Nelly Wince

I'll be frank. I believe Nelly Wince should be disbarred as a lawyer and probably spend time in jail. She has committed crimes and has willfully and repeatedly broken her ethical oath as a lawyer. Furthermore, she has done so in a particularly egregious and, what can only be termed, vicious manner.

Sadly for society and to the embarrassment of ethical lawyers, she continues to practice law. She continues to inflict pain and suffering on the innocent.

So now you know my opinion of Nelly Wince. But it is not just my opinion. I have been told by other lawyers who have argued cases against her that her methods are unethical as well. One lawyer told me that he didn't even need to look at the evidence of her lying in court to believe me as he was very familiar with the way she operated. Another told me that she would not refer people to Wince as she disagreed with her methods.

It boggles my mind how anyone but especially a lawyer (who is an officer of the court) can act in such flagrantly bad manner. And it isn't like it was one instance, it happened over and over again.

It is of course difficult to prove that Nelly Wince acted unethically and criminally but significantly I do have hard evidence for one particular court appearance which, I believe, is about as strong as one can have. So how is it that Wince not only avoided punishment but actually benefited financially from her actions? In a phrase - institutional corruption. Lying and criminal fraud are so common in the divorce process that it has become just the way it works.

I highly doubt Nelly Wince feels like she has done anything wrong. In her view she is just being a strong advocate and is doing no worse than anyone else. I am sure she believes she is a very nice, yet tough, person.

In many countries bribery is endemic. If you want a building permit you have to provide a “gift” to the official that issues the permit. Similar to Nelly Wince, those officials don't think they are doing anything wrong. They believe the “gift” is part of their compensation.

And it isn't as if in the United States we don't passively accept a certain amount of similar activity. How many major sporting event seats are purchased by corporation to give as “gifts” to their clients? I have been unable to find a reliable number but it is certainly a large percentage. Those corporation do not give those tickets away to charity; they give them to clients and  they expect a return on the investment.

What is so bad about Nelly Wince's actions is that isn't just passive, it is overt. Although there is no law against lying in court by a lawyer, the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct which lawyers have sworn to uphold clearly state that knowingly making a false statement is a violation and a serious one at that. However the reality is that many lawyers, including Nelly Wince, believe that the rules are for show only are are not enforced. The fact that the Minnesota Office of Professional Responsibility did not take any action against Nelly Wince shows that she is correct. This is what I mean when I state that the divorce industry itself is institutionally corrupt.

The story of Bernie Madoff is similar in many ways. Madoff, who ran a wealth management firm, plead guilty in 2009 to running an elaborate Ponzi scheme and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. For many years before he was prosecuted it was well know that he was participating in illegal activities but it was ignored. Not long prior to his arrest, Madoff was at the hight of his profession, even having served as the non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market. Madoff was respectable. And because of his prestige, success and wealth he was left alone for far too long. Indeed it was neither the SEC nor industry self-regulators that caught Madoff. For years Harry Markopolos, a Boston financial analyst, had repeatedly warned that Madoff's firm was a fraud. He even approached the Wall Street Journal but they declined to investigate. Eventually with the financial crisis in late 2008, Madoff couldn't hold his scheme together anymore and it unraveled on him. In the end Madoff was sentenced to a century and half in prison and three people, including one of Madoff's sons, committed suicide over the matter.

Bernie Madoff primarily hurt wealthy investors. Nelly Wince hurts good people, many of modest means, and innocent children. Her actions devastate lives. The judges and Ethics board members that protect her have taught many, including the children of the victims, that rule by law is not followed in the justice system. That is what makes her actions so tragic for our society.  

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