Court Opinion

ID: 9587899
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:27:41.966752+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:51.500439
License: Public Domain

MOSK, J.
I dissent.
This was a strange contract that petitioner had with the County of Madera, and it was probably inevitable that there would be strange results. Basically, however, it was understood that petitioner would use his best professional judgment in determining how indigent defendants were to be represented. He exercised his best professional judgment. Although he may have erred on occasion, to now read moral turpitude into petitioner’s conduct is to employ holier-than-thou hindsight.
Every case involved in these proceedings was heard in open court. If a potential conflict of interest emerged, or was even suspected, a trial court was perfectly competent to deal with it appropriately. The instance in which a trial court became actively involved was the Hammond matter concerning appointment of an out-of-county attorney. I find it incomprehensible that petitioner should be censured for urging the selection of independent local counsel, rather than an attorney from elsewhere. Even if he was yielding to xenophobia, petitioner’s views were expressed in open court and were subject to the trial judge’s approval or rejection.
The lengthy majority opinion calling for censure of this petitioner, whose record of three decades at the bar and in public life has been impeccable, is a monumental waste of State Bar and judicial resources. I would dismiss the proceeding.