Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 1:56:59 AM
The Colorado Bar Association Publishes the Colorado Lawyer. Two days ago, when I wrote the essay for which I just apologized for, I had been looking through the tables of contents of past and present issues.
I had come there because I was searching for the latest annual report issued by the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline, of which Richard A. Wehmhoefer is Executive Director and General Counsel. I had googled for it, and found the 2003 report had been published in The Colorado Lawyer and was available to the public.
No later report was available, so I went through the indexes of 2006 issues. Sure enough, I found the 2005 report listed in the June, 2006 issue. When I clicked on it, I got the message that it was only available to CBA members. If it is similar to the 2003 annual report, then it would appear that it is a public document that should be available to the public, either on the Supreme Court Web site or through the Colorado Lawyer. The same is true with the 2004 report, which I found in the contents listing of the June, 2005 issue.
Likewise, the October, 2005 issue index lists "Disciplinary Case Summaries for Matters Resulting in Diversion and Private Admonition, from Attorney Regulation which are not available to the public, but should be.
I found other article titles that were of equal concern. My experience is that the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct are not enforced in a way that protects the public. I find from the index pages of several issues, the latest being November, 2006, that there is a CBA ethics committee which issues opinions. I think it is in the public interest that the CBA tell the public exactly what it is telling its lawyers and judges about legal ethics. Judges almost certainly rely on what those committees are writing. (Edited: While the Colorado Lawyer publication is closed, the ethics opinions can be found elsewhere.)
While I was clearly wrong when I wrote the essay, I do not believe that I am wrong when I state that the Colorado State Supreme Court seems to believe it owes its reports to the CBA and not to the public. The CBA appears to agree.