Maryland Lawyer Blog

Governor O'Malley has appointed Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Shirley Watts to Maryland's Court of Special Appeals, according to the Baltimore Sun. Judge Watts will fill the vacancy was created by the retirement of Judge Theodore Eschenburg.

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I question whether this response is authentic. But let's pretend that it is.

There is a victory party for soon-to-be Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Alison Asti. But don't just drop by expecting to crash it. The party is also a fundraiser, according to the Maryland Daily Record. Tickets are $150 per person. You can get a VIP sponsorship for $1,000.

Why the post election fundraiser? The fundraiser proceeds go to the election fund to pay back money it borrowed during the campaign from... Judge Asti herself. Incredibly, Asti lent her campaign $151,000. So every dollar raised tonight goes to Judge Asti herself. My thoughts:

• I hate judicial elections. But hate the game, not the players. I don't like the system and think it should be changed. But I have no problem with lawyers who want to run for judge. They are playing within the system that we have.
• If we are going to have a dumb system that turns judges into candidates, we have to let them behave like candidates. Which is why I have no problem with the Asti fundraiser. She has the right to raise money to recover the personal funds she loaned to her campaign. Asti is not making a profit here, she is just trying to get back her out-of-pocket expenses.
• Arthur M. Frank told the Maryland Daily Record that, "Every lawyer will tell you that they don’t get treated any differently whether they give the judge any money or not." Every lawyer will tell you that? Am I to believe that every lawyer who contributes to a campaign does so only because the lawyer believes in the judge? Really? Look, we contributed money to Jarashow after it became clear he was going down in flames (as a pro-good sitting judge statement, not an anti-Asti statement which I said from the beginning). So I know people can contribute money for reasons other than to influence a judge. But to pretend that most people at this fundraiser are not trying to do exactly that is incredibly naive.

If a school principal pastes the faces of kids in his school on photographs of adult nude bodies, is that child pornography? I vote yes, a Florida appeals court votes no although we both concur it is unbelievably creepy.

The Court of Appeals of Maryland is mullling over a new proposed MCLE Rule requiring 10 hours of continuing legal education per year for every lawyer practicing law in Maryland. This could be taking effect as early as next year. Personally, I would have liked a little more notice because I have, you know, plans. I would like to think my teaching will get me there but I guess I will have to read the fine print of what counts and what does not.

The safe path is to get up on a soapbox and complain about how Maryland lawyers need more education. I just don't buy it. People who want more eduation get it constantly. Lawyers who don't want it are not going to gain much knowledge at gunpoint.

It is hard to legislate ethics or dilligence. You either have it or you don't.