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…And the court said yes!

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As the blizzard of ‘Happy New Year!,’ ‘Thank God we made it!’ and other New Year messages rocked the airwaves, at the beginning of this year, Kaduna state based Isah Aliyu had other ideas. He was tired of his marriage with Jamila and was determined to put an end to it. Before January expired, he had divorced her. His argument was that she refused to relocate to the village with him. But Aliyu went a step further. He withdrew their two sons from a regular school and sent them to an Almajiri school in Kargi, Kaduna where they had to beg for alms.

The average Almajiri school’s living quarters is not pretty. Kids of age 3 and above sleep on bare floors or worn-out mats in either uncompleted buildings or run down structures. Sometimes it is wherever they are able to rest their heads at night. In several of these houses, goats may not find the small rooms where the kids sleep conducive as there are no windows for cross-ventilation and the walls have given room to cracks looking as if it will fall the next minute. The occupants of course are vulnerable to all forms of diseases They look pale, apparently due to malnutrition, with blisters on their lips, scabs on their heads and deeps cracks on their heels. The dryness of their faces and rashes on their skins suggest many things.

But, 33 year old Jamila Abubakar, would have none of that. “My children must have a better life,” she determined. Considering that she was dealing with a system where a woman’s voice must not be loud, she must have like the biblical Queen Esther, vowed “if I die, I die.”  She hauled her former husband, to a Sharia Court sitting at Magajin Gari, Kaduna. for taking their two children to an  ‘Almajiri’ school.

Insisting she had enrolled the boys in both western and Islamic school in Kaduna town where they were doing well, Jamila prayed the court to document the divorce and compel Aliyu to return the children back to town so that they could continue their education.

Aliyu however, maintained that his ex-wife refused to relocate to his village with him, adding that he did not take his children to an Almajiri school. Moreover, he said the children were well taken care of by his parents and his new wife in the village.

The court eventually granted Jamila request.

In an interview with a national daily, she gave details about the encounter.

Daily Trust: What motivated you to take your former husband to court?

Jamila Abubakar:   The major reason for taking my former husband to court is to take my two children to school and the aim is to save the future of our children by acquiring both Western and Islamic education like any other child in the society. I want my children to be educated.

DT: What is your level of education?

Jamila:  I attended primary school. I believe education is good, sweet and something to be cherished. One day, God willing, I hope to further my education. Education is light, education is power, education is a meaningful tool for better life of an individual and society. It is the greatest treasure you can give to your child that has a reward both in this world and the hereafter.

DT: How do you view western education?

Jamila: Western education is a modern way of acquiring knowledge in the present day world. It is a valuable tool for every human being to relate and compete favourably with others and if you don’t have this kind of education your life will be incomplete.

DT: What is your understanding of Almajiri schools?

Jamila: Almajiri school is an archaic system of learning where a child acquires the knowledge of the Holy Quran away from the child’s parents. But unfortunately this has now become something else, a nuisance and to me it is no more a good process to give your child quranic knowledge. Almost all the children in Almajiri schools are just roaming the streets wasting their precious time without getting either the quranic education or any skills to depend on. I think Islamic education can be acquired with children living under the care of their parents where they can go school and come back home. So, to me it is better to have your child going to any type of school under your watch.

DT: What role do you think women can play to stem this?

Jamila: I believe women have a better role to play to bring about the desired change of attitude of men towards the issue of Almajiri system of education. Women should first start with prayers  and act depending on their circumstances with their spouses because my former husband does not know the value of education but other husbands or parents may know. The change can begin from the family and it should not be through disagreement or quarrel but through dialogue. A woman can change the mind set of her husband against the Almajiri school.  It must not be necessarily by going to court but if the situation warrants them to go why not?  Women should try to exhaust all the cultural and religious avenues to convince their spouses to understand the dangers of enrolling their children in Almajiri school and the implications of depriving them the opportunity to have western education. You know we have cultural values that negate open confrontation with our spouses. I am not saying that quranic education is bad but we have a modern way of pursuing quranic education under the watch of parents. Women have responsibilities to help our children by campaigning against Almajiris roaming the streets. Women can start with dialogue, consultation within the immediate family before going out to the society. The menace of these abuses of our children can be drastically reduced if married women, divorcees and other women in the society understand the need to make our society better. Women have a role to play especially in curtailing the issue of Almajiri system in Northern Nigeria.

Continue reading: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/my-ex-husband-sent-our-kids-to-almajiri-school-so-i-dragged-him-to-court.html

Success Adegor and state of universal basic education nationwide

By Chukwuemeka Otuchikere

Miss Success Adegor‘s rise to fame sounds like the stuff that fairy tales are made of. Fortune has smiled on the bold and outspoken seven-year-old pupil of Okotie Eboh Primary School Sapele, (OEPSS) Delta State. The head teacher of the school Mrs. Vero Igbigwe is not so fortunate. She has been suspended from her job at the Delta State Universal Basic Education Board.

The video clips showing the deplorable condition of the school is indeed a great indictment of the state government and her utter neglect of the universal Basic Education goal of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) concerning education. Mrs. Igbigwe is only a victim of institutional decay, which has eaten deep into the educational sector of Nigeria. She is the weak link in the chain of command that has promised to provide free qualitative education without creating an enabling environment. When the Federal government actually spends more money providing free feeding in selected states which is far in excess of the entire education budget across all tiers of the educational sector from primary to tertiary level. One begins to wonder if the core mandate of the education ministry is to feed school children or ensure that they focus on learning life skills.

That Nigeria is a nation of great contradictions is obvious. As Mrs. Igbigwe is been quizzed by relevant authorities, I hope that pertinent questions will be asked and solutions proffered will not just be cosmetic because as it stands, Mrs. Head teacher is simply a victim, she cuts the picture of the Israelites being asked to make bricks without straw.

I believe that the governor of Delta state, the entire ministry of education, the Local government within which the school is located has big questions to answer, – why should such a rich oil producing state have such run-down schools that will make anyone blush to be associated with such a big name “Okotie Eboh” yet such state of disrepair, another huge contradiction.

Rather than persecute the head teacher, I think the governor and indeed all state governors need to urgently carryout comprehensive auditing of the state of schools in their domain. This will save us this type of embarrassment, even schools in war-torn Afghanistan do not look like OEPSS, the environment appears very unsafe for any type of serious teaching and learning to take place.

Thank you Success Adegor for displaying such determined ruggedness in your quest for education, you are such an inspiration to your generation. Like you, every Nigerian child deserves some decent environment for their gifts and talent to flourish. Thank you Stephanie Idolor, whatever was your motivation for creating the video, it turned out to be an eye opener to the state of education in one part of Nigeria, nay all over the country.

Chukwuemeka Otuchikere, a geologist and entrepreneur is based in Calabar, Cross River state.

Success Adegor and stoicism in the Nigerian personality

  By Chukwuemeka Otuchikere

Nigerians are a tenacious set of people, they are an embodiment of traditions and contradictions. Suffering and smiling is a classical Nigerian behavioral trait which defies logical characterization. The country is so rich, it ranks amongst the major oil producing nations of the world, yet the populace is at the bottom rung of world poverty.

Success Adegor, the now famous school pupil of Okotie Eboh Primary School Sapele, (OEPSS) Delta state summarized this attitudinal disposition in one sentence succinctly put ‘Dem go flog, dem go tire’. Most Nigerians seem to be born with an inherent tolerance for pain, which is literarily well beyond elastic limits. Like Miss Adegor, they believe that they can wear out their tormentors’ sadistic resolve to inflict more pain. You can hear her conclude thus ‘they think they are stubborn, but I am more stubborn’ I think language failed her here she actually meant to say she is resilient and cannot be brow beaten into submission.

Just like little Success Adegor knows, the tormentor is a most brutal and determined system programmed to destroy the will and the determination of the most ambitious in society. It portrays the fact that our people are acquainted with pain in a most uncanny manner. Nigeria is the ’new’ headquarters of poverty. She ranks higher than all other nations on the poverty index. Hunger, illiteracy, and squalor is the new reality.

‘E go better’ is another popular Nigerian saying, implying that there is some kind of light expected at the end of the dark tunnel. However, this light appears imaginary most times and is only real in the imagination of the common Nigerian. Maybe for Miss Success Adegor, that light is flickering brighter than ever since her video went viral on social media.

The self-confidence of this little school girl has won her many admirers and patrons. Overnight many people are offering to sponsor education even up to tertiary level. The offer of help is all a composite part of that Nigerian spirit that never says-die even in the face of daunting challenges. A sense of community has once again been ignited by the travails of Success Adegor in her inborn instinct to survive a system designed to frustrate her most vulnerable without much provocation ‘Dem go they flog!’ another question is raised, what about the other Success’ at schools like OEPSS nationwide? Will they keep enduring the floggings?

Chukwuemeka Otuchikere, a geologist and entrepreneur is based in Calabar, Cross River state.

5 arrested Nigerians in Dubai: Should I laugh or cry?

By Comrade Peter Esele

Though the recent bank robbery by five Nigerian men was given an ethnic slant by Ms. Abike Dabiri, President Mohammadu Buhari’s special adviser on foreign affairs and diaspora, Comrade Peter Esele, a former president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria, chose instead to scrutinize its effects on Nigerians while probing her response to the incident.

The recent report of five Nigerians arrested for armed robbery in Dubai and the response by the senior special assistant on foreign affairs and diaspora to the president has brought upon me the above caption. Indeed robbery and drug trafficking are despicable acts that deserve unequivocal condemnation. Time and time again we often wonder why people would persevere with perpetrating crimes abroad knowing the ultimate price of jail terms and even death in some cases. However, making haste to offer banal official statements ridden with diplomatic clichés and moral sentiments do not offer much by way of solutions. We know this does not help because the problem persists. Condemnation tempered with critical thinking that raises key questions for a productive national conversation might be the way to go. Between the presidential statement and the ethnic debate that polarised Nigerians on social media, where are the deeper questions we should be asking? How many countries disparage their citizens the way we do here? Let us flip the coin for a second. If five foreign nationals were caught in a robbery scandal in Nigeria, it is the laxity of our security agencies and judiciary that will frame the debate. The errant foreign citizens will be condemned by their governments in a roundabout, convoluted language that still preserves the dignity of what it means to be an American or British citizen. The denials and all out condemnations are, of course, reserved for dual-nationals quickly rejected. Mrs. Abike Dabiri- Erewa the president’s aide, should have known that her primary responsibility is to defend and support Nigeria and Nigerians in foreign countries come what may. Rebuke with diplomacy. That is the art of her office. Therefore, initiate a consular visit to these Nigerians to ensure their rights are protected. Investigate the broader context. Did the Dubai five enter the UAE with weapons from Nigeria? If no, how were the arms procured? How easy is it to buy weapons there? Were these Nigerians contracted by locals to carry out this raid? Could it be another attempt to humiliate Nigerians? On the other hand, could there be an emerging ring of Nigerian gangs resident in the UAE making it easy for those coming to travel light? This could open up deeper issues that might lead us to understanding what is actually going on beyond “all Nigerians should be good ambassadors abroad”. Where do such clichés leave us? Does it tell us how fair and equitable the UAE justice system is? How many Nigerians have been murdered in the past in the UAE? Was justice served? We must never forget this Nigerians are innocent until the court of law says no. Mrs Dabiri-Erewa herself has in the past admitted to the shoddy treatment and possible innocence of some Nigerians caught up in alleged heinous crimes abroad. It is the responsibility of our government to stand by any Nigerian anywhere as it is done in other climes. Recently a British national was accused of spying abroad. His government fought tooth and nail to get him home while also carrying out their own investigations and vigorous diplomatic engagements on his behalf. The point is, ride or die, when one too many nationals start falling through the loop, the value of what it means to be a British citizen will be diminished abroad both for the innocent and guilty. After all, if their government does not value them, why should any other? I am not justifying crimes. I am simply making the point that the Nigerian government should stand for its people abroad and conduct a critical analysis of the situation. They should act in accordance with laid down processes and rule of law. When you name, shame and humiliate the so-called guilty, you make it harder for others, even the innocent to be respected and treated with dignity abroad. The sad part is that as with everything Nigeria, the ‘D5 saga’ has been buried under ethnic debates in the media, particularly social media platforms. There is a bigger picture here we should be looking at and that is how it affects us all. What can be done to mitigate such incidents and equally ensure no Nigerian is maltreated anywhere in world? How do we also stop those with criminal intents from this perennial crises of national image defamation regardless of their tribe and creed? I am neither Igbo nor Yoruba. I am Nigerian and I care what happens to us all and this is why I have decided to cry rather than laugh at the fallout from this saga. Peter Esele, a former president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria.

Comrade Peter Esele, a former president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria.

It’s time for Nigeria to divorce

By Victor Terhemba , M. Hicks

Divorce is a word closely associated with marriage, but it is also used in other domains to carry the same meaning as it would when used in the context, especially when that subject has the same attributes as a marriage. The English dictionary defines divorce as a legal dissolution of marriage or to separate or dissociate (something) from something else, typically with an undesirable effect.

Divorce occurs in marriages mostly when the couples realise that the marriage is not going as they had expected and hoped. When the marriage becomes unevenly balanced, a threat to either of the couple existence or when they begin to experience unhappiness with each other, the couple may decide to agree to put an end to the marriage. Even when it is unanimously agreed by both couple, the one who feels most aggrieved may still go ahead and sue for a divorce.

It has been shown overtime, with crushing examples, that couples who are compelled to stay in unhappy marriages most of the times end up with regrettable and avoidable consequences. For example, a woman who refuses to leave her abusive marriage because of the fear of public perception or for the fear of losing her status, may one day get a permanent disability, or worse, get killed by her incessant abusive husband. Or, the couple who still decide to stay in an unhappy marriage despite the notorious infidelity of the other partner are most likely to continue living in despair and the emotional trauma of being cheated on. Whatever is not working and cannot be repaired should be abandoned.

The case with Nigeria bears striking resemblance with the picture of marriages painted above and the debate has been on for a very long time if Nigeria needs to be separated. There have been divergent and contrasting reactions to this debate, some even consider it to be a “too holy a topic” to discuss. But we say, more than ever, this is time to divorce Nigeria.
Before the wisdom of Lord Fredrick Lugard prevailed upon him to create a contraption called Nigeria, they were known separately as the Southern and Northern protectorates before they were married together and rechristened Nigeria by Lady Flora Shaw, the wife of Lord Fredrick Lugard.

In his book, Path to Nigeria freedom, Chief Obafemi Awolowo had said that Nigeria is not a nation, it is a mere geographical expression. There are no Nigerians in the same sense as there are English or Welsh or French. While Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in his speech at the legislative council of 1948, he had said “Since 1914 the British Government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian people themselves are historically different in their backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and customs and do not show themselves any sign of willingness to unite, Nigerian unity is only a British intention for the country”.
These are words of our “revered” founding fathers that still sound true till this day. The surgical wounds from the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 had not even healed when the country gained independence in 1960. Political leaders have thought the best way to address the wounds was to cover them up with a plaster with the hopes that it will make the cracks go away. They are still yet to realise that cosmetic makeover is only temporal beauty.

Continue reading: https://sundiatapost.com/2019/03/11/its-time-for-nigeria-to-divorce-by-victor-terhemba-m-hicks/

Four conditions for an election to be challenged in tribunal/court

Daily Law Tips

By Onyekachi Umah

Any election in any part of Nigeria can be challenged in the appropriate tribunal/court. 
The 4 Grounds/Conditions To Challenge An Election in Nigeria, are;

1. Elected candidate was not qualified to contest in election.
2. Election was invalid due to corrupt practises or non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
3. Elected candidate was not elected by majority of valid votes casted at an election.
4. A validly nominated candidate was unlawfully excluded from the election.

My authorities are sections 138 and 158 of the Electoral Act, 2010. Also, the decision of the Supreme Court in BUHARI V. OBASANJO (2003) 17 NWLR (Pt.850) 510 and the decision of Court of Appeal in the case of OKAFOR OKOREAFFIA & ANOR. v. HON. AGWU U. AGWU & ANOR. (2010) LPELR-4708(CA)

#SabiElectionLaws
# DailyLawTips
#SabiLaw
#LearnNigerianLaws

Continue reading: https://www.learnnigerianlaws.com/index.php/law-tips/339-how-to-prove-that-a-bank-is-licensed-in-nigeria-daily-law-tips-tip-300-by-onyekachi-umah-esq-llm-aciarb-uk

Ihunnaya – A thank you note to mum, my teacher

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

It was sometime in late 1991. Uniformed soldiers were still in power in Nigeria. Somewhere in Orlu, in the then Imo State, kinsmen called a meeting with a rather curious agenda. They were worried that one of their sons, a young lawyer, was wasting his talents on opposing military rule and taking government to court, when soldiers wielded power through the gun.

It sounded dangerous. This meeting was called so the kinsmen would decide on how to get him to become a more responsible lawyer. If he refused, they told his father, they would make arrangements to remove him from the far-away city where he resided and get him closer to home where he could be prevailed upon to listen to his elders.

At the back of the room, unseen by all the men, a woman had eavesdropped on much of the conversation. The young lawyer whose work was the reason for the meeting was her former student. Convinced the meeting was pointless, she decided to take matters into her hands. In seconds, she drifted quietly into the meeting room with some refreshments for the men. In an audible whisper, dropped with just the right dose of deference that the society required women to reserve for such gatherings, she asked the men whether they had considered that the person that they were discussing about was an adult who could take decisions for himself.

Before they could notice her, she had disappeared, leaving behind the refreshments that she knew they desired. The question was probably not designed to elicit an answer. After all, this was a meeting of kinsmen to which married women were not allowed. But it had exactly the effect that she desired it to have – the meeting was practically over.

Over a lifetime of living with patriarchy in the south-east of Nigeria, this female teacher, school manager and mother had become a quietly effective advocate against some of its most extreme tendencies with a mix of subtlety, stubbornness and calculated risk-taking.

She was born in March 1945 in the old Orlu Division of what would later become the Eastern Region of Nigeria, the first child of a Warrant Chief, Ogueze Agha, who named her Ihunnaya, meaning “the face of her father”. Her father, a produce trader, who had received no formal education, desired to redress that deficiency with his children. It was an era in which young girls were taught that their most elevated ambitions were to be wives and mothers. In primary school, she excelled, skipping the first year and being admitted as an eight year-old into the second. After four years, her local girls-only school run my Catholic Missionaries had no more classes left. Young girls were not supposed, it seemed, to go beyond four years of basic education. The few who desired to had to transfer to another girls-only school a considerable distance away.

12 year-old Ihunnaya had some decisions to make. Some comfortable traders were already interested in her as a wife. Child marriage was rife and real. She told them where to get off. In the same year, 1957, she became baptized as a Catholic, taking the name Anthonia (after Saint Anthony of Padua, the Patron Saint of lost items). But there was the small matter of her education. She convinced her father to accompany her to the local boys-only school where they persuaded the school management to turn the school co-educational and admit her to complete the last two years of primary education. At the new school, the boys taunted her, telling her repeatedly that her place was in the kitchen not in school. As their punishment, she became the best student in the school, leaving primary school as the valedictorian.

Over two decades beginning from 1962 and lasting through a civil war, post-war reconstruction and mothering ten of her own children, Ihunnaya built a career in education as a teacher, schools manager and social justice and reproductive health advocate for women.

Her primary concern was with patriarchy and equipping women to create safe spaces for themselves in contexts in which such spaces were rare and opportunities for leisure and renewal for women did not exist. When she got married in 1964, she recalled, the leadership of the local Christian Women’s Organisation (CWO), was in the hands of two men as if the women were children, incapable of organizing or leading themselves. To make it a women’s organization, she led the women to organize and wrest leadership from the men.

It was a concern that would inform her life-long investment in reproductive health education for rural women. She traveled long distances teaching women the importance of having the skills to manage the burdens of family sizes, child spacing, and numbers.This commitment came from hard lessons learnt from her brutal experience from having had and raised 10 children of her own.

Patriarchy, she argued, did not invent or replicate itself. It was enabled by family systems that made boys entitled to expect service from girls and women happy to see themselves as vassals and vessels for reproduction. So, she decided that all her children would receive life skills in cooking, cleaning, home management and child-minding. A roster for domestic chores ensured that all her children took turns in doing all of these. As a teacher, she said, the first test of her skills was with her children. All of them would also become her pupils or students through school.

Diagnosed with illness that would ultimately prove terminal a little over five years ago, Ihunnaya decided to defer her own treatment in order to nurse her husband who was then ailing. By the time of his burial in January 2016 her own diagnosis turned out to be a malignant metastasis. Given less than one year to survive, she said she had one final class to teach and set about writing the story of her life with patriarchy. In the event, she beat the doctors’ prognosis by well over two years.

It all began really over a pivotal eight-year period from 1957 to 1964, when Ihunnaya became in succession a Christian, a teacher, a wife and a mother. To her, these roles were all part of a coherent system of values formation, which only made sense if they were placed at the disposal of serving others and making the world better for those whom we meet along the way.

I was one of the most privileged whom she met along the way: Ihunnaya was my mother, my teacher and my most committed advocate. On 19 February, I kissed her forehead and her feet, knowing that would be the last time I saw her alive. The following day, she received the final rites from my brother, Obinna, a Catholic Priest. Within 36 hours, on 22 February, she breathed her last. On 29 March 2019, her mortal remains will be committed to earth.

Onnoghen trial is a despicable, venal fantasy

By Chidi Odinkalu

Despite manifest incongruities in the official story-line concerning Buhari’s decision to remove the Chief Justice of Nigeria in Jan 2019, I was willing to suspend my disbelief & wait for government to present evidence to support its claims of asset malfeasance in the Onnoghen trial

When it launched its fevered campaign against the Chief Justice before the Onnoghen trial in the month before #NigeriaDecides2019, the government claimed through its hired hands that he had money running into Billions in multiple bank accounts and over 55 houses

Chidi Odinkalu

Hired amplifiers were procured to skewer a man who could not defend himself. In the media, he was a thief, a rogue and much worse.

Digital lynch mobs, many of them amplifier bots with transparent ends to serve created a mood music with a life of its own.

#OnnoghenTrial

Given the opportunity to back up its claims, the government’s case at the #OnnoghenTrial has turned out to be a despicable, venal fantasy.

There were no billions, no 55 houses, no fantasy FOREX in make-believe domiciliary accounts. A government decided to make up lies against an innocent man

By way of a useful comparison-based evidence from the #OnnoghenTrial, Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen, who has spent a lifetime in private legal practice and judicial public service, is much poorer than Yusuf Buhari who has just been “awarded” his NYSC discharge certificate.

If the Onnoghen trial showed that the Chief Justice had anything like the assets the government originally claimed, he’d surely have had a case to answer.

Now it’s clear that was all made up; the government has a burden to investigate and explain how it chose to mislead Nigerians and the world.

In the end, it’s difficult for the Buhari government to escape the perception that it conspired to orchestrate Onnoghen trial because of personal animus towards the man related to his origins and to factors that had nothing to do with his performance on his job.

Government should not do that!

The damage done by the Buhari administration in the manner that it  procured the Onnoghen trial will take more than a generation to address.

This is more than about one man and his fate. If a government can conspire to pervert institutions as it has done in this case, no one is safe!

Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, former Chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission is currently the senior team manager for the Africa Program of Open Society Justice Initiative.

As Mayer Brown, Orrick Oust Partners, Signs of a Post-#MeToo Standard

While law firms once had economic incentives to keep allegations of misconduct quiet, the same incentives now push them to take bolder action.

By Dan Packel

In a span of two weeks earlier this month, both Mayer Brown and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe showed the door to partners over what the firms described as inappropriate personal conduct. What’s more, they weren’t secretive about their actions: In statements provided to press, the names of the partners were acknowledged, and both firms said they were acting to protect their “values.”

Credit the #MeToo movement. Several years ago, law firms might have handled such cases far more quietly—perhaps with a confidential settlement. At K&L Gates, for example, an ALM investigationfound a pattern of such settlements between the firm and women who alleged sexual misconduct and discriminatory behavior between 2002 and 2012.

New York employment lawyer Douglas Wigdor said in the past cases brought by his clients against law firms had resulted in confidential settlements, while those tagged with improper conduct remained partners in their firms. But things have changed, he said.

“Now, with these cases and others, the alleged wrongdoers are terminated and pushed out,” he said. “Law firms are now understanding that it’s a serious liability to have someone going to work as a partner or employee who’s engaged in this kind of conduct.”

The public firings suggest a new calculus, not necessarily a moral awakening.

“Firms are really concerned about bad publicity. They realize how interested the press is about this issue,” said Minna Kotkin, a professor of law at Brooklyn Law School. “One woman who comes forward can do a lot of harm, both for retaining clients and recruiting new lawyers.”

That’s altered the cost-benefit analysis for firms, which in the past may have been willing ignore evidence of misconduct, protect their rainmakers and keep fees flowing in.

If money explains why firms were willing to sit on their hands in the past, it also explains why they’re taking action now, according to Wigdor. They face “significant ramifications,” not just liability to the person who’s come forward, but the economic repercussions of clients heading elsewhere.

This dynamic is magnified by the fact that even prior to the rise of the #MeToo movement,  many multinationals and banks had grown more attuned to the consequences of letting individuals accused of sexual misconduct and harassment stay put and were quicker to take steps to cut ties with them. These businesses are likely to have the same expectations for their outside counsel.

“You would think law firms would be leaders in this area, but unfortunately, they’re not,” Wigdor said.

Signs of change

The changing incentive structure doesn’t mean that the pivot is easy for firms. ”I think it’s taking a lot of serious conversations,” said Gwen Mellor, a partner with the Zeughauser Group.

Continue reading: https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2019/03/28/as-mayer-brown-orrick-oust-partners-signs-of-a-post-metoo-standard/

Wrongfully Convicted Ex-Judge Wins Ruling in Malicious Prosecution Lawsuit

The judge found the DA’s prosecutors “were acting as investigators searching for probable cause, as opposed to acting as prosecutors with probable cause preparing for prosecution. As such, at this time, prosecutorial immunity does not protect the actions.”

A former Texas district judge who was wrongfully convicted of nine felonies and later acquitted—because the allegations against her broke no Texas law—has moved a step closer to holding prosecutors accountable for alleged malicious prosecution.

Judge Amos Mazzant of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled yesterday that the prosecutors who investigate and prosecuted former 380th District Judge Suzanne Wooten of Collin County cannot claim that prosecutorial immunity protects them because they acted as detectives, rather than just prosecutors.

“This was not a case where the police investigated a crime to find a suspect, but rather where the prosecutors investigated a suspect to find a crime,” wrote Mazzant in the March 27 opinion in Wooten v. Roach, which denied all but one argument in the defendants’ motions to dismiss Wooten’s lawsuit.

The defendants are Collin County, its former District Attorney John Roach Sr. and former Assistant District Attorney Christopher Milner, former Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott—he’s now Texas governor—and former Assistant Attorney General Harry White. White and Abbott’s press office didn’t respond to a request for comment. Matthews, Shiels, Knott, Eden, Davis & Beanland partner Bob Davis of Dallas, who represents Collin County, Roach and Milner, declined to comment.

Wooten’s lawyer, Scott H. Palmer, said she feels elated by the ruling.

“She understands there’s probably more to come,” said Palmer, president of Scott H. Palmer PC in Addison. “These guys did this on their own: They targeted her and took this on lock, stock and barrel, and investigated their own case. That’s not what prosecutors do normally. It sends a message to prosecutors across the state and the land: Don’t engage in this type of behavior, because if you do and it blows up in your face, you are going to get sued.”

Wrongful Conviction

The opinion explained the background of the case. In March 2008, Wooten defeated incumbent 380th District Judge Charles Sandoval in the Republican primary in Collin County. Sandoval filed a complaint against Wooten, alleging she cheated during the election. The DA’s office, headed by Roach at the time, investigated Wooten’s campaign without law enforcement’s help. Later, the AG’s Office joined the prosecution. The two-year investigation ended with Wooten indicted in October 2010, and re-indicted in July 2011.

The prosecution’s theory was that a married couple, David and Stacy Cary, gave contributions to Wooten’s campaign through James Spencer, Wooten’s campaign consultant, who also did consultant work for the Carys. The central allegation was that the Carys funneled money through Spencer to Wooten’s campaign, in exchange for Wooten to file to run as a judge, campaign against Sandoval and issue favorable rulings in the Cary family law cases, Texas Lawyer reported.

The Carys and Spencer became co-defendants in Wooten’s case, and each was tried separately and convicted by juries. As for Wooten, she faced convictions for six counts of bribery, one count of engaging in organized criminal activity, one count of money laundering and one count of tampering with a government record, the opinion said.

Texas Lawyer previously reported that in the end, a jury convicted Wooten of the nine felonies in November 2011, and the state offered her 10 years of probation if she would resign and waive her right to appeal. She accepted but still pleaded not guilty and never waived her right to habeas corpus relief. She was sentenced to 10 years of probation and a $10,000 fine.

Mazzant wrote that Spencer took a plea deal. The Carys appealed their convictions, and eventually, those appeals wound up in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which in December 2016 acquitted the Carys of all counts, ruling the allegations against them weren’t a crime under Texas law.

Using that reasoning, Wooten filed for habeas corpus relief and won her acquittal in May 2017. She had been disbarred because of her conviction, but upon her acquittal, Wooten won back her law license.

Continue reading: https://www.law.com/texaslawyer/2019/03/28/wrongfully-convicted-ex-judge-wins-ruling-in-malicious-prosecution-lawsuit/

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