@@uptownsquirrel1846 Unfortunately, my experience with state bar comes from a “private admonition”, where the attorney failed to do any work on the matter he was retained to handle. Basically, the state bar kept the public unaware of an attorney who was taking money under false pretense.
You got that right! You have to remember that all the members of the bar are lawyers. All judges are lawyers. They will circle the wagons around one of their own in a heartbeat. We, the lay, nonlegal, public, don't stand a chance. They run the world, and there's nothing we can do about it.
The bar failed to protect its members: now they're all seen as crooks. If they really wanted to protect their members, then they should start with non-public sanctions, like they did and threaten public sanctions if they don't clean up their act immediately. And follow through.
Perhaps a class action lawsuit against the Bar Assoc. is needed. They need to be held accountable. Makes me wonder how many other attorneys have unheard complaints against them.
Other lawyers are doing the same thing. Impossible for him to be the only one with this number of passes. The checks and balances have broken down. We're effed.
An interesting sidelight to the L.A. Times series on Tom Girardi is that he hired distinguished former judges to handle overseeing settlement of funds from his courtroom victories. One retired California appeals court judge, John K. Trotter Jr, set set up a private judging firm that Girardi used. The acronym for this firm was JAMS, now more appropriate than ever. The 90 year old Trotter isn't talking to reporters now, nor are other judges at JAMS who facilitated Girardi's massive fraud. Some are dead. None of these judges seem to have complained when Girardi filed forged documents with California State judges handling the civil lawsuits, letters claiming these JAMS private judges approved distribution of lawsuit assets directly to Girardi. Girardi is the rotten apple but the California legal system is the rotten barrel.
The "Bar" is an arm of the Supreme Court of each State. It regulates the lawyers in that state. It sets the testing and requirements to become and remain a lawyer. The Bar Association is a professional association of lawyers to promote the position of law in that jurisdiction. Most Bar Associations are State wide with others being more local. The American Bar Association is a national organization supported by lawyers throughout the nation. Most Bar Associations have training courses for lawyers and internal groups that specialize in areas of law; trial, criminal, probate, family, international, etc. The California Bar should have disciplined him decades ago. The California Bar Association has no power or authority to discipline anyone.
@@albertstephen2426 No. And generally the Bar doesn't give a lot of weight to complaints from adverse lawyers. I would never have had any first-hand knowledge of him stealing client money.
My suggestion: Everyone at the bar who looked the other way should be personally liable (jointly and severally, as them lawyers like to say) for all the money that he stole from his clients and that can't be retrieved from him anymore. They refused to do their job, so now they can work for the people they let down until they're made whole again. But of course, that'll never happen. That would be justice.
@@mage1439 this whole comment section is filled with such unbelievable doomerism Like yeah I get it everything and everyone is completely crooked, nothing can be trusted and there is nothing that can be done about it unless we take down the whole system I mean i wouldn't be a ray of sunshine either if i lived in America but Jesus Christ you people are grim
2:49 Judge: Are you corrupt? Tom Girardi: Yes, yes I am. Judge: When clients describe you, do they use words like 'thief' and 'crook'? Tom Girardi: Don't forget multitudinous.
Lavish parties, private plant rides, etc since at least 1982? I can almost guarantee nose candy and other "gifts" were involved. And it wouldn't surprise me if visits to Eppstein's "resort" were part of it too. What better way to keep things quiet for 4 DECADES than a creep having a lawyer in his back pocket and bringing in more "clients" at every chance.
Let me guess he made donations to the bar association, now he can no longer make donations they take action. Said this before Steve read about wrong goings on with bar members, not the same but close
In March 2021 the Los Angeles Times reported that Girardi had been sued more than 100 times. Multiple complaints had been filed against him with the California State Bar. Nevertheless, his Bar license had remained pristine due to alleged improper relationships between Girardi and Bar officials, as well as Girardi not having malpractice insurance. ======= You would be correct.
Steve appears to be quite passionate about this, however I cannot blame a good lawyer being passionate about punishment of bad lawyers. He has every right to be passionate and, as he put it, emphatic about it
I made a complaint with the Chicago Bar Assoc. against a trust attorney. He did not provide the copy of a trust and the financial accounting of the trust in the required 90 day window. The Bar did not hold him liable because he eventually did provide the documents 170 days late but only after he was served with a DEMAND letter. Now I understand Shakespeare.
The proper place to contact and complain would have been a court. The Chicago Bar Association is a professional group. It has no authority over lawyers.
@@clbcl5 The bar, not the bar association. Yes, it is confusing. The bar is the governing body over attorneys. The bar association is a private club for lawyers.
@@clbcl5 It was complaints made to the BAR. That is a division of the State Supreme Courts that regulates the lawyers in that State. They set the BAR exam and write the ethics rules. The Bar Association is a professional group that works for the betterment and training of all lawyers. It is a voluntary association and has no authority over lawyers.
At its core, isn’t a state bar association just a self-policing organization of attorneys that really doesn’t answer to anyone but its own members? And doesn’t that, in and of itself, practically guarantee that they will serve their own interests, and not the public’s?
@@stevelehto I would venture to guess that if LAWYERS did not control pluralities in legislatures with a 100% lock on the judicial branch they would never be allowed to police themselves. Perhaps we should allow doctors & engineers to police their own ranks as well. The profession of attorney has a lock on the Judiciary branch, with the plurality of the legislative branch being attorneys and many times one if not both of the two executives also being an attorney. With both nefariousness and maliciousness removed from the equation the entire situation is still fraught with perilous outcomes. IF 40% of congress were bricklayers and all the judges were brick layers all policing themselves, HOW WELL DO YOU THINK BRICK LAYERS WOULD BE DOING? Is it any wonder the state of the world when those who produce tangible products demanded by the public must ask permission from those who make their living through the manipulation of language.
@@aaronmontgomery2055 unfortunately true. There and other places. I remember years ago a judge filed a complaint against a lawyer who flat lied to the judge in court. The bar praised the lawyer for his actions. I don’t remember what state that was in.
In 1997 then Governor Pete Wilson vetoed the BAR's fee bill in an effort to bring about reforms. The state Supreme Court allowed them to collect fees anyway but at a lower level than previously.
Could a case be made that someone should petition for the count of attorneys with more than 100 complaints? Or more than 10? "Hey... California bar, how many attorneys have more than 10 professional complaints that potential clients can't find out about"?
as it has been mentioned before , law enforcement is a "membership club" and they protect each other. This story was not something that was "unknown" in the CA judicial system. any body that tried to bring it to the public was "shut down" by that lawyer's "friends". And now that his mentally and physically health is deteriorating he is allowed to just walk away from any liability.
So if an Attorney sends his so-called Investigator to discuss 4 cases in a Zoom room (not the 3 Attorney client rooms at a Texas county jail), only sees his client "once" in 11 months (only in the Court Plea deal), that's an issue for that Attorney as well? Client chose to remain silent, as this County is facing a $1 billion Lawsuit involving a Judge, DA, Sheriff, Constable, 3 Deputies, TxDot (County conspired with State to create a speed trap, 7 missing speed signs), and Texas! Happy New Year Texas!
"Who watches the watchers?" Everyone on the bar probably needs to be replaced, with that many complaints there is almost 0 chance every one of them was at minimum complacent if not outright partaking in the corruption.
So, when does the BAR association get in to face consequences? I'm absolutely tired of hearing this crap and the people in charge allowed to stay where they are. BAR association should be heavily fined, and members jailed until the money lost is repaid.
If other lawyers in that association are smart, they will bring suit themselves. They will, at least, have standing on the case as the harm to their reputation can be shown to possibly have financial impact.
If an attorney steals from his client not only should he lose is law license he should go to prison. The Bar Association has a duty to protect the public from this kind of fraud and the failed. Perhaps there should be a class action against the California State Bar.
I personally know someone very close to me who was robbed by Gerardi. I helped this person make calls to the office and send them written request for case updates. I can tell you the frustration they felt when they were ghosted on after their son was supposed to be receiving a financial settlement (that itself took YEARS). Now she constantly gets letters about the bankruptcy proceedings. She speaks good English but it's not her first language, so through a language barrier on top of the legalese so, of course, she never really knows what they mean. They all look important and high priority. Then I have to explain to her, for ex., that the 30 page court filing she got is the most meaningless, mundane document--a list of proposed vendors/contractors for the bankruptcy trustee, their credentials, and work history. (My favorite was explaining the court filing proposing to reduce the amount of court fillings being sent to Gerardi's creditors.) And at the end of the day, is she going to ever get a penny? Probably not, and if so wayy into the future. To know that CA swept this man's bull under the rug is aggrivating. I can imagine his victims--and their communities who are trying to guide and support them through this are just mortified.
Question: Would that mean the State Bar is liable to some degree for allowing this to continue? Does beg the question like you said Steve, who and how many on the State Bar helped him.
As a subscriber of Leonard French for a few years, I'm not shocked by this at all. With how much shit Richard Liebowitz got away with it's becoming increasingly clear how impossible it is to actually get punished as a lawyer
Great example of how "self policing" doesn't work. Not for the police, lawyers, judges, politicians, anyone. It should be obvious due to conflict of interest. Unfortunately something obvious isn't apparent to the clueless. Such as the bar in this case.
What can I do about my attorney egregiously over-charging me part way through my case? I'm afraid to drop them with this much time and money invested already.
Due to the excessive delay by the bar I would be VERY interested in any acquaintances or relationships he had with anyone on the bar. Newspaper investigative reporters should look at this angle.
The Texas Bar has done the same thing here in Abilene with James Harper. He was allowed to retire from the 104th District Court after he was investigated for a trial that he was handling when he was an ADA for Taylor County. He withheld information that would have proven the accused was innocent. The man was found to be innocent after a Court of Appeals looked at his case and found that Harper had done what he did. The DA at the time was James Eidson. He is now the judge for the 42nd District Court in Taylor County. He was not investigated by the bar.
Upon a time I read that lawyers could get away with almost anything...but the one area where the bar would cut them off at the knees was misappropriating client funds. Seems that went out the window decades ago as well. Big question... "WHO CAN YOU TRUST...?" YP
Once is coincidence, twice is happenstance, 3 times is enemy action. Several hundred times? Must be "capitalism"... Also, the judge might say "Hey this will undermine public trust, let's NOT let out"... Kind of like a certain scotus judge said "Nah let's keep that innocent man in jail. Otherwise all those other innocent people in jails might raise a ruckus"...
We had one in Canada that basically sat on his hand our whole court case and we suspect he took a bribe, on what the best malpractice lawyer in the nation said was the worst case he's ever seen. hell i could've won the case! they faked the autopsy to cover it up and it was blatantly obvious. then the hospital threaten a lawsuit against my mother who was one of the claimants who spent her whole adult life raising money for kids for school and boys homes for slander if the case goes forward and shes a independent business woman. this whole thing started from Mike Harris from the 90's and his cuts to healthcare and his appointees. they also threatened the entire hospital staff with ruining their careers forever if they testified.
Lol I was confused by the title while I was scrolling. I was like, what do you mean a bar having complaints of a lawyer. I thought some lawyer kept acting up in a bar.
I made complaints to the state bar in Vermont and they ignored my complaint by saying I was just unhappy with the result of my case. Duh, everyone who complains is unhappy about the result of their case, which doesn't mean malfeasance has not occurred.
The state bar should have to pay the money the enabled him to get away with. Self governing " CLUB " where members only have created such immense power that they heave their own dictionaries , can bring criminal charges for un authorized practice , the only licensed profession to have such power. Hey , whats the worse that can happen?
To quote Lester Freamon from The Wire, “you follow drugs, you get addicts and dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don’t know where the f*** it’s gonna take you.” Corruption or ‘lobbying’ if you want to be polite is a serious business in politics.
In 30 years as a union rep i've been called to the central organization once on a complaint. And even if i won the argument, i still had to endure a vote of confidence. And that pile of garbage could rob his clients for 40 years and the bar did nothing.
Makes me wonder if the state bar has a scheme to make high profile lawyers have a great lawyer rating and in doing so are getting paid under the table.
They need to take the money from the corrupt state bar investigators. If this leaves them sta rving on the street...well actions meet reasonable consequences.
This is much larger than the California Bar colluding with this attorney to commit these financial crimes for 4 decades. Who did he collude with at the IRS to cover up these funds, income, and investments for the past 4 decades? We all have to submit forms to the IRS yearly over investments and income for both personal and business tax returns. So how did he evade the IRS for 4 decades if he did not collude with them too? This is criminal activity at its worst and a lot of people that colluded with him, will be going to jail for a long time when all is said and done.
I would actually be interested in hearing Steve’s thoughts on that attorney in South Carolina who did the same thing but his is even worse because he killed his wife, son & probably his maid/nanny.
What Steve described there near the end is what we used to call the Cockroach Theory. When you see a Cockroach, there’s never just one! I loved the Agricultural analogy that Girardi “Cultivated” members of the CA Bar committee. Who by inference were cultivated. Looking through the euphemism, a laymen might say he bribed Bar officials who in turn accepted bribes. Any chance this is looked at in this way? Or when sufficiently prominent people bribe / are bribed, does the Agricultural euphemism hold? So let’s see, Micael Avenatti, Alex Murdough, … Lawyers do steal … Don’t Bar Associations have a fund to reimburse clients defrauded by their members? Especially since they so poorly police their own members …
The Werefrog read that, and thought, why is the attorney at the bar so much and filing so many complaints with them? Why doesn't he just go drink somewhere else if he hates that one so much. Then, The Werefrog remembered what the bar is relative to attorneys.
How many other attorneys have hidden complaints is a valid question. Also, if he had 150 complaints by the time action was initiated, how many that called in were talked out of filing a formal complaint?
the state bar should be on hook for all the missing funds. They protected and condoned this action, and now have to pay for all the cases after the first 3 ... after that the lawyer should have struck out and be thrown out.
One of the problems I see is that no one did anything until another big shot attorney complained. No one listened to the "little people" and this guy has complaints going back 40 years. 40 years of screwing over the people who most needed the help. It's appalling.
Key phrase, “the bar has been caught “. The bar exists to protect its members, not the public.
Basically bar complicent
Same thing is true of other professional boards. From personal experience, medical boards protect bad physicians.
@@uptownsquirrel1846 Unfortunately, my experience with state bar comes from a “private admonition”, where the attorney failed to do any work on the matter he was retained to handle. Basically, the state bar kept the public unaware of an attorney who was taking money under false pretense.
You got that right! You have to remember that all the members of the bar are lawyers. All judges are lawyers. They will circle the wagons around one of their own in a heartbeat. We, the lay, nonlegal, public, don't stand a chance. They run the world, and there's nothing we can do about it.
The bar failed to protect its members: now they're all seen as crooks. If they really wanted to protect their members, then they should start with non-public sanctions, like they did and threaten public sanctions if they don't clean up their act immediately. And follow through.
Perhaps a class action lawsuit against the Bar Assoc. is needed. They need to be held accountable. Makes me wonder how many other attorneys have unheard complaints against them.
...nah... they're probably protected by some kind of legislation...
@@e.t.calledme - Maybe the LA Times will take a look at all their financial connections.
You think you can get a lawyer to sue their own bar association?
@@JHNielson4851 - that would be nice bit I doubt very highly it will happen. It’s like Communist Russia in CA
Bar associations shouldn't exist to start with.
Other lawyers are doing the same thing. Impossible for him to be the only one with this number of passes. The checks and balances have broken down. We're effed.
An interesting sidelight to the L.A. Times series on Tom Girardi is that he hired distinguished former judges to handle overseeing settlement of funds from his courtroom victories. One retired California appeals court judge, John K. Trotter Jr, set set up a private judging firm that Girardi used. The acronym for this firm was JAMS, now more appropriate than ever. The 90 year old Trotter isn't talking to reporters now, nor are other judges at JAMS who facilitated Girardi's massive fraud. Some are dead. None of these judges seem to have complained when Girardi filed forged documents with California State judges handling the civil lawsuits, letters claiming these JAMS private judges approved distribution of lawsuit assets directly to Girardi. Girardi is the rotten apple but the California legal system is the rotten barrel.
The Bar Association needs to be heald accountable, why wait until he's 83 and has dementia?!
The dementia caused him to miss his payments to the Bar
The dementia angle is a good way to cast doubt on any details Girardi might disclose about who he dealt with in the Bar to get all this covered up.
Well, if it can work for politicians...
So they can give him one final pass.
The "Bar" is an arm of the Supreme Court of each State. It regulates the lawyers in that state. It sets the testing and requirements to become and remain a lawyer.
The Bar Association is a professional association of lawyers to promote the position of law in that jurisdiction. Most Bar Associations are State wide with others being more local. The American Bar Association is a national organization supported by lawyers throughout the nation. Most Bar Associations have training courses for lawyers and internal groups that specialize in areas of law; trial, criminal, probate, family, international, etc.
The California Bar should have disciplined him decades ago. The California Bar Association has no power or authority to discipline anyone.
I knew Tom Girardi and had cases against his firm. It's amazing how long he was able to keep the corruption hidden.
The problem is that people that helped him are still there...
He couldn't escape all this years without help.
As a flellow lawyer did you ever file a complaint to the bar against him?
@@albertstephen2426 No. And generally the Bar doesn't give a lot of weight to complaints from adverse lawyers.
I would never have had any first-hand knowledge of him stealing client money.
Girardi probably had incriminating photos of the BAR officials.
@@ramjam720 He took them on cruises on his yacht, and paid for suites at the trial lawyers convention in Las Vegas.
My suggestion: Everyone at the bar who looked the other way should be personally liable (jointly and severally, as them lawyers like to say) for all the money that he stole from his clients and that can't be retrieved from him anymore. They refused to do their job, so now they can work for the people they let down until they're made whole again.
But of course, that'll never happen. That would be justice.
If I were 1 of his messed over clients..I'd sue the State Bar for their compliance and negligence of his actions! They knew!!
I see a class action against state bar.
@@dougjones9493 💯!
Good job you. Who are you going to get as your lawyer since they know the bar is dirty and might well ruin their career?
@@mage1439 this whole comment section is filled with such unbelievable doomerism
Like yeah I get it everything and everyone is completely crooked, nothing can be trusted and there is nothing that can be done about it unless we take down the whole system
I mean i wouldn't be a ray of sunshine either if i lived in America but Jesus Christ you people are grim
2:49
Judge: Are you corrupt?
Tom Girardi: Yes, yes I am.
Judge: When clients describe you, do they use words like 'thief' and 'crook'?
Tom Girardi: Don't forget multitudinous.
An associate of Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe.
Is this a spongebob reference?
@@nartnugget Yes, the platitudinous one.
@@Carahan most have no clue what your talking about. I'm 67 and this is one of my favorite episodes 👍!!!
@@josephc3276 Got to love The Three Stooges!
Ever hear of the Tax Accountants of Cook, Books, and Hyde?
Sounds like the Bar received some of his clients money too.
Lavish parties, private plant rides, etc since at least 1982? I can almost guarantee nose candy and other "gifts" were involved. And it wouldn't surprise me if visits to Eppstein's "resort" were part of it too. What better way to keep things quiet for 4 DECADES than a creep having a lawyer in his back pocket and bringing in more "clients" at every chance.
This is an excellent way to burn trust for all your bar admitted folks
I agree - just like with police, bad cops and or agencies make all police look bad and erode trust with all of them
Let me guess he made donations to the bar association, now he can no longer make donations they take action. Said this before Steve read about wrong goings on with bar members, not the same but close
He had juice going in every direction, including judges, all kinds of politicians, etc.
In March 2021 the Los Angeles Times reported that Girardi had been sued more than 100 times. Multiple complaints had been filed against him with the California State Bar. Nevertheless, his Bar license had remained pristine due to alleged improper relationships between Girardi and Bar officials, as well as Girardi not having malpractice insurance.
=======
You would be correct.
It all boils down to who you know...
Steve appears to be quite passionate about this, however I cannot blame a good lawyer being passionate about punishment of bad lawyers. He has every right to be passionate and, as he put it, emphatic about it
Your observation is spot on!!! I believe that it applies to good police officers also.. jm2c
I made a complaint with the Chicago Bar Assoc. against a trust attorney. He did not provide the copy of a trust and the financial accounting of the trust in the required 90 day window. The Bar did not hold him liable because he eventually did provide the documents 170 days late but only after he was served with a DEMAND letter. Now I understand Shakespeare.
The proper place to contact and complain would have been a court. The Chicago Bar Association is a professional group. It has no authority over lawyers.
@@alanmcentee3035 This video was about complaints made to the Bar Assoc. Why would it not be the correct place ?
@@clbcl5 The bar, not the bar association. Yes, it is confusing. The bar is the governing body over attorneys. The bar association is a private club for lawyers.
@@clbcl5 It was complaints made to the BAR. That is a division of the State Supreme Courts that regulates the lawyers in that State. They set the BAR exam and write the ethics rules.
The Bar Association is a professional group that works for the betterment and training of all lawyers. It is a voluntary association and has no authority over lawyers.
At its core, isn’t a state bar association just a self-policing organization of attorneys that really doesn’t answer to anyone but its own members? And doesn’t that, in and of itself, practically guarantee that they will serve their own interests, and not the public’s?
Most state bars answer to the supreme court of their state.
Aren't the Supreme Court justices members of the State Bar? So wouldn't that be a conflict of interest?
Bar associations and the bar are different entities.
@@stevelehto I would venture to guess that if LAWYERS did not control pluralities in legislatures with a 100% lock on the judicial branch they would never be allowed to police themselves.
Perhaps we should allow doctors & engineers to police their own ranks as well. The profession of attorney has a lock on the Judiciary branch, with the plurality of the legislative branch being attorneys and many times one if not both of the two executives also being an attorney. With both nefariousness and maliciousness removed from the equation the entire situation is still fraught with perilous outcomes.
IF 40% of congress were bricklayers and all the judges were brick layers all policing themselves, HOW WELL DO YOU THINK BRICK LAYERS WOULD BE DOING?
Is it any wonder the state of the world when those who produce tangible products demanded by the public must ask permission from those who make their living through the manipulation of language.
@@stevelehto who are also lawyers and liable for the same sins.not helpful at all. still self policing.
I think the state bar association should be on the hook for allowing Girardi to get away with theft.
They would be if it weren't a government organization.
He probably couldn't afford to bribe the bar association anymore
It sounds like CA needs to dissolve the bar there. They obviously failed to do their basic duty. Their trustworthiness is shot.
oddly normal it CA
@@aaronmontgomery2055 unfortunately true. There and other places. I remember years ago a judge filed a complaint against a lawyer who flat lied to the judge in court. The bar praised the lawyer for his actions. I don’t remember what state that was in.
In 1997 then Governor Pete Wilson vetoed the BAR's fee bill in an effort to bring about reforms. The state Supreme Court allowed them to collect fees anyway but at a lower level than previously.
Is 2016 the Supreme Court authorized the BAR to collect fees after the legislature declined to authorize the due to a dispute over needed reforms.
Could a case be made that someone should petition for the count of attorneys with more than 100 complaints? Or more than 10? "Hey... California bar, how many attorneys have more than 10 professional complaints that potential clients can't find out about"?
Trust the system, they said. Sad to hear, but hope some people hear and consider this.
This is like when someone wants you to represent him on his 150th DUI charge.
Ben caught by some mug, in front of SLEHTO plate, Steve's LHS
The BAR Assoc has,...umm, what's BEYOND Absolute Immunity?
as it has been mentioned before , law enforcement is a "membership club" and they protect each other. This story was not something that was "unknown" in the CA judicial system. any body that tried to bring it to the public was "shut down" by that lawyer's "friends". And now that his mentally and physically health is deteriorating he is allowed to just walk away from any liability.
So if an Attorney sends his so-called Investigator to discuss 4 cases in a Zoom room (not the 3 Attorney client rooms at a Texas county jail), only sees his client "once" in 11 months (only in the Court Plea deal), that's an issue for that Attorney as well? Client chose to remain silent, as this County is facing a $1 billion Lawsuit involving a Judge, DA, Sheriff, Constable, 3 Deputies, TxDot (County conspired with State to create a speed trap, 7 missing speed signs), and Texas! Happy New Year Texas!
....why so vague?....tell a fellow Texan...👍😎
After having investigated ourselves we have determined we have done nothing wrong.
Something, something, dark side...
"Who watches the watchers?"
Everyone on the bar probably needs to be replaced, with that many complaints there is almost 0 chance every one of them was at minimum complacent if not outright partaking in the corruption.
So, when does the BAR association get in to face consequences? I'm absolutely tired of hearing this crap and the people in charge allowed to stay where they are. BAR association should be heavily fined, and members jailed until the money lost is repaid.
Sounds like more than a few people need to go to prison, there are people doing time for stealing far less.
Oh, yeah. Steal $50 and they'll throw the book at you. Steal thousands and thousands over years and they'll shield you.
Finding honest Attorney like you Mr Lehto is very very hard thing that include the State Bar .
Whoever dismissed the complaints should be liable for recompense to the victims.
Can people have complaints against the Bar Association? The people who hold lawyers accountable should have to be accountable to someone.
If other lawyers in that association are smart, they will bring suit themselves.
They will, at least, have standing on the case as the harm to their reputation can be shown to possibly have financial impact.
The bar is currently being sued, due to failure to perform their duties appropriately. I'm betting it won't just be the one case either.
If an attorney steals from his client not only should he lose is law license he should go to prison. The Bar Association has a duty to protect the public from this kind of fraud and the failed. Perhaps there should be a class action against the California State Bar.
Total $14 million. "Grand theft" doesn't cover it. We need to invent a charge of "mega theft" or something.
@@davidh9638 Giga theft
Time to show the public how to make the questions of malfeasance of lawyer to get results for the public !...
Always a problem when professionals police themselves.
Anymore the word "State" when referencing an agency should be viewed as a "warning" and not an assurance of integrity.
I personally know someone very close to me who was robbed by Gerardi. I helped this person make calls to the office and send them written request for case updates. I can tell you the frustration they felt when they were ghosted on after their son was supposed to be receiving a financial settlement (that itself took YEARS). Now she constantly gets letters about the bankruptcy proceedings. She speaks good English but it's not her first language, so through a language barrier on top of the legalese so, of course, she never really knows what they mean. They all look important and high priority. Then I have to explain to her, for ex., that the 30 page court filing she got is the most meaningless, mundane document--a list of proposed vendors/contractors for the bankruptcy trustee, their credentials, and work history. (My favorite was explaining the court filing proposing to reduce the amount of court fillings being sent to Gerardi's creditors.) And at the end of the day, is she going to ever get a penny? Probably not, and if so wayy into the future. To know that CA swept this man's bull under the rug is aggrivating. I can imagine his victims--and their communities who are trying to guide and support them through this are just mortified.
Question: Would that mean the State Bar is liable to some degree for allowing this to continue?
Does beg the question like you said Steve, who and how many on the State Bar helped him.
Nobody will ever be held accountable. It's a big club, AND YOU'RE NOT IN IT!
As a subscriber of Leonard French for a few years, I'm not shocked by this at all. With how much shit Richard Liebowitz got away with it's becoming increasingly clear how impossible it is to actually get punished as a lawyer
the lawyer makes a 'campaign contribution' to the lawmaker and the fix is in.
the individual in the state bar needs to be held accountable. they must release the names
Great example of how "self policing" doesn't work. Not for the police, lawyers, judges, politicians, anyone. It should be obvious due to conflict of interest. Unfortunately something obvious isn't apparent to the clueless. Such as the bar in this case.
Fool mo once, Shame one you! Fool me 215 times, Shame on the Bar Association!
Attorneys need to be regulated by the Department of Consumer Affairs.
Bankruptcy court should go after the CA State Bar for a portion of the funds.
The legal system is a joke
Criminals come from all all walks in life, especially when it comes to the LAW!
What can I do about my attorney egregiously over-charging me part way through my case? I'm afraid to drop them with this much time and money invested already.
Due to the excessive delay by the bar I would be VERY interested in any acquaintances or relationships he had with anyone on the bar. Newspaper investigative reporters should look at this angle.
The California State Bar needs to be investigated and Someone
needs to be Disbarred.
The Texas Bar has done the same thing here in Abilene with James Harper. He was allowed to retire from the 104th District Court after he was investigated for a trial that he was handling when he was an ADA for Taylor County. He withheld information that would have proven the accused was innocent. The man was found to be innocent after a Court of Appeals looked at his case and found that Harper had done what he did. The DA at the time was James Eidson. He is now the judge for the 42nd District Court in Taylor County. He was not investigated by the bar.
Sounds like the CA Bar is on top of that good ole boy principal so prevalent in the justice system called, "professional courtesy."
Upon a time I read that lawyers could get away with almost anything...but the one area where the bar would cut them off at the knees was misappropriating client funds. Seems that went out the window decades ago as well. Big question... "WHO CAN YOU TRUST...?" YP
its standard operating procedure in ca our judicial system is irrevocably corrupt
The management of The Bar, need to be taken to court and made to pay the short fall in what Girardi "stole".
they were on top of "reappropriating" the misappropriated funds into the bar board's pockets
Once is coincidence, twice is happenstance, 3 times is enemy action. Several hundred times? Must be "capitalism"... Also, the judge might say "Hey this will undermine public trust, let's NOT let out"... Kind of like a certain scotus judge said "Nah let's keep that innocent man in jail. Otherwise all those other innocent people in jails might raise a ruckus"...
The law SHOULD say,
Bust the deal, FACE THE WHEEL.
"These are not the lawyers you're looking for. They can go about their business..."
I had never heard "multitudinous", only "a multitude of". It sounded feasible so I looked it up. You learn something new every day, thanks Steve!
We had one in Canada that basically sat on his hand our whole court case and we suspect he took a bribe, on what the best malpractice lawyer in the nation said was the worst case he's ever seen. hell i could've won the case! they faked the autopsy to cover it up and it was blatantly obvious. then the hospital threaten a lawsuit against my mother who was one of the claimants who spent her whole adult life raising money for kids for school and boys homes for slander if the case goes forward and shes a independent business woman. this whole thing started from Mike Harris from the 90's and his cuts to healthcare and his appointees. they also threatened the entire hospital staff with ruining their careers forever if they testified.
Reminds me of the old joke of God threatening to sue the Devil and the Devil saying, "And just were are you going to find a lawyer...."
The fox guarding the hen house. Sue the Bar.
Lawyers policing lawyers , police policing police , judges policing judges . And we wonder why the system doesn't catch the bad applies .🥵
One has to wonder what Mr. Girardi had on members of the bar, that they were too afraid to take public action against him.
Lol I was confused by the title while I was scrolling. I was like, what do you mean a bar having complaints of a lawyer. I thought some lawyer kept acting up in a bar.
I made complaints to the state bar in Vermont and they ignored my complaint by saying I was just unhappy with the result of my case. Duh, everyone who complains is unhappy about the result of their case, which doesn't mean malfeasance has not occurred.
How about if you steal half a million dollars but give your cronies on the bar a generous kick-back? That should account for something right?
The state bar should have to pay the money the enabled him to get away with. Self governing " CLUB " where members only have created such immense power that they heave their own dictionaries , can bring criminal charges for un authorized practice , the only licensed profession to have such power. Hey , whats the worse that can happen?
I read the title and immediately thought you were talking about Nick Rekieta.
To quote Lester Freamon from The Wire, “you follow drugs, you get addicts and dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don’t know where the f*** it’s gonna take you.”
Corruption or ‘lobbying’ if you want to be polite is a serious business in politics.
Objection hearsay.
In 30 years as a union rep i've been called to the central organization once on a complaint. And even if i won the argument, i still had to endure a vote of confidence.
And that pile of garbage could rob his clients for 40 years and the bar did nothing.
The rich and powerful protecting the rich and powerful
this can't be the only thing they let slide either.
Makes me wonder if the state bar has a scheme to make high profile lawyers have a great lawyer rating and in doing so are getting paid under the table.
They need to take the money from the corrupt state bar investigators. If this leaves them sta rving on the street...well actions meet reasonable consequences.
Lawyers investigating lawyers is like cops investigating cops.
The Cal. Bar should have to pay back all moneys!
This is much larger than the California Bar colluding with this attorney to commit these financial crimes for 4 decades. Who did he collude with at the IRS to cover up these funds, income, and investments for the past 4 decades? We all have to submit forms to the IRS yearly over investments and income for both personal and business tax returns. So how did he evade the IRS for 4 decades if he did not collude with them too? This is criminal activity at its worst and a lot of people that colluded with him, will be going to jail for a long time when all is said and done.
I would think that the California Bar would have some liability in this.
This reminds me of the inaction of the SEC, in regards to Bernie Madoff. Another bureaucracy, not wanting to do their job.
I would actually be interested in hearing Steve’s thoughts on that attorney in South Carolina who did the same thing but his is even worse because he killed his wife, son & probably his maid/nanny.
The state bar should be held as accomplish at this point. They literally swept this guys crimes under the rug.
One of the very few times I would consider civil asset forfeiture appropriate?!? Imagine all of the money California could Attain
What Steve described there near the end is what we used to call the Cockroach Theory. When you see a Cockroach, there’s never just one!
I loved the Agricultural analogy that Girardi “Cultivated” members of the CA Bar committee. Who by inference were cultivated. Looking through the euphemism, a laymen might say he bribed Bar officials who in turn accepted bribes. Any chance this is looked at in this way? Or when sufficiently prominent people bribe / are bribed, does the Agricultural euphemism hold?
So let’s see, Micael Avenatti, Alex Murdough, … Lawyers do steal …
Don’t Bar Associations have a fund to reimburse clients defrauded by their members? Especially since they so poorly police their own members …
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me 200 times, time for the torches and pitchforks.
Stuff like this is why many people dont trust lawyers and courts.
205 complaints --- 205 that got REPORTED
The Werefrog read that, and thought, why is the attorney at the bar so much and filing so many complaints with them? Why doesn't he just go drink somewhere else if he hates that one so much. Then, The Werefrog remembered what the bar is relative to attorneys.
How many other attorneys have hidden complaints is a valid question. Also, if he had 150 complaints by the time action was initiated, how many that called in were talked out of filing a formal complaint?
The ones in the bar need audited and find the curuption within and prosecute them all to the fullest!!!
Sounds like the state bar went to the same "See No Evil" school of dishonesty attended by all physicians
the state bar should be on hook for all the missing funds. They protected and condoned this action, and now have to pay for all the cases after the first 3 ... after that the lawyer should have struck out and be thrown out.
It's not hard to get into the California State Bar. Apparent it just costs money!
One of the problems I see is that no one did anything until another big shot attorney complained. No one listened to the "little people" and this guy has complaints going back 40 years. 40 years of screwing over the people who most needed the help. It's appalling.
I always thought that if you got caught dipping into the trust fund it was an automatic disbarrment. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
So and non of the bar is going to jail?? Where is the justice in this?