Miscellaneous

Guest Column: Enough is Enough

By The Pullins Group LLC

By Gary J. Leppla, President, Ohio State Bar Association

In Ohio we continue to see attacks on lawyer-candidates for simply performing their sworn duties. The latest? Dan Urban is a candidate for the Ohio Legislature who has been wrongfully criticized for representing oil companies. Congressional candidate Sharen Neuhardt, a partner in an international law firm with thousands of attorneys, has been attacked for the representation of corporate clients by lawyers in that firm?and her ethics as an ?officer of the court? have been challenged inappropriately.

Whether a lawyer defends an accused criminal, an unpopular business or an injured family, that lawyer is fulfilling an oath to professionally and loyally represent that client. That is what lawyers are sworn to do and that is what any of us as clients would expect from our own lawyer. The Ohio State Bar Association will continue to speak out to defend these candidates who have been attacked solely because of the diverse nature of their practices. And it is unfortunate that we must continue to remind the attackers of these basic civic principles.

This is the third time in this election cycle that the Ohio State Bar Association has been compelled to speak out against this sort of behavior. These attacks are coming from all sides and it is time for the candidates, independent committees and political parties to stop denigrating lawyers for the important work they do as officers of the court and preservers of democracy. The Ohio State Bar Association joins the public in insisting that campaign advertising, materials and rhetoric stick to candidate qualifications and experience, not inappropriate innuendo and character assassination.

Full post as published by The Pullins Report on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).