What does the American Bar Association emissary in Moscow Gleb Glinka has to do with elephant hunting in Ghana - and other stories

Recently, I published a blog concerning news about a Russian American family, Elizabeth and Gleb Glinka, where the wife Elizabeth Glinka flew on Putin's military planes, and the husband Gleb Glinka, director of the ABA "Rule of Law Initiative" in Moscow, Russia, who had extensive connections in both American and Russian government.

Gleb Glinka launched his career as an American attorney by working first for the Vermont Secretary of State (who then became Vermont Governor), and then for a federal bankruptcy judge in Vermont.

After that, Gleb Glinka appeared in 5,318 federal bankruptcy cases in the U.S. - an obvious product of his law clerkship with a bankruptcy judge of that same court,

participated in multiple US AID projects in military zones from Kosovo to Georgia (not a U.S. state) to the Urkaine.

During his fervent activity as the director of the ABA ROLI initiative, Glinka arranged for a meeting of the then-president of the American Bar Association Steve Zack with the Russia Chief Judge Vyacheslav Lebedev (according to some documents in open access on the Internet).

While working on Gleb Glinka's contacts, I ran Vyasheslav Lebedev's name on the Russian Internet.  And obtained very interesting information.  While in 2008 there was some law passed in Russia that prohibited Russian judges to travel abroad on foreign dime, in September of 2013, Judge Lebedev paid an interesting visit to Ghana (an African country).

The world has learnt that Judge Lebedev was in Ghana because The France Presse, and then Russian media sources, picked up and spread the story that Judge Lebedev allegedly became a victim of a car accident in Ghana - when a truck allegedly ran into a car where Judge Lebedev was traveling, and Judge Lebedev sustained grievous injuries.

Journalists instantly became alert that:

1. there was no announcement about the allegedly official visit of Judge Lebedev to Ghana;
2. the "official" announcement was made only after the French press ran its article about the truck-to-judge accident;
3. after the "accident", no reports were made that any truck driver was held responsible for the judge's injuries and no name of the alleged truck driver was ever mentioned anywhere;
4. Judge Lebedev's injuries were consistent with "an attack of a large animal"; and
5. media sources started to speculate whether Judge Lebedev, along with an interpreter and two other judges - the Chief Judge of the Moscow Regional Court and of the Saratov Regional Court - were in Ghana not for any kind of "conference" to "exchange opinions" and judicial wisdom and expertise, but went there for a safari - to hunt elephants.

If that was so, and if one elephant mauled Judge Lebedev, I am very satisfied and hope that will teach Russia's Chief Judge Lebedev to raise his judicial hand only for a gavel, but never for a rifle to hunt elephants ever again.

Also, nobody appeared to ask a question whether Judge Lebedev violated the Russian 2008 law by traveling to Ghana (likely on foreign dime) to an unannounced "conference" that lasted from Thursday to Sunday, which became Judge Lebedev's "official" visit only when a foreign press source reported Judge Lebedev's grave injuries in a "truck" accident that closely resembled being mauled "by a large animal".

But, the most interesting part of that exciting story was not even that.

Legal experts assessing the Ghana "truck accident" and "judicial conference" story claimed that for Judge Lebedev to go to a judicial conference to exchange experience with a country where court proceedings are governed by the British common law resembles - as a Russian press source inelegantly stated - "a useful dialogue of a blind and a deaf person".

Now, coming back to Gleb Glinka and his ABA Rule of Law Initiative that he was advancing in Moscow from 2008 to 2012 (while having passed a qualification test as a Russian lawyer in 2010 and having started to work as a lawyer in 2010, applying at the same time for a Russian citizenship - according to an August 4, 2013 interview of Elisabeth Glinka) - guess what - U.S. law is also based on British common law, so for ABA to teach Russia "the rule of law" was as effective as Judge Lebedev's judicial conference in Ghana.

What is also extremely interesting though, and it takes time for me to go through hundreds of names, checking out their stories through a variety of open-access documents, are the personages of judges, "employees" of various Russian and American courts whom Glinka ferried on tours of the U.S. and Russia, and I will publish stories about those personages, their trips and their connections to Glinka in due course - possibly, in a separate book rather than a blog.  It is simply too much to publish in blogs, it is a book in the making.

I will publish just some of them - with an explanation.  Gleb Glinka's ABA Rule of Law Initiative in Moscow - at least, that is what the reports of that venerable project say - had a partner, a non-profit where the only partner listed was a judge from Vermont, John Dooley.

Non-profits in the U.S. are heavily regulated.

I looked up that non-profit that listed $1 (one U.S. dollar) in assets and another $1 in liabilities.

That "partner" of the ABA ROLI was registered at

190 Fern Court
Colchester, VT

which is a residential address:

and at that address two organizations were registered - one set up in the 90s and the other set up at the same time as Dr. Liza's "Vale Hospice International, Inc.".

The Vermont Karelia Rule of Law non-profit, a non-profit set with Gleb Glinka's friend Judge Dooley as President, started its activities in Russia in 1991 - when Dr. Lisa's second son was born.

That non-profit still has over $287,000 in assets, and its last reporting year, 2014, showed the initial balance of over $4,000,000 - somebody was funneling (oh, sorry - donating) money through this organization.

But, the Vermont Karelia Rule of Law non-profit was not the main one in the ABA Rule of Law project in Moscow.  The other one was.

The one where several very busy judges, at the time when court budgets are extremely tight, caseloads are extremely high and crushing (that's what American judges say when they want a salary raise), nevertheless found their valuable time to not only gather to work and "serve" on the board of Gleb Glinka's "partner" to the ABA ROLI project - but even to travel to Russia, mostly to tourist destinations, having "training" and "seminars" and "meetings" and what not in:

• St. Petersburg and surroundings area;
• Novgorod;
• Pskov;
• Rostov; and, of course
• Karelia - all tourist destinations.

Here are these public servants who sacrificed their valuable time to come to Gleb Glinka in Russia to teach Russian ignoramuses in the legal profession and the judiciary what the rule of law truly is.

The partner of Gleb Glinka in his ABA ROLI initiative is an non-profit called "Russian American Rule of Law Consortium", with an address, as I mentioned above, at 190 Fern Court in Colchester, Vermont:

latest reported assets of $1, reported income of $1 (for 2013), and an empty website.

The corporation hired an accountant to file the 2013 tax return in 2014, signed by a secret officer of the corporation.  The accountant was shared with the "Karelia" non-profit "located" in the same residential address, so that non-profit, likely, paid for that accountant, because this non-profit is an empty shell and cannot pay even one hour of a minimum-wage worker.

The Russian American Rule of Law Consortium Inc has a long list of "Honorables" as officers of the non-profit corporation:

1. Hon. John A. Dooley, President, Vermont;
2. Hon. Paul Chernoff, Vice-President, Massachusetts;
3. Hon. Jonathan Silbert, Treasurer, Connecticut;
4. Pamela Q. Harris, Secretary;
5. Hon. Caroline Grassman, Director;
6. Hon. Jacalyn A Colburn, Director, New Hamshire;
7. Mary Beth Feindt, Director, New York;
8. Hon. Alexander O. Bryner, Director, Alaska, retired from the bench in 2007;
9. Hon. Martha Walters, Director, Oregon;
10. Hon. John C. Coughenour, Director, Washington (federal court);
11. Hon. Stephen P. Friot, Director, a federal court in Oklahoma.

9 judges, a court administrator (Pamela Q. Harris) and an attorney (Mary Beth Feindt), all located at 190 Fern Court, Colchester, VT 05446, a single-family residence.

As you can see, all judges are from different states (I did not find where Judge Grassman is from yet):

1. Alaska;
2. Connecticut;
3. Massachusetts;
4. New Hampshire;
5. Oklahoma;
6. Oregon;
7. Vermont;
8. Washington

Here is some information about participants in this "consortium".

1.  Judge John A. Dooley, the President of the venture, DOB April 10, 1944.

Judge Dooley was appointed to the Vermont Supreme Court in 1987, and is still on that bench, according to the court's official website,

even though he reportedly announced in September of 2016 that he was retiring.

According to my information, Judge Dooley participated in trips of Russian judges to the U.S. since the early 2000s.

Judge Dooley even taught "moot court" (playacting an American jury trial) at the Petrozavodsk University Legal Department sometime in 2003 or so.

In 2005, the following was stated about integrity and judicial qualifications of Judge Dooley, the judge chosen by the director of the ABA Rule of Law project in Russia to educate Russian judges and attorneys about what the rule of law should be.

Yet, Judge Dooley is also "famous" for how exactly he applied the rule of law to himself.

Specifically, reportedly, Judge Dooley took into his chambers and concealed there for 2 months, blocking access to the documents, the court file pertaining to his own property, during his own litigation against developers, trying to block developers from building houses next to the judge's house in South Burlington higher than 1 story.

Judicial disciplinary authorities, of course, cleared Judge Dooley of any wrongdoing, so Judge Dooley was free to teach Russian judges and attorneys about attorney and judicial ethics and the rule of law.

I guess, one of the first qualifications for such a teacher is being able to beat charges of misconduct through connections.

2.  Judge Paul Chernoff , Vice-President of the "consortium" ( an American judge with a Russian last name, Chernoff in Russian is "Black", Mr. Black),

a Massachussets Superior Court judge of 28 years, now retired and practicing law at Broody Hardoon Perkins & Kesten, LLP, a Boston law firm.

Before Judge Chernoff retired, he was given the following awards:

So, Judge Chernoff is a "distinguished faculty" teaching attorney ethics.

Judge Chernoff is famous for suing his own court in 2004 for $10,000 in damages and for $25,000 for pain and suffering after breaking his kneecap when climbing allegedly inadequate stairs in the same courthouse where he, as the court administrator, was supposed to make sure those same stairs should be in good repair.

At his retirement, Judge Chernoff was reported to be, without further specification, a "mentor" and a "legal ambassador", among other things:

It is characteristic of this "honorable" judge that, while accepting a position in a law firm, he only pledged "not to do any court work", not to personally appear in front of judges of his court, but did not recognize that by joining the law firm that does litigation in "his court", a disqualification or at the very least an appearance of impropriety and an unfair advantage is created for the firm employing the judge.

3.  Hon. Jonathan Silbert, Treasurer of the consortium.

This judge, according to his biography advertised on the website of his law firm (he is now retired), has his Bachelor's degree (a "minor") in "Russian civilization" and some vast experience touring and lecturing in Russia - as well as in other countries.  It is astounding how much time a busy judge working on public dime with a crushing caseload can squeeze for a free international all-paid ride:

Note that while lauding himself for being so diligent in being educated about the "Russian Civilization", and lecturing in Russia "on mediation", and even being a part of "Connecticut-Pskov Rule of Law Partnership", Judge Silbert did not drop one word that he is actually the Treasurer of The Russian-American Rule of Law Consortium, partner of Gleb Glinka's ABA ROLI project and the bearer of Gleb Glinka's many secrets about money streams that supported his project, and what made that project work.

4.  Hon. Caroline Grassman, Director - somehow, there is no information in open sources about this personage, but I am working on obtaining it through legal inquiries available to me.

5.  Hon. Jacalyn A Colburn, Director, is a judge of New Hampshire Superior Court.

Judge Colburn is on the Board of Trustee and is an Adjunct Professor of the University of New Hampshire School of Law, a state educational institution.

Judge Colburn was first appointed to the bench, reportedly in 2009.

Despite being an expert on professionalism, and despite her "service" on the Governor's Task Force on Public Sector and Public Interest Law, and despite being a "practical skills instructor and a panelist" at CLE seminars for lawyers, Judge Colburn has been the subject of the New Hampshire's Legislature's impeachment investigation.

Here is the impeachment investigation bill regarding Judge Colburn, for violating the New Hampshire Constitution and jeopardizing state elections.

In 2015, requests were made to impeach Judge Colburn for refusal to issue specific jury nullification instructions.  The House saved Judge Colburn from impeachment by eventually ruling that impeachment is "inexpedient" because Judge Colburn's misconduct is not too extreme.

6.  Hon. Alexander O. Bryner, Director, retired from the Alaska Court of Appeals in 2007 and is now practicing law and teaching in Lewis & Clark Law School.

Notably, Judge Bryner was a member of a "Khabarovsk-Alaska Rule of Law Committee".  The city of Khabarovsk is located at the far North-East of Russia, just showing that Gleb Glinka's ABA ROLI left no stone unturned and involved in its "initiative" judges from one end of Eurasian continent to another.

7.  Hon. Martha Walters, Director, Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court since October, 2006, one of two female judges on a 7-judge court (see the picture of the 7 judges, who made BOTH female judges stand for the picture, which tells a lot both about male, and about female judges of the court).

Here is Judge Walters' official biography.

8.  Hon. John C. Coughenour, Director, born in 1941 in Kansas, educated in Iowa, is a U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of Washington.

Judge Coughenour is known for his impassioned stand against "special rules" to try people charged with crimes of terrorism, insisting that if the law enforcement and prosecution could not collect the evidence properly and present the case properly, and there is no conviction because of it - so be it, that's the price that society has to pay for being a "leader on human rights and our commitment to our Constitution" - a decent thing to say for a judge while the majority of state and federal judiciary comes from former prosecutors and has a decidedly prosecutorial slant.

Yet, this stand on the "rule of law" and equality under the law for all accused of crimes without regard of what the crime is (criminal defendants are all covered by presumption of innocence - a lost cause for many jurors, as well as prosecutors and judges) disappears when Judge Coughenour, same as other federal judges, dismisses civil rights lawsuits on contrived judicially created theories of "abstentions", "deferences", "comities", Rooker-Feldman, Younger doctrines - artificial restrictions to jurisdiction of federal courts and de facto amendments to the Civil Rights Act that federal judges in the U.S. are not allowed, by Articles I and III of the U.S. Constitution, to make.

By the way, Judge Coughenour has been a Chair of the first "task force" of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit for gender bias.

It is interesting to have in one group of "directors" for a Russian American Rule of Law Consortium, a partner of an American Bar Association Rule of Law initiative in Russia,

•  a female Judge Martha Walters, who happily allows four men, her colleagues on the court, to behave in an uncivilized manner, sitting comfortably while making the only two women judges on the court stand,

• and a judge who chaired a task force of a large jurisdiction on gender bias, 28 years ago...

9.  Hon. Stephen P. Friot, Director.

Judge Friot, whom Gleb Glinka used as an expert in "comparative constitutional studies":

became in-famous for allowing the State of Oklahoma to kill its condemned prisoners with drugs that have previously led to botched and tortured executions, to be used again.

Those are just light character sketches of the American judges chosen by Gleb Glinka as his partners and lecturers, to teach Russian judges and attorneys about ethics, constitutionalism and the rule of law.

Since it is a sneak preview of what is turning out to be a book material, I will not go deep in this blog as the actual participation of these judges in Gleb Glinka's ABA Rule of Law project.

At this time I will simply say that these people were teaching Russian attorneys and judges about how to regulate the legal profession, and how to adhere to the rule of law:

1. while many of them had ethical problems themselves as to how they discharged their own duties;
2. while it was hugely unethical to violate the Russian 2008 law prohibiting judges to travel on foreign dime and to still invite Russian judges to the U.S. on trips financed by the ABA, US AID and "Open World" - and at the same time teach judges and attorneys, Russian and American, about ethics and rule of law;
3. while it was hugely unethical for them to travel on the dime of the American Bar Association, whose members appeared in their courts.

But, that, too, is not the worst of what these judges were doing in Gleb Glinka's project.

I will continue my publications about Gleb Glinka and his "Rule of Law" project.

As to elephant hunting, the ABA's President Steve Zack,

himself a law partner in the law firm that heavily caters for judges and employs every law clerk of every judge in the U.S. in the book, to protect itself and drum up business (see my blog about Steven Zack's law firm here and here), was successful in his meeting with Judge Lebedev.

It is interesting what kind of boon Zack offered Lebedev to make the meeting such a success.

We only learn about such boons though if anything happens on such trips.

Like, when the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died on a "hunting trip" under interesting circumstances on his otherwise unannounced trip to the Mexican border, and then the country witnessed lame attempts to present the case as a natural death and racing with Scalia's corpse to destroy all evidence of a potential murder investigation.

And, a New York attorney who recently died on a sailing trip to Puerto Rico with a New York judge - and only then the world has learnt of the relationship where an attorney who very likely appeared in the judge's court was yachting with the judge...

And, as I described above, the world has learnt of the Russian Chief Judge Vyacheslav Lebedev being in Ghana only when the judge was mauled by a truck (or an elephant, who knows) on his otherwise unannounced trip to that African country, in the company of Chief Judges of the Moscow Regional Court and of the Saratov Regional Court.

I wonder what needs to happen so that we learn what boons were offered to Russian judges by the ABA's Steven Zack and by the ABA ROLI's Gleb Glinka.

Yet, any claims that nothing was offered other than seminars in order to share stories about judicial excellence and ethics will be to insult our collective intelligence.

What I do know though is that the U.S. AID has interestingly stalled my Freedom of Information request as to contracts Gleb Glinka had with US AID, including conditions of co-financing of the ABA ROLI project.

Whenever a Freedom of Information request is stalled, it is an indicator that the government has something to hide.

And, from my personal experience working for US AID projects in Moscow many years ago, I know that US AID only finances projects which promotes U.S. businesses, products and services.

So, all these fairy tales about the Good Samaritan intentions of the ABA and the US AID to help Russia establish the "rule of law" is meant for those who know nothing about how the ABA and the US AID operate.

I will continue my publications about this interesting project where an organization that corrupted American judiciary and blocked access to courts to millions of Americans in order to establish and maintain its anti-competitive monopoly for court representation and get rich on soaking the poor, in violation of federal antitrust laws, was trying - partially successfully, by the way - to corrupt the Russian judiciary, establish a similar monopoly for court representation in Russia and teach Russian attorneys and judges, of course, about attorney and judicial ethics and the rule of law.

Whenever anybody, with a kind face, like this,

tries to teach you how to do things better in your own back yard (country), while having a complete mess in his own - you know something stinks.

And especially when the teaching about ethics and the rule of law comes from an organization that distances itself from attorneys, both within the U.S. and from foreign countries, who were persecuted by their governments for fighting against human rights violations - in order not to loose business benefits with such oppressors of human rights.

When the ABA sold out Chinese attorney Dr. Teng Biao to remain in good graces of the Chinese government in order for clients of ABA's members to continue to do profitable business in China, the ABA, of course, was only "trying to do the right thing".

According to a human rights expert, director of Amnesty International,

"The episode underscores the difficult decision facing the ABA between continuing to work to advance the rule of law in China and criticizing the repression of civil rights under Mr. Xi, said Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia director for Amnesty International.

'For a long time, ABA could argue that their presence in China was worth the cost of muting their criticism of issues in China’s legal system,” Mr. Bequelin said. “I wonder, and I think many legal analysts wonder, whether that point has passed.'"

So, the ABA's presence, through the kind-faced Gleb Glinka, in Russia, is worth "muting their criticism of issues in China's legal system".

The ABA, and Glinka, do not care whether there is the rule of law in Russia or not.

They care whether they can do their own personal business, and enrich themselves, and for that, they will mute criticism and arrange for elephant hunts or whatever other kinds of entertainment - as long as they can get Russian officials in the judicial and attorney establishment to "do business" with them.

I will continue with publications on ABA's Rule of Law projects in Russia - and in other countries.

Stay tuned.

Judges holding seminars for social services how to kidnap children better - to secure federal funds

According to a report published today, the state of Arizona is experiencing an unusually high "surge in foster children and the systems meant to support and protect them".

A three-year study has been funded to figure out the reasons for such a "surge".

Yet, the reason may be on the surface:

1) federal incentive money for social services to take children out of foster care; and
2) judges like #JudgeMarkBrain of Maricopa Juvenile Court (Arizona) who, in 2014, has practiced law and actually TAUGHT social services how to draft their petitions in child protective cases better - the judge instructed the social services to ALWAYS ask for removal of children, because otherwise they would "forfeit federal funds".

Of course, Judge Mark Brain is prohibited to practice law - which he obviously does not give a flying piece of horse manure about.

Of course, Judge Mark Brain is prohibited from taking sides in litigation and advocating for the petition in child protective cases - and, since he already did, and taught social services how to create that "surge" of children in foster care and "systems meant to support and protect them" - he, of course, should be taken off the bench, but who would dare touch him?

Of course, had Judge Mark Brain taught a seminar for parents as to how to beat a child protective case, he would have been taken off the bench in no time.

Of course, the standard for removal of children from the family is whether there is a reasonable belief, based on the child's condition and/or circumstances, that the child's health or life is in imminent danger - not whether those who want to grab the child will or will not receive federal funds.

Apparently, what the judge is teaching is how to engage in hostage hunting and slave trade, see, for example, an account of what is happening in foster care across the U.S. where, according to the 2014 data, 415,000 children were placed?

So, meet the mentor of social services as to how to better grab a child into custody in order to secure federal funds - #JudgeMarkBrain from Phoenix, Arizona:

Judge Brain was appointed by the Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in 2011 and retained in 2014 for the term until 2019, as part of the Arizona Governor's philosophy:

Oh, Judge Brain is very reflective - after all, he is a Judge Brain, the brainy judge.

Here is his official court information:

 Here is the judge's education:

So, the guy is all over the place.

He was

• educated in college in Iowa;
• in law school in Michigan, and
• is now works as a judge and, practically, tutor of social services, in Arizona.

Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Brain had the following experience:

1) a 4-year stint with a business law firm Fennemore Craig that had nothing to do with Family Law practice, but had a lot to do with "government procurement" of federal funds:

2) another 4-year stint in a private law firm of Peshkin & Kotalik having nothing to do with Family Law, but a lot to do with commercial litigation;

and

3) 5 years in a position of a "Commissioner" of Maricopa County Superior Court - attorneys who act in the position of a judge, handling "specific assigned cases and uncontested matters".

Yet, "government procurement" and commercial litigation experience, obviously, died hard with Judge Brain - because he obviously understands his duties and position in child protective cases not as a neutral adjudicator in the best interests of the child, but as a legal and financial advisor to social services as to how to secure federal funds, best interests of the child be d***ed.

So, at least one of the factors that caused the "surge" of children into Arizona foster care, and a swelling of "services" for such children is a no brainer - it is the brain product of Judge Brain who undertook to teach social services how to draft their petitions better, and to always, always include a request to remove children from their parents - to secure federal funds - whether it was warranted by the circumstances or not.

Listen once again to the piece of Judge Brain's wisdom that some courageous participant in the seminar recorded and posted on YouTube.

See Judge Brain with his teaching PowerPoint slides:

See that the seminar was held in a courthouse, with approval of the Superior Court #judgeAimeeAnderson:

Such an advice was obviously given with an implied promise that judges will always grant such requests for removal of children from families, whether the removal was or was not warranted by circumstances - because the judge wants to "help" social services.

And that is an apparent criminal collusion to fix child protective cases.

I wonder how many lives of children and their parents Judge Brain has managed to ruin so far.

And, I truly hope that Judges Brain and Anderson are taken off the bench for their teaching/human trafficking endeavors, disbarred and criminally prosecuted.

I do not know whether Judge Brain was receiving kickbacks from social services and a portion of the federal funds he helped secure, but he clearly was helping to break the law, and to take children from the families without any basis, as a human trafficking hunt in order to get more federal funds for the county. 

The dynasties of nobility in New York State - the Hiscocks, the Sises, the Faheys, the Cuomos, and the Breslins - and soaking the poor to finance dynastic in-fighting

I wrote a lot on this blog about the law firm Hiscock & Barclay, now Barlay Damon, a well-connected law firm that hires law clerks of state and federal judges, retired judges and senators, plants itself into "judicial selection committees", "rule making committees" for courts, secret-membership "Advisory Councils" of secret-membership "State-Federal Judicial Councils" (I was stonewalled when trying to verify lists of memberships in this shadow organization by both the New York State Office of Court Administration and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, the two official entities that appoint judges, without any legal basis for such appointments, to this "Council").

Through the "Advisory Council", Hiscock & Barclay's attorneys are advising the very judges that they appear and do business in front of, secret membership "Inns of Court" where they appoint judges as officers and wine and dine them while litigating - and winning, of course - cases in front of them.

Hiscock & Barclay also had on its payroll New York Senator Breslin, brother of the Supervising Judge of criminal courts in the 3rd Judicial District, the Albany judge Thomas A. Breslin.

New York Senator Neil Breslin, while working as a private attorney for Hiscock & Barclay (who now continues to work for the newly merged mammoth Barclay Damon), and while Hiscock & Barclay's partner John Casey was planted in the attorney disciplinary committee weeding out his firm's competitors and hiring or being hired by high-ranking well-connected attorneys turned in for investigation, has sponsored a self-serving bill that helped strengthen attorney monopoly for legal representation in New York, elevating unauthorized practice of law from misdemeanor to a felony - while failing to define what the heck the practice of law actually is, thus violating the ancient principle of even Roman law "no punishment without the law" (and the due process notice requirement of the U.S. Constitution, 14th Amendment).

I wrote that Hiscock & Barclay has planted its partner John Casey (who now left Barclay Damon for his new stint Casey Cabaniss) into the New York 3rd Department Commission for Professional discipline for attorneys where the partner rescued three attorneys referred for investigation and prosecution:

• M. Cornelia Cahill, wife of Chief Judge of New York Court of Claims Richard Sise, daughter-in-law of Judge Robert Sise whose Court of Claims position on the bench her husband inherited, and sister-in-law to judge Joseph Sise who also became a judge, of Montgomery County Supreme Court (his father was a judge of the Montgomery County Children's Court) - John Casey, as partner in Hiscock & Barclay, hired her instead of disbarring her, as a member of Attorney disciplinary committee of the 3rd Department, for stealing over $300,000 (at least) from public schools in benefits by claiming that she was an employee of the school system, while she was a member of a law firm representing the school system as a contractor;

• Robert Harlem, former Otsego County Supreme Court judge, and former Chief Administrative Judge of the 6th Judicial District; and his son attorney Richard Harlem - who were referred to be disbarred by Assistant New York State Attorney General Mary Walsh for practicing law on the bench (judge Harlem), concealing it from the court, and as to Richard Harlem, aiding and abetting his father in practicing law on the bench, defrauding the court and defrauding a multi-million dollar estate of a lonely woman that Judge Harlem befriended while on the bench;  instead of prosecuting and disbarring these attorneys, Hiscock & Barclay undertook their representation against another complainant about them Frederick J. Neroni, and brought disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Neroni and his wife and attorney, opposing Hiscock & Barclay in proceedings representing the Harlems (subjects of disciplinary investigation by Hiscock's partner Casey), which resulted in taking law licenses of both "offending complainants" hurting Hiscock's high-standing clients.

Now, while researching the history of corruption in New York government, I came across one more dynasty - of the founder of Hiscock & Barclay, who was actually also a judge:

Frank H. Hiscock, "coincidentally" from Onondaga County where Hiscock & Barclay was originally founded and where it flourishes, corrupting federal judges such as several judges and magistrates of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York - where many of the NDNY law clerks end up working for Hiscock & Barclay (now Barclay Damon).

And, Frank H. Hiscock himself was the son of a New York State Senator and a nephew of a U.S. Senator - who raised him after his father, the New York State Senator, was murdered by his friend General George W. Cole, for screwing General Cole's wife while General Cole was away in the Civil War and being seriously wounded, which later led to General Cole's demise (General Cole was then acquitted for "momentary insanity").  I guess, "noble" behavior runs in the blood of that family for 2 centuries and controlled the way their law firm operated, and, after the split into two (Barclay Damon and Casey Cabaniss), continues to operate, "bigger than ever".

Onondaga County is now, by the way, the seat of the corrupt female-hater corrupt Chief Administrative Judge for the 5th Administrative District Judge James Tormey (subject of two lawsuits, by a court employee, for trying to engage her in a political espionage against a fellow judge and for viciously retaliating against her when she refused, settled for $600,000, and by a female court interpreter who Tormey persecuted for the sake of his law school roommate Onondaga County DA William Fitzpatrick) - is now the "purchasing agent" of Otsego County, where the County Attorney is Ellen Coccoma, the wife of the Chief Administrative Judge of Upstate New York Michael Coccoma (while continuing to practice as a private attorney on taxpayer dime and refusing to provide her timesheets for the time she is spending on such private practice while she is supposed to work for the County, as a full-time paid officer).

DA William Fitzpatrick was the one who took off the bench judge Bryan Hedges - after Judge Hedges refused to cave in to extortion attempts orchestrated by William Fitzpatrick who wanted part of the settlement money with the alleged victim, Fitzpatrick reported Hedges to the New York State Commission for Judicial Conduct, and the Commission, that usually shreds all complaints without investigation, obliged, and took the judge off the bench - that is all part of public filings with the New York State Commission for Judicial Conduct.

Nevertheless, despite clear evidence that William Fitzpatrick participated in a criminal extortion scheme, he was chosen by Governor Andrew Cuomo for the "Moreland Commission" for Public Ethics, of all things (since disbanded by Cuomo because it started to investigate Cuomo), and was chosen to "serve" as the President of National District Attorney's Association.

And, by the way, Onondaga County was one of the counties subject of a settlement in federal court for failure to provide constitutionally required indigent criminal defense -

while having enough time and money for discriminatory prosecutions of a female court interpreter, and

while having enough time and money for the recent criminal criminal prosecution by Fitzpatrick against the city authorities of the city of Syracuse, NY for their failed lawsuit against Syracuse Assistant Corporation counsel Joseph Barry, brother-in-law of longtime Onondaga County Judge Joseph Fahey, retired in 2015, and, apparently brother-in-law of former New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division 4th Judicial Department judge Eugene Fahey elevated by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (son of Governor Mario Cuomo) to New York State Court of Appeals in the same 2015.

Judge Joseph Fahey was called "out of retirement" to be the City of Syracuse's top lawyer - and now gets to draw both his pension and his salary, a scheme recently criticized and subject to litigation in the New York State Court of Appeals, in front of Joseph Fahey's brother, NYS Court of Appeals Judge Eugene Fahey.  You understand where that litigation is heading, right?

While failing to provide constitutionally required indigent defense, and while hereditary Governor Andrew Cuomo recently vetoed a bipartisan bill that would shift the burden of funding of such indigent defense from homeowners only (County taxes) to all state taxpayers (state taxes) "for lack of funds", the town of Syracuse, Onondaga County hired an attorney to represent it and its officials (including a brother-in-law of two judges) at the stage of the criminal INVESTIGATION, at the following rates:

Please, note that a criminal defendant in New York is not even constitutionally required an attorney at the stage of investigation - only at the stage of prosecution.

Since the criminal investigation was actually DROPPED against the city and its officials as a result of successful efforts of attorney Barry Berke of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, who worked at $850 an hour and charged the city (and its taxpayers) $510,691 for representation at the stage of a criminal INVESTIGATION - not prosecution - it is clear how important it is to have a qualified attorney to undertake criminal defense at the time of investigation, so that prosecution might not even commence.

But, apparently, that is possible only for blue-blood public officials, out of taxpayer pockets, and not for taxpayers themselves.

As a comparison, the median income of a resident of the city of Syracuse, NY is $19,283, as compared to the medium income of $28,555 per person per year in the United States.

A Syracuse resident's and taxpayer's ANNUAL salary of $19,283, the entire income the residents have to cover all necessary expenses (taxes, housing, utility bills in the freezing New York winters, transportation, clothes, food, medication, childcare etc.) - is enough only to cover a whopping 22 hours and 42 minutes of the time of attorney Barry Berke.

Yet, the same taxpayer who cannot afford his own criminal defense, and for whom the County cannot provide an adequate constitutionally required criminal defense, was forced to finance the rich City officials' criminal defense before a criminal case even commenced, at $850 an hour, to rescue from criminal investigation the brother-in-law of two judges, Joseph Fahey, and the recently elevated to the New York State Court of Appeals Eugene Fahey, instead of putting those public officials in a position to either hire an attorney at their own expense, or apply for indigent defense (that they know is inadequate in their County), or go without - as everybody else in Syracuse does.

So, as you understand, ladies and gentlemen, we have a very interesting "rule of law" system in New York.  It can be formulated this way:

1) there is hereditary nobility in New York State, children of judges, state and U.S. Senators and Governors, who themselves become judges, New York and U.S. Senators, Governors, prosecutors, judges, or hire Senators, judges, after retirement, or their relatives, friends and former law clerks - and for them, the rule is that everything they want is the law;

2) there are the mere mortals who should finance this "my wish is my law" system, while it bleeds the budget to the point of not being able to provide the elementary access to court and rule of law required by the U.S. Constitution; and

3) application of laws, and State and Federal Constitution to those mere mortals is discretionary.

So, it is a hereditary-discretionary rule of law in New York.  Did you know that?

As to the in-fighting against Fitzpatrick in Syracuse goes, it will be interesting to see the result, because, very possibly, by going against the brother in law of two judges, one retired and now hired by the City of Syracuse for his influence and to allow him to double-dip (with no protests raging in the streets and now lawsuits filed, as they were against the Trump administration, for nepotism and conflict of interest), and the other - a judge of New York State Court of Appeals - Fitzpatrick had possibly bitten more than he can chew.

Fitzpatrick is the favorite of the Chief Administrative Judge of the 5th Judicial District James Tormey.

Joseph Barry who Fitzpatrick dared to pursue with a now-dropped criminal investigation, is a brother-in-law of two judges, one of them currently on the top state court.

The in-fighting perpetuating the hereditary-discretionary rule of law in New York continues.