Recent Ethics Decisions

Do you know why you can’t appeal a state disbarment decision in federal appellate court? Mahendra Mehta does.

Mahendra Mehta filed a civil rights claim against the Illinois Supreme Court, the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, and a Review Board of the Commission, claiming that an order of the Illinois Supreme Court suspending his license to practice law violated his right to due process. The district court dismissed Mehta’s complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.

Because the suspension order was the final judgment of a state court rather than a federal court, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal.

When do sanctions transcend beyond warranted to the rarefied ranks of "richly deserved"? Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook offered a little insight on that topic this week based on an attorney's botched attempt to remove an action for sanctions in a lawsuit to a federal court.

Attorney David Novoselsky, purporting to represent plaintiff MB Financial as guardian of minor Cristina Zvunca's financial interests, sued six defendants in a state court. His suit alleged, among other things, that several of the defendants had abused Zvunca.

"Bad day" is a relative term. The day we got mugged in broad daylight only ranks as absurdly comical in our memory, but a day plagued with wet pant hems can easily rank among our worst days ever.

Here's one day we hope you never experience: the day that Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge (and living legend) Frank Easterbrook has a hand in your disbarment from federal practice.

Unfortunately, that day came for Milwaukee criminal defense attorney Bridget Boyle-Saxton last week.

As observers of the legal world, we implore you: Don't irritate the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, or you could be slapped with attorney sanctions and a scathing opinion that forever links your name with the term "bungling attorney" on the Internet.

Cathleen Sambrano filed a discrimination charge against her employer, the U.S. Navy, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Because Sambrano was employed by a federal agency, EEOC had authority to resolve the grievance rather than simply mediate. The EEOC found that Sambrano's claim was unsupported.