Last week, Connecticut Chief Disciplinary Counsel Karyl Carrasquilla faced her highest-profile case. Kathleen Nastri, one of the state’s top trial lawyers, faced a challenge to her reputation. Opposing counsel—one representing Nastri and the other representing parents of a disabled boy who have accused her firm of overcharging them $4.3 million—faced off using language that both would later apologize for.

And the man who filed the complaint that led to the Statewide Grievance Committee hearing, stormed out, muttering: “This court is corrupted.”