'Overwhelmed' Trump-appointed judge disbarred after quitting amid misconduct scandal, will have to take classes

Source: Law & Crime

12h


An Alaska attorney appointed by President Donald Trump to a lifetime federal judgeship in 2020, who quit his job rather than facing possible impeachment amid a sexual harassment and misconduct scandal, has been stripped of his law license and ordered to take ethics classes as a condition for possible reinstatement down the road.

The Alaska Supreme Court on Friday adopted the "findings and conclusions of the Disciplinary Board" and ordered Joshua Kindred disbarred from practicing law "effective immediately," adding that he must earn "at least 15 credit hours of continuing legal education in the area of ethics, law office management, and management of law office accounts" before he can seek reinstatement.

As Law&Crime reported in July 2024, upon Kindred's resignation, a panel of judges on the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit released its conclusions about a Special Committee's investigation into and report on Kindred following allegations that he "created a hostile work environment for his law clerks by engaging in unwanted, offensive, and abusive conduct, and treating the law clerks in a demonstrably egregious and hostile manner."

The "misconduct," the panel said, included an "inappropriately sexualized relationship with one of his law clerks during her clerkship and shortly after her clerkship while she practiced as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Alaska."

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/overwhelmed-trump-appointed-judge-disbarred-after-quitting-amid-misconduct-scandal-will-have-to-take-classes-if-he-wants-license-back/ar-AA1Qk98o