Florida State Bar enforces “political correctness”—the Mitchell and Mooney matters
Friday, January 7, 2011
In events many observers find unfathomable, the Florida State Bar disciplined two lawyers for trading e-mailed insults. What’s unfathomable to the observers is not, unfortunately, the Florida Bar’s disciplinary action but the attorneys’ conduct, whose frequency in general practice everyone underestimates. In this Installment, we’ll “fathom” both the Florida State Bar and its victims.
Comparing the severity of disciple imposed on each—10-day suspension for Kurt D. Mitchell but only a public reprimand for Nicholas F. Mooney—betrays its motive. What occurred between them is sometimes termed a “flame war”, an escalating exchange of insults, often attributed to the absence of the inhibitions direct contact would foster.
The only significant difference between the two attorneys’ conduct consists in the political incorrectness of Mitchell’s mockery of Mooney’s handicapped offspring:
While I am sorry to hear about your disabled child, that sort of thing is to be expected when a retard reproduces. Compare with Mooney’s strongest:
Then check your children if they are even yours. Better check the garbage man that comes by your trailer to make sure they don't look like him. .....
Wouldn't that qualify me to be a lawyer?
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