Colorado Supreme Court
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel
Promoting Professionalism. Protecting the Public.
65
bar investigators share ideas at conference
The Organization of Bar Investigators’
gathering in Denver featured sessions about motivational interviewing,
investigative techniques and a moving story of an attorney’s redemption.
By JAMES CARLSON
Fall
2015
A
packed room of bar investigators sat rapt at a conference last month as
Attorney Scott Meiklejohn recounted his spiral into alcoholism 15 years ago.
At
first, Meiklejohn could still manage his legal duties. Then he began missing
deadlines. And at some point, he started running out of money. So he eyed his
trust account fund.
“I
swore that I wasn’t that person,” he told the crowd, “that I would never do
that.”
But
he did. For taking from his trust account, he was eventually disbarred. His
story, however, had a happy ending. After eight years away, and a strong
history of recovery, he applied to be readmitted. And the attorney who helped
him reenter the profession was the very attorney who sought disbarment in the
first place.
“We
believe in the power of redemption,” Jim Coyle, now Attorney Regulation
Counsel, told those gathered.
Meilkejohn
now volunteers with the Colorado Lawyer Assistance Program, is the Vice Chair
of Colorado Lawyers Helping Lawyers, and actively counsels others in recovery.
Their
session, “The Regulator and the Regulated,” was just one highlight from the
12th Annual Organization of Bar Investigators Conference hosted in early
September by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel. More than 60 bar investigators
from 26 jurisdictions traveled to Denver to hear from experts on motivational
interviewing, compassion fatigue and the fate of changes to federal immigration
policy, among other issues.
The
conference ran for three days and featured nine sessions for those who help
investigate attorneys accused of ethical violations. Coyle welcomed
conference-goers the first day and introduced the keynote speaker, Justice
Monica Márquez of the Colorado Supreme Court.
Karen
Bershenyi, an investigator in the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel and one
of the conference organizers, said she found Thursday’s session on
investigation techniques enlightening. Investigators from across the country
broke into small groups and tackled a fictitious case.
“It
was interesting to learn that different jurisdictions handle investigations
very differently,” she said.
Earlier
at the conference, Anjali Nandi delivered a talk on motivational interviewing.
Nandi, the program director for a Colorado drug and alcohol treatment agency,
told attendees about four steps: Keeping questions open-ended, affirming
interviewees’ positive behaviors, reflecting back to them what they’ve said, and
summarizing their statements.
In
another session, former Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel John Gleason
teamed with attorney Alec Rothrock to discuss being on both sides of an
attorney discipline case. Gleason, who now practices attorney discipline
defense with Rothrock at Burns Figa & Will, urged
the attendees to have compassion for respondents.
“The
personalities coming to you are not who they are in regular life,” he said.
“They’ve got a million things going on in their life, and they are fearful.”
The
Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel has been instrumental in OBI
from the beginning. The Office hosted the first bar investigators’ training
conference in 2004. It was at that meeting that OBI was formalized as an
organization. Since its inception, the organization has grown into an
international association of more than 300 investigators helping to foster
excellence in bar investigation techniques.
James Carlson is the Information
Resources Coordinator for the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel.