Do Lawyers Have a 1st Amendment Right to Be Cross with Judges?

By Joe Palazzolo

A federal appeals court upheld sanctions against a veteran Florida bankruptcy lawyer who called a judge’s findings “half-baked” and then sent a bottle of wine to his chambers with a handwritten note.

The case raised an interesting question, at least in theory: What First Amendment rights do lawyers have to get sharp with judges?

Lawyer Kevin Gleason disagreed with a ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge John Olson, and he let the judge know it.

“It is sad when a man of your intellectual ability cannot get it right when your own record does not support your half-baked findings,” Mr. Gleason, whose practice is based in Hollywood, Fla., wrote in a brief filed in April 2011.

The dispute concerned commissions Mr. Gleason’s client received from a real-estate deal. Judge Olson ruled that the commissions had to be turned over to the administrator of the client’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. Mr. Gleason believed they were exempt.

A couple of weeks later, Mr. Gleason delivered a bottle of wine to Judge Olson’s chambers, with a hand-written note that read: “Dear Judge Olson, A Donnybrook ends when someone buys the first drink. May we resolve our issues privately?”

Judge Olson returned the bottle. According to Mr. Gleason, Judge Olson never read the note; it was still sealed when he got it back.

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