Cruise Bruise Blog
April 10, 2009
April 10, 2009
California 'Maritime' Lawyer Didn't Go To Law School?

After stumbling on a lawyer's web site that had some pretty confusing language, so confusing it appeared that he was representing the Jane Doe in a the recent Coral Princess sexual assault case, I discovered some pretty unsettling facts about not only that attorney, but as many as 60 other attorneys in California.

Had I actually not known the attorney on the Jane Doe case was Charles Lipcon, from reading the lawyer's web site, I would have thought he was the attorney representing the victim.

Seeing this confusing language on the site, I decided to look around the web site, and find out more about this attorney. The discovery lead me to some facts, that the average citizen might not be aware of, when it comes to an attorney and their credentials.

Under California law attending college is not required to become an attorney. The California State Bar Law Office Study Program allows California residents to become California attorneys without graduating from college or law school, assuming they meet basic educational requirements.

Maritime Law, is the brain surgery of the medical field. You wouldn't dream of hiring a brain surgeon who had never gone to med school, why would you hire a lawyer trying to practice Maritime Law, without having gone to law school? Further, does passing the state bar exam mean that the attorney is really qualified to practice law?

For something as tricky as Maritime Law, having a highly educated and experienced Maritime Attorney working for you against an international cruise line can mean the difference between getting the case past the first set of rules that have to be met, before a suit can even be heard before a judge.

This is not something to be handled lightly by a general practice attorney more suited to wills, divorces, personal injury, bankruptcy and other domestic law issues. It would be like letting your family practioner remove that brain tumor.

I'm not sure which is worst though, in my opinion, having an attorney who never went to college or law school, having an attorney who got his law degree while serving extended time in prison or having an attorney who got his law degree after committing a heinous murder.

In researching this article, I found one man about to be paroled in Indiana for the decapitation murder of his father. While in prison for 26 years,  Paul Komyatti received three bachelor's degrees from Ball State University.

Once paroled, he could be the lawyer representing returning passengers who were victimized on a cruise ship as he plans to work as a paralegal when he gets out of prison next month, then work as a lawyer. Imagine, sitting across from a man, in his office, convicted for helping family members decapitate his father.

This is not anything new. Back in the 1890s, Texan John Wesley Hardin did time in the Texas State Penitentiary at the Huntsville “Walls” prison. Hardin had admitted to to having killed 44 men and was in prison for one of the murders. Hardin finished his law degree while incarcerated in Huntsville. After serving 17 years, he was released and practiced law in El Paso, Texas.

In California,  Eben Gossage, from an affluent family,  went to prison in 1975 after he killed his 19-year-old sister, bashing in her head with a hammer until her brain seeped out. He then stabbed her corpse nearly 50 times with a pair of scissors.

Gossage graduated from law school in 1991. Tragically, he only served a 2-1/2-year prison sentence for the heinous crime. After getting out, he racked up a healthy list of petty crimes as a heroin addict and alcoholic.

Though he passed the bar on the first try, California denied him the right to practice law in part because he lied on the application, failing to list more than half of the 17 criminal convictions he had racked up over the years, most of them after being released from prison for the murder. The bar was not convinced he was of great moral character, neither was the Supreme Court.

There are many situations you might want to know about, before hiring an attorney. For example, California lawyer Maxcy Filer failed the California state bar exam Forty-seven times before finally passing it on the 48th time.

A Florida attorney was disbarred after he embezzled and cheated dozens of his clients out of an estimated one million dollars. Robert J. Mazzara would settle injury claim cases, sign the checks the insurance companies would send, and keep the money for himself. With the cases adding up, on August 11, 2007 Mazzara committed suicide.

Choosing an attorney to represent a victim against a cruise line can result in a huge mistake. If the attorney trying to get his client off criminal charges begins messing up, the client can fire him or her, hire another, and may be no worst for the wear.

With Maritime Law, it won't matter to a judge that a victim made a mistake, choosing an incompetent attorney, the case can go immediately down the drain, with no recourse because certain criteria was not met before the case went to court.

Looking at the credentials of a potential Maritime attorney is important, looking at their moral character is even more important.

Slight of hand wording on a web site, by an 'attorney', seemed like a red flag to me. In my opinion, it should also be a red flag to you. Good lawyers don't have to trick the public in order to get new clients, their record speaks for their expertise.

The two attorneys featured on this site are experienced in Maritime Law, have handled complex cases in an ethical manner, and won judgements or settlements for the clients in excessive of one million dollars. They know the law, as it applies to the cruise industry. Please do consider that fact before choosing an attorney to represent you.