What is rare is for there to actually be any disciplinary action whatsoever. There need to be laws against the same lawyers being appointed as Mediators or Guardian Ad Litems repeatedly as is happening all over resulting in collusive relationships that effect the outcomes of cases. These repeatedly appointed lawyers can materially effect cases, churn fees, and inflict much harm with this unethical appointments.
http://www.startribune.com/local/south/41093187.html
State ethics panel calls for judge’s suspension
The rare recommendation is for Judge Timothy Blakely, who sent business to a divorce lawyer and got a $63,503 discount.
Judge Timothy L. Blakely
Timothy Blakely
A Minnesota judge who steered business to a divorce lawyer who gave him a large discount should face the rare sanction of being suspended six months without pay, a judicial ethics panel recommended Wednesday.
The three-member panel of the state Board on Judicial Standards recommended censure and time off the bench and payroll for District Judge Timothy Blakely, who sits in Goodhue and Dakota counties.
Led by former Supreme Court Justice Edward Stringer, the panel found “clear and convincing evidence” that Blakely violated judicial rules and codes by accepting a $63,503 markdown on his $108,876 divorce after appointing his attorney many times as a mediator in cases he oversaw.
A Supreme Court ruling is months away, but Blakely could become the first judge suspended since 1993. Only four judges have been suspended in the 35-year history of the board, according to executive secretary David Paull.
The recommendation by the panel, rounded out by lobbyist Lawrence Redmond and retired Hennepin County District Judge Allen Oleisky, now goes to the entire board. The board can dismiss, accept or modify the prescribed sanctions. The board’s recommendation then goes to the state Supreme Court, which ultimately will decide what punishment Blakely faces, if any.
Blakely’s lawyer, Tom Kelly of Minneapolis, said, “While we respect the panel and the board, we disagree with the recommendation and some of the findings.”
Acting as prosecutor for the board, lawyer Doug Kelley of Minneapolis had sought Blakely’s removal.
The investigation began after Blakely’s ex-wife complained he got special treatment. Evidence included numerous e-mails between the judge and his lawyer, Christine Stroemer. It’s unclear whether she faces any potential sanctions.
According to the panel’s findings: The judge struggled to pay for his contentious divorce, which started in October 2002 and ended in September 2004. By December 2003, he was “severely delinquent” in paying Stroemer, at the firm of Collins, Buckley, Sauntry & Haugh. That same month, Blakely appointed Stroemer for the first time to mediate a divorce, and he went on to order many couples to submit to mediation with her over the next several years.
Ultimately, Stroemer agreed to let Blakely settle his bill for $45,372, though he had owed $108,876. The discount was the largest that Stroemer has given a client. Meanwhile, Stroemer e-mailed Blakely that she hoped he would “continue to refer mediation cases to me.”
Blakely responded that he and his fiancée were “deeply appreciative.” He “did not disabuse her of the connection between the referrals and the discounted bill,” the panel’s findings said.
The panel’s 15-page report noted that in testimony, “Blakely acknowledged that his reference to significant past and future business referrals while negotiating a fee reduction with Stroemer raises the question of whether he was offering a quid pro quo.”
But Blakely argued that it wouldn’t be a “reasonable inference” to an informed person: “The question is, is it a fully informed person or some guy standing in the courtroom who doesn’t know anything about what we do for a living?”
Acknowledging questions
The panel found his explanation to be “hardly credible,” given his repeated failures to tell Stroemer that he didn’t expect anything in return for the referrals.
The judge admitted to the board’s executive director that e-mail exchanges “looked like crap” and that he had an “ah-ha moment” and “could see a question was raised” by them, the report said.
He acknowledged in a letter that, “I now also see that as a judge, I should not have mentioned my ability to continue to direct business referrals to [the firm] in the context of a negotiation over the fees I owed them.”
Kelly has said Blakely simply referred clients to his attorney as anyone might refer someone to a good lawyer. He argued that it’s common for family lawyers to discount fees from lengthy divorces. Blakely was elected to the bench in 1998. His term expires in 2010.
The last judge suspended by the Supreme Court was Hennepin County District Judge Sean Rice, for 60 days in 1993 for abusive treatment of staff.
Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747
