Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Monday, November 13, 2006 1:26:10 PM
I always try to admit my mistakes as quickly as I can. Almost exactly a month ago, I wrote
Judge Lucero and His Court. He is the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, and hears Colorado Attorney Regulation cases and occasionally oversees Show Trials.
In my October 10 essay, I said:
The second may surprise you. While I haven't read all of his court's rulings carefully, my sense is that they are a big improvement over what came before.
Before he came on the scene, case law suggests that the disciplinary process was extremely lax. If a lawyer avoided damaging a child or stealing funds from a client, he could avoid meaningful punishment, even for serious infractions, simply by claiming "remorse." His claim was duely noted in the case law, and in some areas of case law, more than half of the attorneys claimed remorse and got off with a "public censure."
While I stand by my Kangaroo court assertion, fairness demands an acknowledgement of Judge Lucero's record.
I was dead wrong! What is really happening is that attorneys who claim remorse are not making it into his court. No public record of their transgressions or the punishment administered is made. Attorney Regulation calls this "Diversion."
This whole program is a fraud on the public. I apologize for being taken in. CMBD.