The public and the legal profession need assurances that lawyers will adhere to the professional standards they swear to uphold. Confidence will continue to erode if the profession's designated watchdogs see no reason to justify disciplinary decisions that leave serious questions unanswered. The solution is simple. Its benefits would more than compensate for the additional effort required.
A recent complaint I filed with the Appellate Division, First Department Disciplinary Committee concerned Manhattan lawyers' involvement with litigation filed in a sister state on behalf of their New York client. After much briefing and a trial the sister state court issued a detailed judgment finding the lawsuit to be without evidential and legal support, frivolous and malicious. The court ruled that client's attorneys knew or should have known that the suit lacked both legal and evidentiary support and ordered client to pay reasonable attorneys fees to the defending parties, of which I was one.
