It's All About The Money

Divorce lawyers bill by the hour and make more money the more hours they bill. Obviously. Judges are supposed to be the ones to keep a check on the lawyers so that they are not simply extending the divorce proceedings to fleece the litigants.

However, judges are lawyers and often move in and out of private practice. They are also often friends with the lawyers in the cases before them. And they quite often take campaign money from the lawyers that appear before them.

The Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board (LPRB) is responsible for making sure that all lawyers act in accordance with the lawyers rules of professional conduct. However, given that they almost never act on complaints against a lawyer and even when they do so it is almost always after the lawyer has been convicted of a crime combined with the fact that, in Minnesota at least, they have never disciplined a lawyer for knowingly lying in family court, it is clear the LPRB's focus is on shielding lawyers from the consequences of their criminal actions not ensuring the ethical rules are followed.

But, you might say, surely law enforcement will step into to make sure the law if followed. Well not when the county attorney's office states that there is no law agaisnt a lawyer lying in court.

You could not ask for a better way to set the stage for corruption.

No doubt there are good lawyers. The problem is that the bad ones can commit crimes with near impunity.

Here from Family Court Corruption is an example from Texas. Minnesota operates the same way.