A New Jersey attorney who leveled an obscene invective at a Pennsylvania lawyer engaged in an animal-rights demonstration, and who twice afterward publicly defended his language, has been hit with an ethics grievance and a criminal complaint.
The altercation took place on Feb. 20 at the Philadelphia Gun Club in Bensalem, Pa., where member Richard Shackleton — who practices law in Ocean County — had just taken part in a live pigeon shoot. Outside the club, lawyer Marianne Bessey was participating in a protest by SHARK (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness), a Geneva, Ill,-based advocacy group.
