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Letters to the Editor

Membership should have a voice in Stephen Glass admission

I'm all for the California Supreme Court deciding this. But let's also have a general referendum by the membership. I'm sure I am not the only California lawyer that would love to cast a vote on whether or not to admit Mr. Glass. The referendum can be in the form of an up or down recommendation to the Supreme Court from the majority of members.

Greg S. Weber
Oakland

Glass case exposes double standard

I find the State Bar's concerns about Stephen Glass and his misrepresentations of fact in some prior pre-law-practice publications on the question of his fitness to practice law to be a bit hypocritical. I deal daily with deputy DAs who lie through their teeth and who put police witnesses on the stand and elicit what all know to be perjurous testimony to achieve what they believe to be a mission-driven end, and nothing happens to them. So, does one have to have higher "moral character" to become an attorney than to remain one? Or is the difference between being a government attorney, who can say and do anything to achieve a result, and being a "regular" attorney, who has to have truly unimpeachable veracity to satisfy professional standards? Maybe if Mr. Glass announces up-front that he is interested only in being a prosecutor if he gets admitted to the bar, the system will drop its concerns. The double standard in this "profession" is outrageous – but palpable.

Michael J. Kennedy
Indio

Concerns raised about immigrant’s admission

Query: If an illegal immigrant is here illegally, it would seem that he/she is breaking the law, i.e. committing a crime or at least engaging in an act of moral turpitude. Such an act is subject to disbarment or at least a significant suspension. Thus, it would appear that admitting such persons to the practice of law is a meaningless action inasmuch as that person could be immediately cited and disbarred by an unbiased court. Only in California could this kind of conundrum even be considered.

G. Donald Weber, Jr.
Villa Park

 

California Bar Journal letters must include full name with a daytime telephone number
and complete address. Send letters to cbj@calbar.ca.gov.