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Lawyer’s Sanction Hiked After Calling Ethics System a ‘Hideous Aberration of Justice'

Lawyer Patrick Rocchio didn’t mince words in writings and testimony contesting a disciplinary matter in Indiana, calling the discipline system “a hideous aberration of justice” and the ethics rules “frivolous and antiquated.”

He failed to persuade the Indiana Supreme Court, which decided to increase Rocchio’s sanction because of his contempt for the disciplinary process and his lack of remorse, the Legal Profession Blog reports. He will be suspended for 180 days, without automatic reinstatement.

Rocchio, who practiced in Michigan and sometimes in Indiana, was accused of failing to include the required words “advertising material” in a 2008 letter to a prospective client. He also was accused of failing to note on his website that he took inactive status in the state the next year.

The Indiana Supreme Court opinion (PDF) quotes from Rocchio’s brief, which said: “My experience with the Indiana attorney disciplinary system is a hideous aberration of justice: a disciplinary commission and staff attorney with a self-image of pompous arrogance; a hearing officer who permits herself to be used as a rubber stamp.”

Rocchio also went on the attack in correspondence and in his testimony before the hearing officer, criticizing the disciplinary rules as “frivolous and antiquated … rules of behavior conceived over cigars and brandy … during the late Victorian era by a group of self-impressed lawyers.”

To win reinstatement, Rocchio will have to demonstrate an attitude “of genuine remorse,” a proper attitude toward the ethics rules, and exemplary conduct in the period after the discipline.