Included in this package was the following:

"Perhaps the most pernicious sanction, and the one calculated most effectively to chill zealous advocacy was described by Chief Judge Marvin Aspen of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. If a lawyer does something 'unseemly' in court, the judge will gossip about it over lunch with other judges, identifying the lawyer by name. As a result, Judge Aspen has said, the lawyer's reputation will be 'tremendously' and 'irreparably' damaged. And not only that: Judge Aspen adds that the judges will thereafter seize upon the opportunity to decide against the lawyer's future clients any time a 'close question' arises. There is, of course, no due process for either the lawyer or the lawyer's clients, when judges engage in this kind of luncheon Star Chamber." Monroe H. Freedman, Lichtenstein Distinguished Professor of Legal Ethics, Hofstra University, New York State Bar Association, pg. 17, Spring 1998.

Another example where judges damage clients based on the attitude of the client's attorney.

Is there any wonder why clients do not believe that the judiciary is fair?

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Created March 14, 2000