Attorney Misconduct: Moral Turpitude, Dishonesty, Fraud, Corruption, or Concealment - California State Bar

Rules of Procedure of the State Bar of California Rule 2.7

"Disbarment or actual suspension is appropriate for an act of moral turpitude, dishonesty, fraud, corruption, or concealment of a material fact." 

Moral Turpitude: California... by California Judicial Branch ...

Sacramento Family Court Report Long-Form Investigative Reports

• Racketeering-Honest Services Fraud: Sacramento County Family Law Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers
• 3rd District COA Controversy: Third District Court of Appeal - Justice, Ideology & Conflicts of Interest
• Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye: Former Chief Justice Implicated in California Court Corruption Scandal
• California Attorney Misconduct Law: California Attorney Misconduct and Malpractice - Laws, Rules, Ethics and Moral Turpitude
• Sacramento Family Court Report Source Material Archive

Attorney Misconduct: Mortal Turpitude Explained and Defined by County Bar Association

"The State Bar Review Department held in In the Matter of Moriarty, 4 Cal. State Bar Ct. Rptr. 9 (Review Dept. 1999): 'gross negligence is a well-established basis for finding an act of moral turpitude.'" 

Moral Turpitude - Los Angel... by California Judicial Branch ...

Sacramento Family Court Report Long-Form Investigative Reports

• Racketeering-Honest Services Fraud: Sacramento County Family Law Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers
• 3rd District COA Controversy: Third District Court of Appeal - Justice, Ideology & Conflicts of Interest
• Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye: Former Chief Justice Implicated in California Court Corruption Scandal
• California Attorney Misconduct Law: California Attorney Misconduct and Malpractice - Laws, Rules, Ethics and Moral Turpitude
• Sacramento Family Court Report Source Material Archive

Attorney Misconduct: Intent to Deceive the Court or Any Party - Business and Professions Code Section 6128

"Is guilty of any deceit or collusion, or consents to any deceit or collusion, with intent to deceive the court or any party... Any violation of the provisions of this section is punishable by imprisonment..." 

California Business and Pro... by California Judicial Branch ...

 

Sacramento Family Court Report Long-Form Investigative Reports

• Racketeering-Honest Services Fraud: Sacramento County Family Law Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers
• 3rd District COA Controversy: Third District Court of Appeal - Justice, Ideology & Conflicts of Interest
• Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye: Former Chief Justice Implicated in California Court Corruption Scandal
• California Attorney Misconduct Law: California Attorney Misconduct and Malpractice - Laws, Rules, Ethics and Moral Turpitude
• Sacramento Family Court Report Source Material Archive

Divorce-Family Law Attorney Loses Cool When Confronted by Reporter

 

@susanbassi There we go again tricking the entire court system with cameras. #BillDrrsser #Attorney #PrivateJudge #Investigation #familycourt #SanJose ♬ original sound - SusanBassi

Read our Special Report: Sacramento County Family Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers.

Law Library: Identifying Attorney Misconduct and Making a State Bar Complaint - Understanding Moral Turpitude

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS YOU CAN USE: Sacramento family court litigants report that many divorce and family law lawyers routinely commit misconduct. To make a State Bar complaint against a lawyer, you need to know the law and terminology to use. A critical attorney misconduct law to understand is Business and Professions Code § 6106. This 21-page primer about moral turpitude may help: 

 

Read our Special Report: Sacramento County Family Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers.

SANTA ANA APPELLATE COURT JUDGE REPORTS ATTORNEY TO STATE BAR: MEANWHILE, SACRAMENTO FAMILY COURT JUDGES DEFY JUDICIAL ETHICS CANON 3D(2), IGNORE, COVER UP ATTORNEY MISCONDUCT

• Examples of systemic attorney misconduct in Sacramento family court.
• Judges are required - by law - to report serious attorney misconduct. 
• Common types of attorney misconduct. 
• Attorneys are required to tell the truth at all times, whether under oath or not. 
• Judge James Mize fails to report egregious misconduct by divorce attorney and temporary judge Paula Salinger. 
• Judge Thadd Blizzard fails to report egregious misconduct by divorce attorney and temporary judge Richard Sokol.
• Judges Thadd Blizzard and Matthew Gary fail to report attorneys who aided criminal child abductions. 
• Sacramento County Superior Court judges fail to report alleged racketeering and antitrust activity by divorce lawyers.  

Read our Special Report: Sacramento County Family Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers.

CBS News 60 Minutes Hidden Camera Records Attorney Boasting Lawyers Immune from Criminal Prosecution

“They don’t send the lawyers to jail because we run the country. We’re members of a privileged class in this country. We make the laws and when we do so we make them in a way that is advantageous to the lawyers,” attorney Marc Koplik explains on hidden video in this 60 Minutes broadcast clip.

Sacramento Superior Court reform advocates allege that a group of local divorce lawyers who also work as part-time judges have made similar claims. Whistleblowers assert that many Sacramento County judges abdicate their responsibility to enforce attorney misconduct laws, and therefore share blame for the problem.    

Attorney Ethics: Misleading Judge or Other Party Constitutes Act of Moral Turpitude

MORAL TURPITUDE WEEK: MISLEADING THE JUDGE OR OTHER PARTY An attorney who misleads the judge or the other party...
Posted by California Attorney Misconduct & Ethics on Friday, February 26, 2016

Attorney Misconduct and Ethics: Moral Turpitude - Attorneys Must Be Truthful Whether Under Oath or Not

MORAL TURPITUDE WEEK: ATTORNEYS MUST TELL THE TRUTH IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER THEY ARE UNDER OATHWhether they are under...
Posted by California Attorney Misconduct & Ethics on Thursday, February 25, 2016

MORAL TURPITUDE WEEK #MORALTURPITUDE
Posted by California Attorney Misconduct & Ethics on Friday, February 26, 2016

California Attorney Ethics - Rules of Professional Conduct - State Bar Act - Moral Turpitude - California Lawyers

California Attorney Ethical Standards & Law Updated at SFCN Attorney Misconduct Page 

The California Supreme Court and State Bar are responsible for oversight and accountability of attorneys in the state. 

Sacramento Family Court News has just updated our Attorney Misconduct page with additional ethical standards all lawyers must by law comply with. Click here to view the page. The new information includes more than 40 disciplinary decision references from the State Bar publication California Compendium on Professional Responsibility. Click here to view the complete set of over 40 references at GoogleDocs. The annually updated 456 page Compendium collects hundreds of attorney misconduct case law decisions which specify the types of misconduct that violate the Rules of Professional Conduct and State Bar Act. The decisional law listed in the Compendium carries the same weight as all other law in California, including the Code of Civil Procedure, Penal Code, Family Code and all other statutory law.   

The Attorney Misconduct page updates include:  

• As "officers of the court," lawyers must disclose in court filings and in argument before a judge the facts, law and other authorities harmful or adverse to their position, in addition to the facts, law and authority supporting their position. The failure to disclose adverse facts and legal authority is unlawful, unethical, and considered sanctionable misconduct, according to the State Bar.
• As members of the State Bar and officers of the court, attorneys are required to be honest at all times, even when off-duty and not acting as a lawyer, according to the State Bar. Dishonesty, whether or not committed while acting as an attorney, is prohibited by Business and Professions Code § 6106, according to the State Bar. 
• It is illegal for a lawyer to mislead or make misrepresentations to an opposing attorney or party, including a self-represented litigant. Making offensive references or descriptions about an opposing party or attorney also is unlawful, according to the State Bar.

For additional reporting on the issues in this post, click the corresponding labels below: 

California Divorce Attorney Misconduct and Ethics Page Added at Sacramento Family Court News

Attorney Misconduct and Ethics in California

Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye is a former Sacramento County Superior
Court judge. She is now chief justice of the California Supreme Court
and an authority on legal ethics.

Sacramento Family Court News often receives emails from readers asking for help with allegedly unethical attorneys who, for example, tell lies in court or in court filings. As a nonprofit news organization, SFCN does not provide legal advice or assistance with making complaints against attorneys or judges. Click here for the State Bar of California webpage about making a complaint against an attorney. Click here for the State Bar attorney ethics information webpage. 

For more information on attorney ethics, visit our new attorney misconduct page. The page contains information on basic attorney ethical standards in California, and legal references and authorities about attorney misconduct. For example, many attorneys and family court litigants are unaware that attorneys must by law tell the truth in court, even if they're not under oath, according to the State Bar. Or that, under California law, a lawyer who tells a half-truth in court or in court filings is considered to have told an outright lie. Under state attorney ethical standards, an attorney who withholds or conceals material facts or information from a judge also is guilty of lying, according to the State Bar. 

For all the details, visit our new attorney misconduct page. Click here. If you have a news tip about an allegedly unethical family law attorney, please contact us using our Contact Family Court News page, or click here to send us an email.

Attorney Misconduct: Federal Indictment for Unethical, Illegal Attorney Conduct Includes Obtaining False and Misleading Testimony

Federal Conspiracy, Honest Services Fraud Indictment Includes Violations of Attorney Fiduciary and Legal Duties

Friday Document Dump

Violations of lawyer ethical standards can be used as evidence of criminal conduct, according to records from a U.S. District Court. A federal criminal indictment filed against an attorney in Nevada indicates that violations of professional standards are one component in a criminal prosecution for honest services mail or wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Personal injury attorney Noel Gage was charged in a scheme to defraud clients of the honest services of their attorneys, and obtain the money and property of others by false pretenses, representations, promises, omissions of material fact, and half-truths. The indictment recites the duties owed by an attorney to a client, including providing honest services that are free from self-dealing, corruption, fraud, deceit and conflicts of interest. According to the document, the duties include: 

• The duty to deal honestly and forthrightly with others in connection with a client's case;
• The duty to provide honest and independent counsel to clients;
• The duty to remain free of conflicts of interest with a client; 
• The duty to act at all times in the best interests of the client; 
• The duty to disburse money from the proceeds of a client's settlement or judgment honestly and with full disclosure to the client; and 
• The duty to ensure that others who are employed by the attorney in connection with a client's case comport with the same duties and obligations listed above.     

For additional reporting on the issues in this post, click the corresponding labels below: 

Sacramento County Temporary Judge Scott Kendall Disbarred for Moral Turpitude, Advising Client to Break Law, Incompetence & More

Sacramento Family Court Judge Pro Tem Disbarred on Multiple Charges

Sacramento County Superior Court Temporary Judge Scott Kendall has been disbarred from the practice of law by the State Bar Court. Lawyers may seek review of State Bar Court Decisions from the California Supreme Court. 

Sacramento County Superior Court Temporary Judge Scott Kendall was last month banned from the practice of law by the State Bar for multiple acts of misconduct.

Kendall, a family law attorney and member of the Sacramento County Bar Association Family Law Section was charged with advising a family court client to violate a child custody order, withdrawing from representation of a client without court permission, failure to communicate with clients, incompetence, and moral turpitude. Kendall was disbarred effective November 24, 2011. Click here to view the State Bar decision describing the charges against the family court judge pro tem. 

The disciplinary charges resulted from Kendall's conduct in four separate court cases for clients Claro Wisco, James Flynt, Theresa Licciardello and Brian Knudsen-Heryford. In the Knudsen-Heryford case, Kendall advised his client to violate a shared child custody agreement on the assurance that the attorney would obtain full custody for the client at an ex parte hearing. Knudsen-Heryford acted on his attorney's counsel and at the ex parte hearing was arrested for child abduction by the Roseville Police Department. Kendall's ex parte motion was denied on the merits. Kendall promised to defend his client in the criminal case for free, but later billed Knudsen-Heryford for $2,127 in legal fees for the criminal case, according to the State Bar.   

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