(Adam Kilgore, General Counsel of the Mississippi Bar)"It is a natural reaction to what has happened to examine all aspects of the situation and call for reform. I caution against jumping to conclusions and making changes to a system that has served Mississippi well for years. Sometimes it is not the system that is flawed, but some of the individuals that participate in the system. This must be a time for self-examination, but I do not yet see it as time to make major reforms to the legal system...."
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080217/OPINION/802170320/1046/OPINION03
The sand in which Mr. Kilgore buries his head must be opiate, not silica in nature as one would expect Mr. Kilgore to favor some reform, as the evidence of widespread corruption in our judicial system becomes more obvious: The attempted bribery of Judge Lackey...the alleged bribery of Ed Peters and Judge DeLaughter..... the criminal and disgraceful behavior of Judge Houston Patton regarding James Jennings and Keith Shelton.... the rumors of judges receiving target letters from the FBI..... the revelations in the Keith Shelton case ...the Commission on Judicial Performance took a dive in its investigation of Judge Patton.... the Attorney General giving legal contracts to friends who gave him $400,000, then stating he won't investigate them as they are picked off by the FBI one by one...where does one stop as the list continues to grow?
What exactly does Mr. Kilgore think "some of the individuals" means? In case he hasn't noticed, there are more than a few lawyers involved in this scandal as the judicial systems in the state's largest county has been compromised and some of the state's leading lawyers have either pled guilty or face prosecution for their alleged misdeeds and corruption. These guys were so brazen they tried to bribe a member of the Judicial Commission, making one think they were crazy for such an attempt, unless they had bribed others in authority over the legal system. In the Keith Shelton case, no less than four judges were involved in this travesty of justice. The fact is Mr. Kilgore, many individuals have been involved in these scandals as they turned the legal system in our state into a coat-and-tie brothel where justice is truly for sale to the highest bidder or those with the right friends at Char, while you stick your head in the sand saying no reform is needed.
Further evidence of Mr. Kilgore's yellow streak is his failure to request more powers for the Bar to police itself. The Bar currently can only investigate members if there has been a complaint and or if there has been a conviction of an attorney, as it has no authority to initiate its own investigations against suspected wayward lawyers. If Mr. Kilgore was truly serious about improving his profession, he and the rest of the Bar would be demanding they be given the same powers granted to boards and commissions for ALL OTHER INDUSTRIES in Mississippi. The fact Mr. Kilgore has not sought to do so shows exactly that the Bar is not interested in truly cleaning up the legal system in Mississippi, as those in authority always welcome any excuse to grab more power. Mr. Kilgore thinks so little of Mississippians he does not make bar complaint forms available on the Bar's website, something common to other state boards and commissions. It is also telling that while the ethics of the awarding of state legal contracts to campaign donors has been furiously debated at the state capitol, the Bar has been strangely silent.
However, keep in mind what Mr. Kilgore represents: a self-serving mafia resisting any attempt at reform as it considers itself above everyone else. The Mississippi Bar is the ONLY profession having its commissioners and officers elected by the membership instead of appointed by the Governor and Senate. It is the only profession combining its regulatory bodies and trade association under one roof. If this was done in other industries it would be called a serious conflict of interest. The members write their own by-laws and procedures. They regulate themselves and decide what their punishments should be and if they are somehow too strict, the Mississippi Supreme Court is always available to bail them out. (See earlier post: Incest in Dixie, http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/01/incest-in-dixie-mississippi-legal.html)
As I wrote a few weeks ago in Incest in Dixie: The Mississippi Legal Profession, the fix is in as the media and the Bar have chosen to ignore the iceburg it struck and instead focus on how the deck chairs are arranged even while the bodies Balducci said were buried begin to float on the surface. Do not expect any help from Kilgore and the Mississippi Bar in protecting you from a corrupt legal system. It is clear Mr. Kilgore is either trying to cover up for the Mississippi Bar or is so embedded in the system he cannot truly see why there is a need for serious reform. Once again it is clear the Bar itself needs to be reformed as shown by Mr. Kilgore's surreal statements void of any sense of reality. I will end this post by paraphrasing a quote from Cicero, a man who truly cared about public morals and ethics: "WHEN, Mr. Kilgore, do you mean to cease abusing our patience as you continue to abdicate your duty?"
8 comments:
I don’t know if the Mississippi Bar has a new complaint form but the only ones I’ve seen forces the complainant to sign away their right to free speech in the matter under threat of imprisonment and/or fine. Corrupt to the core!
The investigator for the one call that’s all lawyer said there’s a cover-up going on.
The lawyer says he doesn’t want to step on anybody’s toes.
The lawyer years later emerges calling himself the heavyweight?
What’s up with the corruption in Hinds County Mississippi USA?
It surely appears that Houston Patton is going to escape any flack over his illegal actions. To hold a person in jail with no charges until they release a civil judgment just can't happen in the USA. Surely some punishment will come for Patton?
Beyond a quick and public trial for those accused, how do you propose to reform the legal system? I would suggest disbarment and appropriate sentencing for those convicted. What more is there to do?
Remove the power to elect comissioners from the bar.
Have the comissioners appointed, divide the appointments between Chief Justice, Governor, LTG, and Speaker.
If they want to have a president of the bar, let them start up their own trade assn. minus the regulatory prosecution authority.
Make the bar a state agency. Employees, including general counsel, work for the state.
Give the counsel the power to initiate his own investigations, not wait for a conviction or complaint. read my earlier post on it.
The Bar Association is a state agency. Mr. Kilgore and the other bar employees are already state employees. Attorney discipline is controlled by the Supreme Court under the Disciplinary Rules. The Supreme Court claims, as its inherent authority, the right to set rules for the bar and to discipline attorneys.
Mr. Kilgore is doing a great job, however, he has limited authority. The Supreme Court needs to step up to the plate but appears to be, instead, sitting on its hands.
The Commissioners and officers are elected by the members.
The Supreme Court has delegated its powers to regulate lawyers to the bar as authorized by the legislature.
The so called employees are chosen by the membership and are in charge of its regulatory functions.
Just a little bit different than your characterizing it as a state agency.
I don't see Mr. Kilgore in all of these interviews demanding more powers either.
Actually, it is not my characterization of the Ms Bar as a state agency. It is the characterization of the Ms Supreme Court as follows: ""[t]he State Bar [has been] in reality an agency of the state created in the exercise of the police power of the state . . ." Goeldner v. Mississippi Bar 891 So.2d 130, 133 (Miss.,2004). The Supreme Court likewise disagrees with your characterization that its authority has been authorized by the legislature or delegated to anyone. In this regard the Supreme Court has said: "The Mississippi Supreme Court retains exclusive jurisdiction of matters pertaining to attorney discipline and reinstatement, and this Court is the ultimate judge of matters arising out of the Rules of Discipline for the Mississippi Bar." Mississippi Bar v. Thompson, 797 So.2d 197, 198 (Miss.2000). The Rules of Discipline as promulgated by the Supreme Court stated: "From and after the adoption of these rules, all other rules or statutes pertaining to attorney disciplinary proceedings shall stand superceded by these rules . . " Rule 1 currently states "The Supreme Court of Mississippi (the Court) has exclusive and inherent jurisdiction of matters pertaining to attorney discipline. . ." So, it is the Ms Supreme Court, not the Bar, Mr. Kilgore or the Bar's officers that sets the rules and delineates the authority of the various disciplinary entities (ie Complaint Counsel, Committee on Professional Responsibility, Complaint Tribunals) involved in attorney disciplinary matters. If Mr. Kilgore is given additional authority, as he has with his present duties, he will carry out those duties admirably. I won't belabor the fact that the Ms Bar employees are state employees, in the state retirmement system, so forth and so on. The Supreme Court has a mind of its own, and I don't think they would react to Mr. Kilgore "demanding" that they do anything.
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