By Dr. Leon Koziol

Parenting Rights Institute

On January 9, 2018, I filed for a writ before the United States Supreme Court which raises precedent questions for lawyers across the country. It also seeks legal protection for judicial whistleblowers. While laws have been enacted for decades giving such protection to other whistleblowers in government and private employment,  no such protection has been extended to those who expose corruption in the judiciary and legal profession.

My ordeal is a watershed example of the horrific injustices which can occur whenever, and if ever, a lawyer takes a conscientious stand against his profession. Within weeks of my testimony before the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption at Pace University in 2013, my daughters, livelihood and law licenses were taken from me by lawyers and justices who were exposed for their corruption of parents and children in our divorce and family courts. I compared their misconduct to a “docket sheet in any criminal court.”

Former federal prosecutors Preet Bharara and Loretta Lynch (prior to her elevation to U.S. Attorney General) also testified the same day. I was one of the few focused on our judicial branch of government. Now the Supreme Court will have an opportunity to decide whether the third branch is above the law applied to the other two when it comes to First Amendment protection for judicial whistleblowers, those most familiar and qualified to shed light on the corruption of justice which is rampant there.

Only recently, as reported to mutual followers by Dr. Richard Cordero, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has appointed a Second Circuit (Manhattan) appeals judge to investigate growing reports of sexual harassment in our federal judiciary. Yet gender discrimination against fathers and persecution of non-custodial mothers continue in the same judiciary without so much as a footnote of concern (in diversity, international and unwarranted abstention cases).

However, perhaps for the first time, my cases raise the question of whether attorney disciplinary hearings should be made universally public across the country. And this should be of paramount concern to the media and litigants everywhere. In my case, misconduct by ethics lawyers was covered up or suppressed in the targeting of my law license. My ex-secretary finally went to jail in 2016 for felonies she committed against later law office employers but not for those against me when tampering with mail, court calendars and office funds in an outside scheme to set me up for my public criticisms.

The ethics lawyers engaged in the witch hunt against me were ultimately terminated for falsifying time sheets but were never publicly prosecuted for any criminal or ethics violations.  My custody judge (Bryan Hedges) was removed from my case and the bench one year later after  admitting to sexual abuse of his handicapped five year old niece. And a divorce lawyer in my region (Robert Sossen) was convicted of tax evasion on some $2 million in unreported income. He served a jail term but suffered no loss of licensing privileges while I am approaching eight years of suspension without even an accusation of any crime and ethics issues caused by a now convicted felon of my former law office.

Yes it is an injustice of epic proportion for one of the most conscientious lawyers in all of New York state.  And it is showing no sign of abatement. However my two cases pending simultaneously before the Supreme Courts of New York and United States may make a very positive impact for all moms and dads victimized in these courts. That is because government transparency does not end on the steps of our courthouses. If my ten years of orchestrated (retaliatory) ethics proceedings had been public, none of the horrific injustices would have resulted.

And those of you who paid exorbitant lawyer fees while incurring similar injustices to your parenting rights and child relationships would have genuine accountability (not the mere 10% of cases investigated by our judicial commissions). Put simply I am asking the Supreme Court to standardize lawyer regulation proceedings in all fifty states and make them subject to a presumption of open public access (hearings and records).

This is not a novel request. In 2015, the Supreme Court placed all attorney disciplinary proceedings there under the same presumption. Here is how I justified it in my filings. I drew from my history of sexual harassment prosecutions early in my career (timely with the Justice Roberts investigation) and I questioned why other professionals including a former president (disbarred lawyer Bill Clinton) faced public scrutiny for their misconduct but lawyers in New York and elsewhere do not. Here is a relevant excerpt from my writ filing:

There is nothing significant to distinguish lawyer accountability proceedings from other categories of litigation. Indeed the doctor (employer) who was initially cleared of sexual harassment claims in a case prosecuted by petitioner early in his career was not favored with such confidentiality. Nor was he benefited when that dismissal was reversed unanimously by the Second Circuit and later found liable on the same trial record, Currie v Kowalewski, 810 F. Supp. 31 (NDNY 1993)(“Currie I”); Currie v Kowalewski, 842 F. Supp. 57 (1994) (“Currie II”

CRUCIAL  NOTE:  It is important to share this post with media, fellow victims and organizations who should file a supporting brief while that window period allows. Do it for the sake of parents, innocent children and victimized litigants everywhere. The sacrifices I have made will be for naught with this continued epidemic of apathy which I have experienced on the subject. That apathy, useless keyboarding and war story telling only encourage the misconduct of judges and lawyers.

My recent book, Satan’s Docket describes this epidemic and can be purchased along with other services I offer at http://www.parentingrightsinstitute.com. You can also make a donation anytime there or on this site at http://www.leonkoziol.com. Finally you can contact our office at (315) 380-3420 or me personally at (315) 796-4000.