A court’s criticism of an attorney — absent some formal judicial action, such as an explicit reprimand — is “simply commentary” in the course of an action and not appealable, at least not in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, ruled a panel of that circuit recently.
“We have taken the position that a court’s order that criticizes an attorney and that is intended to be ‘a formal judicial action’ in a disciplinary proceeding is an appealable decision, but that other kinds of judicial criticisms of lawyers’ actions are not reviewable,” wrote Judge William Bryson for the panel.
