LAWYERS: BOARD'S GILBERT STANCE 'HOGWASH'

They Dispute The Board Of Governors Had A Responsibility To Take A Position
On The Matter

TRAVERSE CITY - A statement from the local bar association calling for
District Judge Thomas Gilbert's resignation has caused a rift among
attorneys.

In a Dec. 5 letter to the Grand Traverse Leelanau Antrim Bar Association's
Board of Governors, 13 lawyers condemned the board's position and asked for
an apology to Gilbert and the community.

Gilbert took a nearly six-week leave and attended a 28-day alcohol abuse
rehabilitation program after he admitted to taking two puffs from a
marijuana cigarette at a Rolling Stones concert in October. Gilbert blamed
his drug use on excessive drinking.

"We are confident Judge Gilbert will decide whether he can dispense justice
effectively," the letter from the 13 lawyers says. "If he determines that he
cannot, he will resign. If Judge Gilbert remains on the bench and chooses to
run for re-election, the community will determine whether he should continue
to serve."

The letter was signed by attorneys Paul Bare, Patrick Fragel, Merritt Green,
Kelly Hagan, Julie Harrison, Stuart Hollander, James Olson, Grant Parsons,
Joseph Quandt, Dean Robb, Dennis Taylor, Wallace Tuttle and Michael Dettmer,
former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan.

Hollander said the letter was meant for members of the bar association and
was not meant to be released to the public. The Record-Eagle obtained a copy
of the letter anonymously.

Hollander said the 13 who signed the letter believed that the two Board of
Governors members who released the statement calling for Gilbert to resign
misrepresented their position to the media.

"I felt that it created the impression that it spoke for all area lawyers,"
Hollander said. "Not every lawyer in the area is a member of the bar
association, and so, by definition, they can't speak for every lawyer in the
area."

Dettmer agreed. "I'm considering resigning" from the bar association,
Dettmer said. "This is not an organization that I want to belong to."

The letter was a reaction to the bar's governing board's decision, in an 8-1
vote, to release a statement that called for Gilbert to resign because his
poor judgment violated the Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct.

The letter from the 13 lawyers disputes that the Board of Governors had a
responsibility to take a position on the Gilbert matter.

"Hogwash! There is nothing in the Association bylaws that requires you to
take a position on disciplinary matters, whether they involve a lawyer or a
judge," the letter says. "The Board was grandstanding and we don't like it."

The 13 lawyers argued that the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission and the
electorate should be left to determine Gilbert's fate.

"No member of the Judicial Tenure Commission is a possible candidate for
Judge Gilbert's seat," the letter says. "No member of the Judicial Tenure
Commission will grandstand for the local media."

Mike Stepka, bar association president, defended the board's statement, and
said the 13 lawyers have taken a simple issue and made it complicated.

He said the statement was composed after news of Gilbert's marijuana use
prompted numerous calls from attorneys asking the governing board to take a
position.

Initially, the board intended to merely release a statement about the
judicial canon of ethics and let the public draw its own conclusions, he
said. But after consideration, that approach made little sense and the board
opted to call for Gilbert's resignation.

Stepka, who along with attorney Paul Jarboe acted as spokesmen for the
governing board's position, said that the bar association's bylaws call for
the board to uphold public confidence in the judiciary, and that is what the
statement was intended to do.

Stepka said that as the bar association's elected representatives, the
governing board was obligated to take a position and did not need to poll
bar members. But a poll was conducted by the bar association's District
Court Judicial Liaison Committee, he said, and it concluded there was
consensus among lawyers on the issue.

"This was not a flippant, knee-jerk reaction; I think our study was caused
by people approaching us and asking us to take a position," Stepka said. "We
know that we are not going to make everyone happy with our position."

Moreover, Stepka noted that only one of the 13 lawyers who signed the
protest letter practices regularly in district court.

"I think if these people practiced in district court, I think they may see a
little more clearly the problem that (Gilbert's) got," Stepka said.

Since the Dec. 5 letter began circulating, other area attorneys have joined
the fray. Attorney Joel Myler faxed a copy of the letter back to each of the
13 who signed it with the word "HOGWASH!" written across the page in black
ink.

Retired attorney Franklin Morse of Northport added his voice to the 13
lawyers, sending a letter to the Board of Governors that also rebuked their
call for the judge's resignation.

Morse said the governing board should have more carefully polled bar
association members and then they should have made a more discreet
statement.

"The Resolution smacked of self-righteous posturing," Morse wrote. "I, as
well as some non-lawyer friends, found it unbecoming and strangely
vindictive."

Morse said he preferred a long-standing tradition of the legal community
taking care of itself, away from the public glare.

Judicial misconduct, Morse wrote, was traditionally dealt with in the
chambers of the chief judge and the offending judge would be represented by
a friend and an attorney.

"In the end, a consensus would emerge and the offending judge would make a
decision concerning his future intentions and relate it to the others,"
Morse wrote.

"To some, this may seem to be just another form of 'ol' boy justice,' and
perhaps it was, but to others it was the legal community policing itself and
cleaning its own house.

"The fact is, however, that it worked. In the cases of which I am aware, and
there weren't many, the proper decision was reached."