922
Kenai Delegation Office
110 Trading Bay Road
Suite 105
Kenai, [...]

E-mail to Harriet E. Miers, No. 2

Harriet E. Miers, Esq.
Lock Lord Bissell & Liddell, LLP
hmiers@lockelord.com
Copy to:
Jerry K. Clements, Esq.
Chair, Lock Lord Bissell & Liddell, LLP
jclements@lockelord.com
George Taylor Manning, Esq.
Jones Day
gtmanning@jonesday.com
Dear Ms. Miers,
As I mentioned to you in my prior e-mail , I have been researching the conduct of various attorneys in the service of the government of the United States, whether that [...]

Employment of Kyle D. Sampson reflects poorly on Hunton & Williams, LLP, No. 2

Updated March 10, 2009 to reflect Mr. Sampson’s leave of absence from Hunton & Williams.
My second e-mail to Ms. Field:
Andrea Bear Field
DC Office Managing Partner
cc: Kyle D. Sampson, Partner
Dear Ms. Field,
It has now been several months since I e-mailed you about your colleague, Mr. Kyle D. Sampson about his partnership in Hunton & Williams. As [...]

Monica Marie Goodling

Personal Information:

Name: Monica Marie Goodling

Bar: Virginia

Bar Information: Virginia

ID No.: N/A

Status: Active (presumed)

Registered Address: None listed.

Registered Phone: None listed.

Bar: Virginia

No Certification for Fiscal Year, per Virginia State Bar’s Attorneys Without Malpractice database which “includes the names of lawyers who have certified that they represent clients drawn from the public and do not have malpractice insurance.” [...]

Welcome, USDOJ.

Thank you for visiting The Grievance Project.  (Statcounter and Sitemeter information is at the end of this post).
Earlier today, your boss, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, testified before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Attorney General Mukasey concluded his prepared remarks with the following statement:
As I have said many times, to members [...]

CREW files grievances against Michael J. Elston and Esther Slater McDonald

As far back as 2006, I began contacting various parties – including CREW – to suggest that an organized effort to file grievances would be an effective tactic for responding to the litany of attorneys engaged in questionable ethical conduct. Like most people and organizations I contacted, CREW never responded. Of the few [...]

E-mail to House Judiciary Committee regarding John Yoo

U.S House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary via Committee Contact Form
Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Chairman, via House Contact Form
Hon. Howard L. Berman via House Contact Form
Hon. Rick Boucher via House Contact Form
Hon. Jerrold Nadler via House Contact Form
Hon. Robert C. Scott via House Contact Form
Hon. Melvin L. Watt via House Contact Form
Hon. Zoe Lofgren [...]

Is John Yoo a Monster?

No, according to John H. Richardson of Esquire. Why not?
He wasn’t wrong all the time:
Consider also that courts and Congress have endorsed many of Yoo’s opinions, including the use of military commissions and the extended detention without criminal charges of “enemy combatants” who are American citizens.
The questions were really, really hard:
And consider this — [...]

Professor John Yoo and The Justice Case

Paul Kiel reported yesterday at TPMMuckraker that
the House Judiciary Committee authorized a subpoena for David Addington, Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff, to testify about the administration’s torture policy
And now the AP reports that John Yoo, probably the most infamous of the infamous characters that walked the halls of the Justice Department during the Bush [...]

Horton hears a Yoo

Updated April 23, 2008 to add poster art parody courtesy of the talented nonnie9999 who has many more posters at Hysterical Raisins. If I knew how, I would add this caption: … and then he rebuked him. Many thanks, Nonnie.
As Melissa from Writechic Press noted here, New York attorney and Columbia Law [...]

Starting to notice but not quite there.

At The Nation, Professor Stephen Gillers is correct when he writes in The Torture Memo that:
The press tends to overlook the lawyers when scandal breaks, focusing instead on their clients. That’s understandable, but in public and commercial life no serious move is possible (no corporate maneuver, no new financial instrument, no war, no severe interrogation [...]

E-mail to Professor John Yoo

Updated August 11, 2008 to correct the address of Professor Yoo.
Professor John C. Yoo
U.S. District Court Judge
yoo@law.berkeley.edu
Dear Professor Yoo:
I have been researching the conduct of various attorneys in the service of the government of the United States, whether that conduct is a violation of the rules of professional conduct with which each such attorney must [...]

John Yoo

Personal Information:

Name: John Yoo

Bar: Pennsylvania

ID No.: 69500

Status: Active

To file a grievance against Mr. Yoo in either or both Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., print and complete the official Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., Complaint Forms, print and attach this page to the Complaint Form and send to the address noted on the forms.
Grievance Information: [...]

E-mail to Judge Mark Everett Fuller

Judge Mark Everett Fuller
U.S. District Court Judge
mark_fuller@almd.uscourts.gov
Dear Judge Fuller,
I have been researching the conduct of various attorneys in the service of the government of the United States, whether that conduct is a violation of the rules of professional conduct with which each such attorney must comply and authoring factual allegations of conduct that establish violations [...]

A Call to Action

Far more eloquently than I have previously argued, Scott Horton called for action from the organized bar associations at No Comment last week:
It’s also time for the organized bar to act decisively. So far bar organizations have denounced the torture memoranda and issued learned reports and articles. But I’m still haunted by a question a [...]

Alberto Gonzales: Not just unethical, but criminal?

As reported by Jason Leopold at the Online Journal on February 29, 2008, (h/t nonnie9999), Alberto Gonzales not only engaged in unethical conduct, but likely also engaged in conduct that was criminal:
John McKay, the former US attorney for the Western District of Washington who was also fired in late 2006 for reasons that appear to [...]

E-mail to Harriet E. Miers

Harriet E. Miers, Esq.
Locke Liddell & Sapp
Dear Ms. Miers,
I have been researching the conduct of various attorneys in the service of the government of the United States, whether that conduct is a violation of the rules of professional conduct with which each such attorney must comply and authoring factual allegations of conduct that establish violations [...]

Employment of Kyle D. Sampson reflects poorly on Hunton & Williams, LLP

Updated March 10, 2009 to reflect Mr. Sampson’s leave of absence from Hunton & Williams.
Updated on July 29, 2008, with a July 28, 2008,  update to my post on Kyle D. Sampson.
I have not previously sent my copies of my posts directly to their targets. At time of posting, I had no e-mail address [...]

Mark Everett Fuller

The Preamble to the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct states, inter alia, that
A lawyer’s conduct should conform to the requirements of the law, both in professional service to clients and in the lawyer’s business and personal affairs. A lawyer should use the law’s procedures only for legitimate purposes and not to harass or intimidate others. [...]

The immorality of torture leads – inevitably – to prosecutorial misconduct

At Balkinization, Professor David Luban discusses how the adoption of a torture regimen results in this additional unintended consequence: government lawyers are systematically violating “ethics rule[s] forbidding them from speaking with parties who have legal representation without obtaining consent of the party’s lawyer.” Professor Luban explains in greater detail:
This is the “no-contact rule” in [...]

Does John Ashcroft hate Alberto Gonzales?

I’ve been reading Never Again – Securing America and Restoring Justice by former Attorney General John Ashcroft. When I started reading the book, I would joke that Never Again cost me way too much even though I bought it at the ‘dollar’ store but that it was still a better deal than the dollar [...]

For the Bush Administration attorney, the truth still waits

In her article appearing in the February 2008 edition of the ABA Journal, Eileen Libby addresses the issue of When the Truth Can Wait. It should come as no surprise that the examples and case law that Ms. Libby provides and the conclusions she draws do not come to the aid of former Attorney [...]

It’s not paranoia if they ARE out to get you

The Washington Post’s Dan Eggen reported yesterday that
A federal grand jury in Alexandria has issued a subpoena seeking information about the confidential sources of a newspaper journalist who wrote in a 2006 book about alleged CIA efforts to infiltrate Iran’s nuclear program.
The Jan. 24 subpoena ordered the reporter, James Risen of the New York [...]

Harriet E. Miers

I have updated the statement of facts alleging various violations by Harriet E. Miers of the Texas Rules of Professional Conduct with the recent Memorandum Opinion in COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES v. HARRIET MIERS, et al., Civil Action No. 08-0409 (JDB). in which United States District Judge John D. Bates confirms [...]

Lisa Murkowski

Personal Information:
Name: Lisa Murkowski
Bar: Alaska
ID No: 8711098
Status: Inactive
Allegations:
Unethical Purchase of Kenai River-front Property
In 2006, Senator Lisa Murkowski purchased a parcel of river front property on the Kenai River,Alaska, from real estate developer and political contributer Bob Penney. Senator Murkowski paid Mr. Penney $179,400.00 for the property which was the 2006 assessed value of the property [...]

Kyle D. Sampson

Updated July 28, 2008, to include the recent report, An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and Other Staff in the Office of the Attorney General, by the United States Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility and Office of the Inspector General, which concluded that Kyle D. Sampson engaged in conduct [...]

Alberto Gonzales

This morning, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that he will leave the Department of Justice, after two and a half years of service to the department. Al Gonzales is a man of integrity, decency and principle. And I have reluctantly accepted his resignation, with great appreciation for the service that he has provided for our [...]

States

UPDATED JUNE 5, 2008:
This page is not current.  Please go to my State Bar Links page for the updated list.
Thank you for visiting the Grievance Project.
E.M.

Alabama
Bar Home Page: Alabama State Bar
Main Grievance Page: Alabama Office of the General Counsel
Ethics Rules: Alabama Rules of Disciplinary Procedure
Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct
Complaint Form: Complaint Against a Lawyer (.pdf)
Attorney [...]

The Grievance Project

For nearly two years, I have been watching intently the consistent and continuous dismantling of the Constitution by the President. Through December of 2006, the Congressional Republicans enabled the President both actively by passing legislation and passively by failing to fulfill their Constitutional oversight responsibilities.
When control of both houses of Congress was unexpectedly transferred to [...]