La Socialista Is On It

BUDDING LAWYER ACCESS SCANDAL GETS FIRST MAINSTREAM MEDIA ”TREATMENT”

FITSNews – March 5, 2008 – Questions concerning the fundamental openness and fairness of a pending American Bar Association review panel received their first mainstream media exposure in this morning’s La Socialista, as the paper reported that S.C. Representatives Kris Crawford and Ted Pitts will be permitted to speak with the panel, which had previously been comprised of individuals hand-selected by Chief Justice Jean Toal.

Krawford, Pitts and fellow Rep. Mick Mulvaney have jointly sponsored a bill that would strip the Court of its responsibility for regulating the legal profession in South Carolina and place those powers under an agency in the Governor’s Cabinet.

The Court has been dogged in recent months over its Inquisition-style disciplinary procedures as well as its controversial decision to throw out an entire section of the state bar exam. That decision artificially inflated the passing percentage of students at the Charleston School of Law, thus making the school eligible for full accreditation by the ABA and dramatically enhancing its value.

La Socialista’s story comes a day after we reported that the current ABA review of the Court’s disciplinary system would be kept private, and that Toal was once again limiting access to the ABA review team.

We’re glad Toal is finally allowing individuals with different perspectives on the Court’s current operations than her own to speak to this panel. Unfortunately, it’s obvious that she had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do it. In fact, Toal told La Socialista she didn’t see the utility of the lawmakers’ involvement because the committee wasn’t set up to hear recommended legislative changes to the attorney discipline system:

“If they want to see me, if they want to conduct hearings, that is the way to approach it,” Toal told La Socialista.

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