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Saturday, November 12, 2011
Law - "Punished, Debarred--But Still Members of the Bar"
Some quotes from a long article dated Nov. 14th, by Sue Reisinger in the national publication Corporate Counsel:
Imagine that you are a general counsel who’s been convicted of a criminal misdemeanor related to fraud, or that you were fired for a serious ethics violation, or that a federal agency has ordered you not to practice before it nor serve as a corporate officer for the next five years because of misconduct. Could discipline by a state bar committee be far behind?Well, yes, it could be so far behind that it’s not even remotely likely to happen.
Corpcounsel.com this week examined three high profile cases of general counsel who broke the rules and lost their jobs. But not one of the three lost the license to practice law, or was even publicly reprimanded by a state bar. * * *
[The second example is] Scott Storms [who] was chief legal officer of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission in 2010 when he made several rulings and recommendations that benefited Duke Energy Indiana.
Unfortunately, at the same time he was applying for, and accepting, a job as assistant general counsel with Duke. When consumers found out about the conflict of interest and became outraged, Duke fired him. The Indiana State Ethics Commission in May ruled that Storms was guilty of three ethics violations.
Yet the state bar of Indiana has no record of any public disciplinary action against Storms. His attorney, Thomas Farlow of Frost Brown Todd in Indianapolis, says Storms is currently unemployed as he appeals the ethics ruling in county superior court.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 12, 2011 10:07 AM
Posted to General Law Related