Gore Lawyer Accused of Ethics Violations

[Nambe]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP)

The lawyer who represented Al Gore in his Supreme Court challenge of Florida results in the 2000 presidential election has been accused of ethics violations in another case.

A Florida Bar grievance committee found probable cause that David Boies violated rules of misconduct by giving money to a client and improperly supervising other lawyers. ---

The allegations stem from his involvement in a legal battle between the owners of two Palm Beach lawn-care companies. He is accused of providing unlimited legal and financial help to one of the owners because of an alleged personal relationship with her.

If found guilty, Boies could be barred from appearing in state courts in Florida, where he is not licensed to practice law but appears on a case-by- case basis.

"I think it's a shame he's been accused of something like this, and I'm upset about it," said Boies spokesman James Fox Miller, a former president of the Florida Bar. ---

[unblock]

1. interesting how they don't really say what he's accused of

giving money to a client? that's not a problem.
giving unlimited legal and financial help to a client? that's called 'altruism', and is so acceptable ethically that they actually require you do it sometimes. it's called 'pro bono' work.

having an 'alleged personal relationship' with a client? still no problem, family member represent each other, no problem.


i can certainly imagine an ethical problem with these facts, but they don't tell me what it is.

[mbee]

6. Guess what the problem is?

He's Al Gore's lawyer and didn't they say that? Lawyers of Democrats are guilty until proven guilty don't ya know!

[RaRa]

8. Uh, what's the problem?

My brother's a lawyer. So, what if I'm in a lawsuit and he helps me out? Yeah, terribly unethical, I know. But Jeb fixing an entire election for HIS brother is ok....

[are_we_united_yet]

9. How do Republicans know what Ethics are?

-perplexed-

[starroute]

24. Boies also represents SCO in its attacks on Linux

This is one of those convoluted intellectual property cases that I've been following at Slashdot. SCO is suing IBM for more than $3 billion for supposedly contributing proprietary Unix code to the open-source Linux operating systems (a claim for which they have yet to reveal any evidence) and is threatening Linux users with liability as well. The latest wrinkle is an attempt by SCO to get Linux users to pay them licensing fees (!) to avoid possible future legal action.

But what really surprised me in the news story on this was to see Boies name come up as SCO's attorney:

"The {licensing} program will be announced 'within the next month or so,' according to SCO spokesman Blake Stowell, but on Monday the company will announce what he calls a 'precursor' to this program in a press conference with SCO Chief Executive Officer Darl McBride and SCO's high-profile attorney David Boies, of the firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner. . . .

"Boies is widely known for his work in a string of high-profile cases including Al Gore's unsuccessful challenge of the 2000 federal election results in Florida, and the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust suit against Microsoft.. His appearance on Monday's teleconference is likely to inject a level of showmanship into the case, said Lawrence Rosen, a partner with Rosenlaw & Einschlag, and a general counsel for the Open Source Initiative, an open-source advocacy group.

" 'In every generation, there are attorneys who rise to a certain level of performance,' said Rosen. 'David Boies is that kind of an attorney,' he said. 'If I hired David Boies to do something, I would expect a courtroom performance and possibly a standing-in-front-of-a-microphone performance in which he earns his money,' he said.

'Another attorney who has been following the case agreed that Boies's comments would be likely to raise the profile of the already high-profile case. 'I suspect that this is an attempt to stir things up,' said Jeffrey Neuburger, a partner with Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner. 'David Boies is clearly somebody who attracts attention. He'll probably say some interesting or controversial things.' "

http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/07/18/HNscolicense_1.html

Just another celebrity lawyer it seems, ready to whore out to anyone who'll pay his fee.

[JackSwift]

2. Sounds suspicious to me

I'm bound by the California rules, so I don't know what the Florida rules are. I have some ancient familiarity with the ABA rules.


Unlimited legal help: no problem as far as I know under rules I am familiar with

Personal relationship: if it existed prior to the attorney/client relationship, no problem. California rules prohibit "romantic" entanglements arising after the attorney/client relationship. But you can decided to help your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend etc.

Financial help: A big no-no. A pre-exisiting relationship that involved monetary gifts/loans might cause an exception.

Not supervising staff: A no-no, particularly if they are not lawyers, but no one is ever charged with this if there is an intervening lawyer doing supervising.


Sounds to me like more Jeb Bushshit.

[Terazzo]

3. Jeb has very few allies in the Fla judicial system

so this is unlikely. Democrats control almost the whole legal shebang down there. Boies is known for playing at the fringes of the rules, so I don't know.

[ParanoidPat]

7. "Boies is known for playing at the fringes of the rules"?

Do you have any links to substantiate that claim? :shrug:
Inquiring minds want to know! :evilgrin:

[Terazzo]

11. Why do I need a link?

If you do, feel free to look for one. Me? I don't need one. Thanks:)

[timbo]

13. Nice shot

Attacking a man ("Boies is known for playing at the fringes of the rules") and denying a reasonable request for some further information.

I wonder why someone would do that.

[Terazzo]

14. Uh....

Perhaps you missed the lead story here. Boies was accused by a Florida Bar grievance committee.....This really isn't Terazzo's accusation. As for his playing at the fringes, I remember that being said about him during those hearings in 2000.
As far as the 'further information', I don't consider it my job to do someone else's homework for him. My suggestion is that if someone wants to do outside reading on a subject, then that person ought to initiate the search. Comprende?

[timbo]

16. thank you, and I apologise,

for I forgot that an accusation of misconduct is the functional equivalent of a judicial finding of guilt to some folks. I guess it is all a matter of what one wants to believe, or make others believe.


On edit: Just for fun I did poke around a bit. It does appear that Newsmax, that paragon of truth, justice, and journalistic propriety was behind an ethics complaint against Mr. Boies at one time. Golly and gosh, I really, truly, apologise now; if Newsmax and others who speak on behalf of the right wing think Mr. Boies is guilty of something, it must be so.

[tomp]

18. terrazo accused of parroting bush wmd line on other thread. nt

[timbo]

20. terrazo also remarked how beautiful

Katherine Harris was on General Discussion last evening. (Seriously, I think). His post was subsequently deleted.

While questions of taste are generally individual, one would think that there is some bottom-line standard some place.

[NashVegas]

19. Not Good Enough For Moi

"I don't consider it my job to do someone else's homework for him."

When you throw charges around, it's very much your job to back up that charge.

[TahitiNut]

22. Terrazzo

ter·raz·zo n.
A flooring material of marble or stone chips set in mortar and polished when dry.

So, just one 'r' short of arising to marblehead? Which one? Readin'? Ritin'? Rithmetic? Reason? :eyes: ('Republican' ain't a substitute.)

[Cheswick2.0]

23. it is your job to back up your own gossip

or be considered a gossip with an "aggenda", comprende?

Your opinion may be that he plays on the fringes....but all lawyers and democrats do that, right?

[TahitiNut]

21. Ahhh. The ol' "I know because I know" tautology.

A favorite of the ineducable. :puke:

[LiberalLibra]

4. Very interesting timing!! Why now??? Diversion maybe?? Or could.....

....it be that the thugs are doing a preemptive strike just in case Gore has any ideas of getting back in the race???

[papau]

12. that is the way I read it - keep Gore "dirty" and out of 04

pathetic

but the Bush family values require these games

[w4rma]

5. Looks like the press is going back to smearing Dems... (n/t)

[rocketdem]

10. Huh?

"...violated rules of misconduct..."

How does one violate rules of misconduct? Do rules of misconduct even exist? And if you break these rules are you then no longer involved in misconduct?

It would be nice if journalists in this country were even vaguely literate.

[leesa]

15. Ooohh, a shark story to play up.

Of course Republicans will be outraged, simply outraged.

[tlb]

17. None of us so far seem to be Fla attorneys

familar with Fla Bar rules of ethics and the manner in which they are applied. I would note as a general proposition you will find some Bar Ethics Counsels with a headhunter attitude. Bois is a semi-celebrity so if that would be the case here, his would be a nice scalp to hang next to F. Lee Bailey's. That may or not be the case here but it might be worth keeping as a backround thought till more information is available.

I rather doubt this is a preemptive strike at Al Gore though. Realisticly Bois didn't do that good a job for Gore. If anything the republicans would want him back on Al's team.