Yep. Lawyers are untouchable, that is one of the main reasons why the profession is as much of a mess as it is.
The ABA is a lobbyist organization. It probably has less influence that the AMA, UFT/AFT, AARP, and the Public Employees Union.
The ABA is NOT responsible for attorney discipline. That task belongs to the state and federal judiciary. Although I cannot speak for other states, in NY, each judicial district has a grievance committee that reports to the judges who sit on one of four appellate courts. Incompetent or dishonest lawyers are referred to the grievance committee by clients, judges, and other attorneys. Each grievance committee has its own private investigators and attorneys that prosecute cases against other attorneys. Despite what you might think, the system does work, and lawyers are severally punished. In fact, I know lawyers who have been suspended and disbarred, not for the underlying act that got them in trouble in the first place, but for merely failing to cooperate with the grievance committee. Again, I can't speak for what happens in other states, but I'm willing to bet that the disciplinary procedures that govern attorneys in NY are a heck of a lot more effective than the diciplinary procedures that govern the medical profession, teachers, and cops.
Revisiting the Gell case ...
(Some links unavailable.)
http://www.truthinjustice.org/gell-probe.htm
Prosecutorial misconduct probe is needed
Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald By Keith Hoggard
February 26, 2004
http://www.newsobserver.com/208/story/170277.html
Published: Mar 07, 2004 12:01 AM
Modified: Oct 22, 2005 04:01 PM
Gell's prosecution, as Cooper saw it
http://www.newsobserver.com/208/story/171981.html
Cooper rebuked in Gell case
The News & Observer
February 22, 2004
Author: Joseph Neff; Staff Writer
http://www.newsobserver.com/208/story/220594.html
Gell case a test for Cooper
The News & Observer
June 5, 2003
Author: Kristin Collins; Staff Writer
EXCERPTS
This week, Cooper announced after six months of deliberation that he will try Gell for murder again. Cooper will seek life in prison rather than death.
Cooper admitted that prosecutors in his office were negligent when they failed to turn over evidence to Gell's lawyers.
(snip)
Cooper, 45, was 27 when he was elected to the General Assembly for the first time. He ran for attorney general in 2000 as a tough-on-crime lawyer who would fight for victims and keep schools safe.
His decision to retry Gell is likely to be popular among some of his biggest supporters: law enforcement, prosecutors, victims' rights advocates and death penalty supporters. Donna Pygott, executive director of the nonprofit N.C. Victims Assistance Network, said Wednesday that she supported his choice to lay out the evidence for a jury one more time.
//
http://www.newsobserver.com/208/story/212824.html
Bar set to defend its ruling
News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC)
October 19, 2004
Author: Joseph Neff; Staff Writer
Last month, the State Bar gave written reprimands to prosecutors David Hoke and Debra Graves, who withheld evidence of innocence from former death row inmate Alan Gell. But dozens of lawyers statewide have ensured that the case doesn't end there.
The bar has scheduled an unprecedented public meeting Wednesday to answer critics who charge that it botched the matter.
In particular, these critics have complained that the bar's lawyers, David Johnson and Margaret Cloutier, called no witnesses during the hearing and had not spoken with some of the witnesses they said were ready to testify.
The protest swamped Dudley Humphrey, president of the State Bar, to the point where he said he could get little work done in his role as a partner at Kilpatrick Stockton's Winston-Salem office.
"Dear Mr. Humphrey: The action of the Disciplinary Committee in the Hoke-Graves-Gell matter is dismaying and distressing -- in my view, it is also outrageous," wrote W.A. Johnson, a lawyer in Lillington.
Neither Humphrey nor director Tom Lunsford could recall the State Bar ever meeting to discuss the handling of a disciplinary case.
"This is the first time we can recall any significant item that goes to the integrity" of the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission, Humphrey said.
When they prosecuted Gell more than six years ago, Hoke and Graves worked in the special prosecution division of the state Attorney General's office. Today, Hoke is the number two administrator in the state court system; Graves is a federal public defender.
(snip)
//
Bar panel to review Hoke, Graves case
News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC)
October 23, 2004
Author: Joseph Neff; Staff Writer
The State Bar voted Friday to set up a special committee to examine how it handled the disciplinary hearing of David Hoke and Debra Graves, the two prosecutors who withheld evidence from former death row inmate Alan Gell.
The State Bar's governing council voted Friday to "study and identify issues arising out of the Hoke/Graves controversy" and recommend future policies and actions; it will not change the treatment of Hoke and Graves.
In September, Hoke and Graves received reprimands from the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission for their handling of the 1998 trial, which ended in a death sentence for Gell.
A number of lawyers had complained vociferously about what they perceived as the bar's perfunctory investigation and weak prosecution of the disciplinary case. Bar leadership defended the investigation, but many others were unhappy
//
Hoke-Graves case prompts State Bar review
News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC)
January 19, 2005
Author: Joseph Neff
Lynn Bonner
Dan Kane; Staff Writers
Lawyer, heal thyself.
The State Bar on Tuesday kicked off an unprecedented round of self-examination into how the state's licensing agency for lawyers disciplines its own.
A special committee will spend the next six months looking into how the State Bar handled September's disciplinary hearing against David Hoke and Debra Graves, former prosecutors for the Attorney General's Office.
In September, Hoke and Graves were reprimanded for withholding evidence from former death row inmate Alan Gell at his 1998 trial, which ended in a death sentence for Gell.
A number of lawyers had complained that the bar conducted a perfunctory investigation and weak prosecution. They faulted the bar for not talking with the lead investigator in the case, for putting on no live witnesses and for not contesting erroneous testimony about constitutional law by Hoke and Jim Coman of the Attorney General's Office.
The special committee will examine two questions: Was there any bias or corruption or undue influence in the prosecution of Hoke and Graves? Was the State Bar's prosecution of Hoke and Graves within the range of acceptable lawyering?
(snip)
Easley backer gets Turnpike Authority post
News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC)
June 16, 2005
Author: Rob Christensen
Joseph Neff; Staff Writers
EXCERPT
Bar's diligence challenged
The report card is in: There's room for improvement.
A special committee of the N.C. State Bar gave the Bar a "C" for its handling of the disciplinary hearing last year against David Hoke and Debra Graves, former prosecutors for the state Attorney General's Office. Hoke and Graves were reprimanded for withholding evidence of innocence from Alan Gell at his 1998 trial, which ended in a death sentence for Gell.
An outcry erupted after the hearing. The main complaint was that the Bar conducted a tepid prosecution.
The prosecution "fell within acceptable parameters," the committee found, but left a lot to be desired.
In particular, the State Bar prosecutors failed to interview SBI agent Dwight Ransome, the only eyewitness with first-hand knowledge of the actions of Hoke and Graves.
The Bar attorneys relied on the words of Hoke and Graves, said committee member Mark Ethridge of Charlotte.
"What would happen to our justice system if the role of the prosecutor was merely to ask the defendant what their version of their events were?" Ethridge asked.
The committee will recommend new policies at the next meeting of the State Bar in July. They include hiring outside lawyers to prosecute public officials who have personal or professional relationships with senior staff at the Bar.