The case in question involved a contractual dispute between lawyer Tom Withers and the city of Aberdeen, Mississippi, over apparently unpaid legal fees (Withers was not representing himself and was not sanctioned by the court).
It gets even funnier. Only two lawyers committed the malpractice, but they were working “pro hac” which means they aren’t licensed in that court but have been granted temporary permission. This isn’t uncommon, but it usually requires a sign off from an attorney that IS barred in that court. That’s where the other two lawyers come in. You need local lawyers who can quickly show up to court.
In practice being that local lawyer is a pretty good gig, you’re basically being paid to sign off on stuff and otherwise have no work to do. The catch is though, you are signing off. Your signature means you vouch for those fillings, even though realistically you aren’t going to double check them because you assume your fellow pro hac attorney isn’t committing malpractice.
So they just got totally fucked by their colleagues. It’s incomprehensible because judges have clerks that check every assertion in a motion so there’s no fucking way this would ever slide. The judge explains how they are fucked in the sanctions order. Oops.
Incidentally, something like this happened in the Alex Jones Texas lawsuit. He tried to get two lawyers in on Pro Hac Vice, who then would be free to obstruct and misbehave knowing there wouldn’t be any real legal consequences, through local lawyer Brad Reeves. When PHV was denied precisely because of their reputation for misbehaviour, Reeves was forced to represent Jones himself and proved one of the least dishonest or obstructive attorneys out of the parade of attorneys on the defense in the short time he had before dropping Jones.
To make things even more confusing:
This case is comedy at its finest.
It gets even funnier. Only two lawyers committed the malpractice, but they were working “pro hac” which means they aren’t licensed in that court but have been granted temporary permission. This isn’t uncommon, but it usually requires a sign off from an attorney that IS barred in that court. That’s where the other two lawyers come in. You need local lawyers who can quickly show up to court.
In practice being that local lawyer is a pretty good gig, you’re basically being paid to sign off on stuff and otherwise have no work to do. The catch is though, you are signing off. Your signature means you vouch for those fillings, even though realistically you aren’t going to double check them because you assume your fellow pro hac attorney isn’t committing malpractice.
So they just got totally fucked by their colleagues. It’s incomprehensible because judges have clerks that check every assertion in a motion so there’s no fucking way this would ever slide. The judge explains how they are fucked in the sanctions order. Oops.
Incidentally, something like this happened in the Alex Jones Texas lawsuit. He tried to get two lawyers in on Pro Hac Vice, who then would be free to obstruct and misbehave knowing there wouldn’t be any real legal consequences, through local lawyer Brad Reeves. When PHV was denied precisely because of their reputation for misbehaviour, Reeves was forced to represent Jones himself and proved one of the least dishonest or obstructive attorneys out of the parade of attorneys on the defense in the short time he had before dropping Jones.
Gotta say, Withers does not have a fool for a client, yet still somehow ended up with a fool for a lawyer.