In the realm of regulation and protecting the public interest, how could anything be worse than regulatory capture, right?
Excuse the crass word, but what if there was regulatory incest? Extend the proverbial fox hen house to having foxes protecting the hen house and judging claims of harm by hens against foxes. What I am suggesting isn’t an otherwise neutral third party that starts taking bribes, as if a cow favored foxes for some side benefit.
In my actual profession, the fortuitously named Gamestop mess is a big deal. If you’ve been following the story at all, you’ve also heard about the antithetical brokerage firm named Robinhood that many small investors are very upset with. Many are considering legal action against Robinhood and Citadel, a claimed co-conspirator.
The House Financial Services Committee hearing was nothing more than cover for those fox regulators covering for their ilk.
When an investor has a claim against a brokerage firm, what happens? When you open a brokerage account, in the small print, you agree to arbitration overseen by FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA used to be called the National Association of Securities Dealers, or NASD.
For reference here’s an excerpt from a web archive of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Yes, that Madoff (also fortuitously named).
Bernard L. Madoff has been a major figure in the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), the major self-regulatory organization for US broker/dealer firms. The firm was one of the five broker/dealers most closely involved in developing the NASDAQ Stock Market. He has been chairman of the board of directors of the NASDAQ Stock Market as well as a member of the board of governors of the NASD and a member of numerous NASD committees.
Madoff Securities managing director, Peter Madoff (Bernie’s brother), served in numerous NASD positions including vice chairman. Both helped draft major rule revisions (or elimination) that then facilitated their exact crimes. Oh, and Ken Griffen's Citadel wasn’t the OG order flow buyer.
Interesting Aaron. But how’s all this relate to the subject of THIS blog, Indiana’s legal system?
Right. Sorry.
When someone is upset by the actions of an attorney, they can file a complaint with the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission (DC). https://www.in.gov/courts/discipline/complaint/
Here’s the numbers for the most recent reported filings:
Importantly, the DC website has this disclaimer (a/o 2/18/21)
Only those who already know how this works are going to keep reading just to see what I dig up, so for everyone else here's the tl;dr to get on with your day.
Alright for the few "interested" parties...
I briefly addressed previously the current indentured servitude of new legal graduates. Without accepting this fact, one should not believe, that in a profession founded on moral clarity and ensuring justice, a surprising number of lawyers regularly act unethically, or know those who do and choose to look away instead of speaking up. Until law school tuition and public defender compensation are aligned, the symptoms described below (and in other posts) will continue, sometimes with a player replacement when someone is no longer able to continue.
Note Bookwalter is represented by James Bell, whose practice is mostly in front of the DC. We'll come back to him in a different post, and his getting interrupted at a Saturday Braves game watching an almost no-hitter, while serving as Indy Bar President.
Here's Indy Bar's overview of the Grievance Committee from the listing of committees, with a time commitment of 1-2 hours per month.
In at least one situation, the Indy Bar's "investigative assistance" produced an "extensive report" that raised additional inquiries and contradictory evidence. That doesn't sound to me like some small time volunteer role.
I would be very interested to know if the attorney subject in this matter has their office in Indianapolis, and does or does not pay dues to, or have relationships within the Indianapolis Bar Association. What exactly is the reasoning behind not using the Indiana State Bar Association, with members around the state, to help with this? It seems like the state bar would be more objective, which means it would be harder to manipulate. It would be interesting to have disclosure of DC complaints to compare those investigated by the Indy Bar with those that were not, or attorneys active in the Indy Bar versus those from other Indiana towns.
Judges Fight at White Castle
So when judges in Indy for a judicial conference in May 2019, got involved in a drunken 3 am brawl outside White Castle ending with gunfire, we shouldn't be surprised that they were temporarily disbarred with automatic reinstatement. Soon after release from hospital, they were back on the bench, judging those caught with an ounce of marijuana.
We also shouldn't be surprised that a portion of the security camera video has been released, but not the full video that would allow the public to better determine fault. Also note the sixth person unaccounted for in the video. Some reports note that Clark County Magistrate William Dawkins was with the group (many leave that fact out), but was inside White Castle and not involved. It is certainly hard to believe that he would not be aware of the yelling and fighting.
For the two men who only appear to be interested in entering the White Castle, Vazquez pled guilty and was sentenced to 180 day home detention. Kaiser is still waiting for trial, having spent at least some time in jail during the pandemic.
Other Notable DC Outcomes
And we shouldn't be surprised of stories of attorneys that spoke truth to power that were permanently disbarred and had to find other careers in other states. There's plenty of those. I think Paul Ogden is one from what I can tell. Not surprising with blog posts like this. We, the general public, don't hear about that. Attorneys are kept in line as good soldiers for fear of getting locked out of their profession and being unable to pay off exorbitant student loans, or after that to finally save for retirement. Because what other skill set does an attorney have that would allow them to earn $100,000 plus, especially with disbarment on their record?
And we shouldn't be surprised by overly favorable results if you are well connected and did your good soldier duty, like Larry Mackey, having prosecuted Oklahoma City bombers, or provided cover for regulatory failures regarding Robert Beasley (barred by the CFTC), who defrauded money from investors with apparently unwitting Keenan Hauke. It's just fine that you are now married to the ex Mrs. Hauke and appeared to have an affair while still representing Mr. Hauke, and that you advised him to take a plea for jail time. And it is also fine that you might have threatened to not financially help his children if he pursued a lawsuit against you or filed a disciplinary complaint.
If you are the attorney for the elite Park Tudor schools, who was informed of and received proof of material child harassment and may have even suggested to the parents of the girl that you would handle it, but then didn't immediately alert authorities, you also get a pass because it's Park Tudor where most Indy elites send their kids after all.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The undeniably biased attorney disciplinary system in Indiana has unsurprisingly created conditions for ever more shocking violations and clearly unethical behavior so long as the person has served as a dutiful soldier. It almost appears at times that our legal system prefers to promote those who are compromised, with the belief that they can be better kept in line. But then it leaks out, and the entire system is called into question as it was when three people in positions that permanently alter generations of families for good or ill, got drunk hours before a work conference, found a closed strip club, and appear to have instigated a fight where someone could have died.
If this doesn't get fixed quickly, something so egregious is going to happen that it will completely destroy any remaining public trust in all judges and courts. And then what? Well surprisingly, Indiana's Code of Professional Conduct tells us.
To the extent that lawyers meet the obligations of their professional calling, the occasion for government regulation is obviated. Self-regulation also helps maintain the legal profession's independence from government domination. An independent legal profession is an important force in preserving government under law, for abuse of legal authority is more readily challenged by a profession whose members are not dependent on government for the right to practice.
PC rules go on to suggest that lawyers play a vital role in the preservation of society. It is their self-regulation and integrity of the courts that serves as a check on the powerful and maintains the separate but equal of the three branches of government. But when they don't... our very society is at risk. Because we expect traditional politicians to act like, well, politicians. Corrupted by nature. But when the majority of the general public believes the courts are also corrupt, serving the elites by oppressing everyone else, that's when societies fall apart.
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