Loretta Lynch’s nomination as US Attorney General is nothing about minutia. Loretta’s nomination hinges on Ms. Lynch being a lawyer operating under a Code Of Professional Responsibility. It’s not rocket science. It’s like being a little bit pregnant. Either someone is pregnant or they are not.
Either Ms. Lynch has upheld conducted herself under New York state Code Of Professional Responsibility or not. Yes? Thumbs up. No? Thumbs down, next, when it comes to weighing the nomination of an individual sworn to enforce the Law, when Oaths are taken along the way, and sworn to. This same benchmark applies to lawyers who become Presidents, beggaring the question, is this individual compliant with Oaths sworn to along their way.
That said, with Congress, too often, filled with lawyers warming hearing benches, and Judges, to be reminded, if their law licenses are active, alot is at stake for them, too.
Law is about Ethics not rhetoric. Congress is increasingly moreso about rhetoric not ethics nor about thinking versus tweeting.
Let’s do Loretta, here. Let us approach her nomination on an even playing field, not upon what is written online, or isn’t.
Ms. Lynch is a New York lawyer. New York lawyers are guided by Rules of Ethics, as is Attorney Eric Holder, guided by Rules of Ethics, in his case DC law, having moved from being a DC Judge in to Top Dog seat at the Department of Justice.
Ms. Lynch, as a lawyer, is answerable to 74 pages of New York Lawyer’s Code of Professional Responsibility (Updated Through December 28, 2007) (http://www.nysba.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=26638)
Pages 1-4 adress the Canons:
CANON 1. A LAWYER SHOULD ASSIST IN MAINTAINING THE INTEGRITY AND COMPETENCE OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION…………….. 8
CANON 2. A LAWYER SHOULD ASSIST THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN FULFILLING ITS DUTY TO MAKE LEGAL COUNSEL AVAILABLE ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 16
CANON 3. A LAWYER SHOULD ASSIST IN PREVENTING THE UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW ………………………………………….. 39
CANON 4. A LAWYER SHOULD PRESERVE THE CONFIDENCES AND SECRETS OF A CLIENT……………………………………….. 41
CANON 5. A LAWYER SHOULD EXERCISE INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT ON BEHALF OF A CLIENT…………………………………………………………………………………………
CANON 6 A LAWYER SHOULD REPRESENT A CLIENT COMPETENTLY…………………………………………………………………………………..
CANON 7 A LAWYER SHOULD REPRESENT A CLIENT ZEALOUSLY WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE LAW…………………………….. 56
CANON 8. A LAWYER SHOULD ASSIST IN IMPROVING THE LEGAL SYSTEM …………………………………………………………………………. 68
CANON 9. A LAWYER SHOULD AVOID EVEN THE APPEARANCE OF PROFESSIONAL IMPROPRIETY……………………………. 70
THE PREAMBLE says “ The continued existence of a free and democratic society depends upon recognition of the concept that justice is based upon the rule of law grounded in respect for the dignity of the individual and the capacity of the individual through reason for enlightened self-government. Law so grounded makes justice possible, for only through such law does the dignity of the individual attain respect and protection. Without it, individual rights become subject to unrestrained power, respect for law is destroyed, and rational self-government is impossible.
Lawyers, as guardians of the law, play a vital role in the preservation of society. The fulfillment of this role requires an understanding by lawyers of their relationship with and function in our legal system. A consequent obligation of lawyers is to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct. In fulfilling professional responsibilities, a lawyer necessarily assumes various roles that require the performance of many difficult tasks. Not every situation which the lawyer may encounter can be foreseen, but fundamental ethical principles are always present for guidance. Within the framework of these principles, a lawyer must with courage and foresight be able and ready to shape the body of the law to the ever-changing relationships of society. The Code of Professional Responsibility points the way to the aspiring and provides standards by which
to judge the transgressor. Each lawyer’s own conscience must provide the touchstone against which to test the extent to which the lawyer’s actions should rise above minimum standards. But in the last analysis it is the desire for the respect and confidence of the members of the profession and of the society which the lawyer serves that should provide to a lawyer the incentive for the highest possible degree of ethical conduct. The possible loss of that respect and confidence is the ultimate sanction. So long as its practitioners are guided by these principles, the law will continue to be a noble profession. This is its greatness and its strength, which permit of no compromise.”
The PRELIMINARY STATEMENT states, “The Code of Professional Responsibility consists of three separate but interrelated parts: Canons, Ethical Considerations, and Disciplinary Rules. The Code is designed to be both an inspirational guide to the members of the profession and a basis for disciplinary action when the conduct of a lawyer falls below the required minimum standards stated in the Disciplinary Rules… A lawyer should ultimately be responsible for the conduct of the lawyer’s employees and associates in the course of the professional representation of the client.”
A case being circulated against Ms. Lynch’s nomination is being approached from one POV, point of view. There is another consideration of approach to be taken far more seriously, off focus of this man. The system. Not this man. The question. How did this man come to be even of issue? Who allowed him and people like him to happen. Recall what Bernie Madoff said, they knew.
There is a legal concept called Respondeat Superior, top dog liability. As top legal beagle in New York, as a lawyer, it was/is Ms. Lynch’s responsibility to protect Main Street, knowingly or unknowingly isn’t even debatable here. The line Main Street gets from law enforcement is Ignorance of the law isn’t an allowable excuse. Even to Ms. Lynch. And, to Legislators arguing Wall Street in the House and the Senate.
Five letters. FINRA. Three letters. SRO.
The application of those eight, 8, letters here is that Ms. Lynch’s office, along with other US Attorney offices across the country have allowed Financial Crime to continue, harming Main Street. Quick tutorial. Watch the television show AMERICAN GREED. Then, next, recall what Bernie Madoff said, THEY KNEW. They? The company he worked for. FINRA.
It wasn’t until Madoff’s crimes hit the desk of an attorney, somewhere, did these crimes, repeated throughout Wall Street on unsuspecting Main Street, hit the news. Bad US Attorney. Someone should have figured this din of thieving out a lot sooner.
FINRA is a self regulating organization, which means spit. As a self-regulating organization FINRA writes By-laws, Rules and Codes of Procedure FINRA purports to bind its members too. Members? Yes. As an IRS non-profit category BUSINESS LEAGUE, same category as Chambers and football leagues, FINRA members pay FINRA money to belong. FINRA members are Brokers and Brokerages, not Investment Advisors and, most clearly, not Investors. Somehow for decades, FINRA and its predecessor the NASD, hornswaggled Investors in to believing (a) complaints against the Financial Consultant had to be addressed in FINRA arbitration/mediation and (b) that once addressed within FINRA arbitration that (i) a confidentiality agreement had to be signed so the matter was not discussed (ii) to get payment of pennies on the dollar of the stolen funds back that the Investor had to sign an agreement to have the Investors theft matter, expunged.
Expunged? Deleted. Gone. Disappear. Vamoosed. Nada. Never took place. And that is how Bernie Madoff got away with his crime, in New York for as long has he did. This is the point Ms. Lynch is accountable for, being US Attorney from 1999 – 2001 and from 2010 to present date.
It is Ms. Lynch’s Respondeat Superior to have known Financial Crimes are being expunged by FINRA without even being reported to the police. FINRA is not law enforcement. FINRA is an SRO, a self regulated organization.
Ms. Lynch’s administration did/is not issuing Alerts to Investors to file Theft/money-identity reports with the Investors local police, as their Step One. Ms. Lynch’s, and other US Attorney Generals know that without reports of Crimes being made that there cannot be an effective, fact filled data base at FINCEN, in DC.
Ms. Lynch’s administration has not sued FINRA on behalf of New York Investors conned by the Bernie Madoffs, putting FINRA out of business as an Accessory to Crimes, covering crimes and even, one could say, masquerading as Law Enforcement.
In one matter, FINRA determined there was no wrongdoing when documents detail a decade of Identity Theft, Money Theft and Digital Trespassing, even Spoilation of Documents. Gets better, the name of an employee of JP Morgan is all over 800+ PDFs that FINRA determined would not be passed forward to law enforcement. THESE crimes take place daily, damaging to the bottom line fiscal health of Main Streeters. This is a question Ms. Lynch must answer to. “I didn’t know” is not the answer. In fact, that these behaviours continue to infect, is a disqualifier to Ms. Lynch’s nomination. But it gets better.
FINRA is not a forum for Investors within which to adress complaints against Investment Advisors. Yet, someone FINRA does mislead Investors in to believing FINRA is the forum to adjudicate this matter. Ms. Lynch should have caught this, and, most important, Ms. Lynch should have caught the fact that FINRA, aside from being a forum for Brokers and Brokerage disputes, should not be conducting Arbitrations, period. Arbitration disputes are to be compliant with the FAA, the Federal Arbitration Act. The FAA requires the host forum to be neutral. In that FINRA, is collecting dues from its members, and Investors are not FINRA members, this alone is something Ms. Lynch should have known, taking steps to shut down all FINRA locations in New York state, and, well, yup, put people taking part in this con in jail, from the ground floor to the penthouse suite. Like police officers tell drivers exceeding the speed limit hidden by a tree branch in front of the sign, “Ignorance is no excuse…, you should have known.”
Ms. Lynch, even Eric Holder should know.
You see if Ms. Lynch had been doing her job, officers on the beat would have been too busy to bother with Eric Garner. Ask ten cops…. Given the choice between the perp on the street or a financial white collar criminal like Bernie Madoff or the dozens upon dozens of Fiduciary Robbery stories filling the news and shows like American Greed, which the officer would rather pursue? The cops answer in a heartbeat. They would the Big Cons, so technically, in a way, by ignoring FINRA and the Criminals FINRA covers up for, one could say, as Respondeat Superior, Ms. Lynch had a hand in Eric Garner’s death.
There are the lawyers filling FINRA offices across America that Ms. Lynch should be looking in to, Lawyers representing Claimants and Lawyers representing Respondents and even Lawyers serving as Arbitrators and Mediators in FINRA DRS forums. As officers of the Court, they are required to uphold laws they are bound to in their state of Licensing or, the State the Lawyer argues a case before FINRA without being licensed in that State.
How these Lawyers get away with these crimes is simple. No one checks. No one in FINRA makes the Lawyer document to the State the FINRA matter is being argued, first by mail/email/fax with FINRA case managers in Boca Raton, Florida. No one in the State of Arbitration requires lawyers to affix their Bar Number to a paper, mitigating incidents of practicing law without licenses.
No one addresses that fact that forced Arbitration has become the shoe horn FINRA and its dues paying members use to wedge Investor complaints in to FINRA’s forum, something best looked at as being a Vegas environment- what goes on in FINRA, stays in FINRA- again, aiding to abetting Crimes not being reported to FINCEN and local Law Enforcement or US Attorneys across the United States of America, the jurisdiction Ms. Lynch will be overseeing if Ms. Lynch’s nomination goes through.
The US Constitution guarantees every man his day in Court. Somewhere along the way, a judge or group of them got together to create their Golden Parachute Post Retirement, called Arbitration. Arbitrations hide data. FINCEN needs data to understand Crimes hurting Main Street.
FINRA does not release names of its Arbitrators to the Public. FINRA does not report the Arbitration ruling records of its Arbitrators to the Public. FINRA does not release a data base of award sizes either. In a world where Google has everyone’s lives on line, somehow one wishes Edward Snowden or Anonymous would release this data hidden from the public, data that would be published publicly if that matter had been allowed to be adjudicated in the Halls of Justice.
Ms. Lynch’s redemption can be in promising to shut FINRA down, to offer Main Street investors their opportunity to have their matters undone to receive the Justice denied. Ms. Lynch’s redemption would be in holding accountable FINRA involved Parties to the same standard of Main Street.
Ms. Lynch’s redemption can be in apologizing. “I didn’t know” isn’t acceptable. Stating “I failed you” is, along with taking steps against lawyers who misled Investment clients in to FINRA forums the lawyers knew their Client should never had been in.
Oh, there is one more thing, Ms. Lynch might address, using the New York Committee overseeing lawyers as her homecourt example. A person bringing a complaint against a New York lawyer is not protected by a Whistle Blower kind of law. A person reporting a New York lawyer must be given Privacy, Invisibility while the Complaint is being addressed, reserving their option of being named publicly, if the Department determines merit to the Complaint. The New York Committee immediately sends the name and contact information of the Complainant to the lawyer, exposing the Complainant to blackmail, threats even extortion by the lawyer. Allegedly, no such protection exists in the oversight written by the New York State of Appeals. Ms. Lynch should have picked up on this along time earlier, knowing that exposing Whistle Blowers will give Complainants pause to say nothing. Nada. Never.
Ms. Lynch is bound to the same Code of Ethics as all other New York and American lawyers, as is Eric Holder bound by DC Ethics, as a lawyer, in issues such as Fast and Furious (http://www.dcbar.org/bar-resources/legal-ethics/amended-rules/index.cfm) . It is by these standard Ms. Lynch’s nomination should be judged. Not on minutia. Respondeat Superior.
Minutia can be distracting. Stick to the facts. Stick to the laws Professional licenses are issued under. The domino effect is tremendous upon lawyers in the field, getting the message Lawyers are not bound to their Codes of Ethics. Law students will get the message crime does pay. And Main Street will walk away stating, ‘we knew it all the time.’ Law is theater where the best performance wins.
The-Report-Card 