Bar Buffoonery Digest: Pennsylvania

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has exclu­sive juris­dic­tion over the admis­sion and dis­ci­pline of all attor­neys prac­tic­ing in the state.

The Pennsylvania Board of Bar Examiners admin­is­ters the admis­sion process. The fil­ing fee is $50.  For Esquires inter­ested in acquir­ing an “engrossed, wall-sized cer­tifi­cate” the cost is $50.

According to the American Bar Association’s 2007 Survey On Lawyer Discipline Systems (SOLD) there are 60,619 lawyers with active licenses to prac­tice law in Pennsylvania which equates to 4.9 lawyers per 1,000 humans in the state.

Attorney Oath of Office

Lawyers admit­ted to prac­tice in the state, except those admit­ted for the pur­pose of han­dling a sin­gle mat­ter (Pro Hac Vice), are required to take the fol­low­ing Oath:

Oath of office — 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 2522

Before enter­ing upon the duties of his office, each attor­ney
at law shall take and sub­scribe the fol­low­ing oath or
affir­ma­tion before a per­son autho­rized to admin­is­ter oaths:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will sup­port,
obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the
Constitution of this Commonwealth and that I will dis­charge
the duties of my office with fidelity, as well to the court
as to the client, that I will use no false­hood, nor delay the
cause of any per­son for lucre or malice.”

Any per­son refus­ing to take the oath or affir­ma­tion shall
for­feit his office.

Attorney Discipline

Regulation of Pennsylvania Lawyers is “con­ducted” by the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.  The board is com­posed of 16 “vol­un­teers” “appointed” by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Not sur­pris­ingly, the Board’s mem­bers con­sist of 14 attor­neys and 2 token non-attorneys.  We sus­pect these vol­un­teer posi­tions are extremely lucra­tive for the appointees and prob­a­bly for the appoint­ers as well.

The board pub­lishes lawyer dis­ci­pline sta­tis­tics online.  Amusingly, they include rein­state­ments and denials thereof in their dis­ci­pline sta­tis­tic totals.  And, of course, omit the num­ber of com­plaints received in order to obfus­cate their “inabil­ity” to deter, lawyer mis­con­duct and pro­tect their valu­able fran­chise from pub­lic scrutiny.  Incredibly, they released these sta­tis­tics to the American Bar Association (the “ABA”) who in turn pub­lished them in their 2007 SOLD.

According to the ABA report, 4,733 com­plaints were filed against Pennsylvania attor­neys dur­ing the year.  Of these com­plaints 190 (4%) actu­ally resulted in sanc­tions being imposed upon offend­ing attor­neys.  The break­down of sanc­tions accord­ing to the ABA report was as fol­lows: 99 pri­vately sanc­tioned, 3 cen­sured, 48 sus­pended (plus 16 inter­imly sus­pended), and only 25 dis­barred (13 upon con­sent of the lawyer).  To add insult to injury, Pennsylvania read­mit­ted 4 attor­neys they’d pre­vi­ously disbarred.

Our analy­sis: Pennsylvania bar over­seers lib­er­ally inter­pret rel­e­vant statutes and the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct in favor of those admit­ted to their bar.  The attorney’s Oath of office is a statu­tory relic, its con­tin­ued use solely as pomp to engen­der pub­lic trust in the legal pro­fes­sion and their judi­cial over­seers.  Complainants have a bet­ter chance of sur­viv­ing a Russian Roulette tour­na­ment start­ing with 5 bul­lets packed in the cylin­der than they do of obtain­ing jus­tice for attor­ney mis­con­duct in Pennsylvania.  Obviously, the state’s motto: “Virtue, Liberty and Independence” applies only to mem­bers of their bar. In summary, Esquires with aspi­ra­tions of admis­sion into the Evil Esquire Involuntary Bar Association must engage in extra­or­di­nar­ily wicked behav­ior in order for the Disciplinary Board to nom­i­nate them.

Notorious Pennsylvania Registered Lawyers

Miles Frederick Ehrlich (PA: 73912, Inactive– 3/30/09), Ramsey Ehrlich “Advisors to Justice Evaders,” Berkeley, California.

Judge Michael T. Joyce (PA: 25573, Active– 3/30/09), await­ing instruc­tions as to which pri­sion to report to.

Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. (PA: 21341, Inactive– 3/30/09), await­ing sen­tenc­ing.

Michael T. Conahan (PA: 25900, Inactive– 3/30/09), await­ing sen­tenc­ing.

Watering Holes

Pennsylvania Bar Association
Structure: Voluntary
Address:  100 South Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101
Telephone:  +1 800.932.0311
Web Page: Pennsylvania Bar Association (Voluntary)

According to the mis­sion state­ment of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the objec­tive of the bar is to: “advance the sci­ence of jurisprudence; promote the admin­is­tra­tion of justice; see that no one, on account of poverty, is denied his or her legal rights; secure proper legislation; encourage a thor­ough legal education; uphold the honor and dig­nity of the bar; cul­ti­vate cor­dial inter­course among the lawyers of Pennsylvania; and to per­pet­u­ate the his­tory of the pro­fes­sion and the mem­ory of its members.”

Apparently, in addi­tion to run­ning a bar, the Pennsylvania Bar Association also oper­ates as a sex club for lawyers.  Curiously, they don’t elu­ci­date as to whether the fidelity clause in the attorney’s oath applies to lawyers cor­dially inter­cours­ing in their club.

Delaware County Bar Association
Structure: Voluntary
Address: 335 West Front Street, Media, PA 19063
Telephone: +1 610.566.6625
Facsimile: +1 610.566.7952
Email: info@delco.pa.barristersclub.com
Web Page: Delaware County Bar Association

Philadelphia Bar Association
Founded: 1802
Structure: Voluntary
Members: 13,000
Address: 1101 Market Street, 11th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Telephone: +1 215.238.6300
Facsimile: +1 215.238.1159
Web Page: Philadelphia Bar Association

The Philadelphia Bar Association is America’s first char­tered met­ro­pol­i­tan bar asso­ci­a­tion and Pennsylvania’s largest local bar association.

Allegheny County Bar Association
Founded: 1870
Structure: Voluntary
Members: 6,600
Address: 400 Koppers Building, 436 Seventh Ave. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219
Telephone: +1 412.261.6161
Facsimile: +1 412.261.3622
Email: Staff@acba.org
Web Page: Allegheny County Bar Association

Resources for Masochists

Disciplinary Board: The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Rules of “Professional” Conduct: Rules

Complaint Form: Forms

Attorney Directory: Directory

Discipline Statistics: Statistics

Cornell Law:  Pennsylvania Legal Ethics Materials

Bar Buffoonery Digest: Pennsylvania, 5.0 out of 5 based on 4 rat­ings