1
Articles
ARE LAW CLERKS FAIR GAME? INVADING
JUDICIAL CONFIDENTIALITY
Charles W. Sorenson, Jr.*
I.
I
NTRODUCTION
The recent disbarment of two attorn
eys and suspension of a third in
Bar Counsel v. Curry,
1
for their surreptitious sting directed at a former
trial court law clerk, presents one of
the most bizarre and troubling cases
of attorney misconduct imaginable.
At first blush, the story seems so
outlandish that one assumes that it must be fiction of the type penned by
a novelist, or perhaps, a television writer for “Boston Legal.”
2
In fact, the
229-page special hearing officer deci
sion and final Massachusetts Board
of Bar Overseers (“BBO”) decision re
ad more like pages from a tabloid
than a typical bar discipline decision. Nothing is typical about this case.
It involves an underlying multimillion (if not billion) dollar lengthy
dispute among family members over a supermarket empire.
3
It involves
a colorful and controversial trial judge, who subsequently became a
*
Professor of Law, New England School of
Law, Boston, Massachusetts. Many thanks
to Barry Stearns, New England School of Law Reference Librarian, and to Scott Carman,
class of ’08, for their invaluable assistance. I also want to thank New England School of
Law for the sabbatical that helped make this Ar
ticle possible. The author may be contacted
at csorenson@nesl.edu.
1
Bar Counsel v. Crossen, Curry, Donahue,
BBO File Nos. C1-97-0602, C1-97-0589, & C1-
97-(9)589 [hereinafter Bar Counsel v. Curry II],
available at
http://www.mass.gov/obcbbo/
