WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE LEGAL PROFESSION IN THIS COUNTRY?

Living in Cameron County, possibly the most corrupt county in all of Texas, there is very little about lawyers, judges and courts that shocks me anymore.  Over the past couple of years, a steady procession of the legal elite, including several lawyers, a district judge and a district attorney, has lined up for sentencing in Brownsville for racketeering and malfeasance.  And, from all appearances, there will be several more of their colleagues joining them behind bars very soon.

Among those sentenced were individuals who had compiled enviable records in leading law schools and had gained the public trust as legislators, county judges and the like. Nevertheless, when their behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing was revealed, it was clear that they  could have held their own with the most blatant practitioners of corruption on the southern side of the Rio Grande.  However, just when I was convinced that Cameron County was unique with its legal monkey business, Florida has shown us some judicial shenanigans.

MS. COREY WADDLES TO COURT

Incredibly, the whistle-blower IT director in the Florida state attorney's office charged with conducting the Zimmerman case who had revealed that State Attorney Angela Corey had withheld crucial evidence taken from Trayvon Martin's cell phone during discovery, was on Thursday terminated from his job by Ms. Corey. The malicious Ms. Corey also recently made spiteful calls to Harvard Law School in reacting to critical comments made by Professor Alan Derschowitz about her office's handling of the case. Rather than firing an ethical IT employee, it might make better sense to disbar Ms. Cory and remove her from any position of public trust.

From reading most accounts of the legal establishment these days, I am constantly wondering what law students are being taught.  Formerly, courses in legal ethics were required for law degrees.  For all intents and purposes, that no longer seems to be the case. Perhaps that is why I would be much more comfortable visiting a dentist's office as opposed to an office in which I might encounter a modern day practitioner of the law.