STATE ex rel. OKLAHOMA BAR ASSOCIATION v. OLIVER

2015 OK 4

Summary: Attorney Jeremy Daniel Oliver has been immediately suspended on an interim basis due to his entry of a nolo contendre plea to charges of one count of Publishing, Distributing or Participating in Obscene Material, and one count of Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance.

Legal Issues: The Oklahoma Supreme Court is directly responsible for the accreditation of attorneys in the state of Oklahoma. This is accomplished through the Oklahoma Bar Association and its enforcement of the Oklahoma Rules for Professional Conduct for Attorneys ("ORPC").  If an attorney is alleged to have violated the ORPC, the Oklahoma Bar Association investigates as outlined in the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings ("RGDP"). 

Because the change of status of an attorney from 'good standing' to 'suspended' is of public significance, all attorney licensure matters are published, regardless of whether a novel legal question is involved.

As one would expect, an attorney is required to obey the criminal laws of the state. ORPC 8.4 (b) prohibits an attorney from committing a "criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects." Thus matters such as routine traffic tickets or even a single DUI are not necessarily actionable. The commentary to the rule notes: "Although a lawyer is personally answerable to the entire criminal law, a lawyer should be professionally answerable only for offenses that indicate lack of those characteristics relevant to law practice. Offenses involving violence, dishonesty, breach of trust, or serious interference with the administration of justice are in that category. A pattern of repeated offenses, even ones of minor significance when considered separately, can indicate indifference to legal obligation."

In order to police the attorneys of this state in a timely fashion, the Oklahoma Supreme Court requires that if an attorney enters a plea of 'guilty' or 'nolo contendre' to a "crime that demonstrates such attorney's unfitness to practice law" that the court clerk forward a copy of the plea or judgment to the Oklahoma Supreme Court for action. (See, RGDP 7.1 and 7.3). Typically, the Court will enter an immediate interim suspension of the attorney and refer the matter to the Oklahoma Bar Association for investigation and further action under the RGDP.

Discussion: Oliver plead 'nolo contendre' to a felony charge of possession of a controlled dangerous substance in Garvin County, Oklahoma Case No. CF-2013-35 and misdemeanor charges of publishing, distributing, or participating in obscene material and possession of a controlled dangerous substance in Garvin County, Oklahoma Case No. CM-2015-11. The judgments on these matters were forwarded to the Oklahoma Supreme Court per RGDP 7.3 and the Oklahoma Supreme Court entered an immediate interim suspension of Oliver's license to practice law until further notice. This matter will now be handled via the disciplinary procedures and will appear before the Court again when a final determination regarding Oliver's status as an attorney is determined.

Update: In 2015 OK 33 the Oklahoma Supreme Court accepted Oliver's voluntary resignation of his license to practice law with disciplinary proceedings pending. Oliver may not seek readmission to the bar for five years from the effective date of that order.

DISCIPLINARY RULES OF STATE BD. OF EXAMINERS OF CERTIFIED COURTROOM INTERPRETERS

2015 OK 3

Summary: This is an administrative matter that sets the rules governing the newly formed State Board of Examiners of Certified Courtroom Interpreters.

Discussion: The Oklahoma Supreme Court is adopting rules to a board of examiners who will officially accredit foreign language translators to work in Oklahoma courtrooms. This is an administrative action regarding the Court’s governance of the operations of the Oklahoma court system.

RULES OF STATE BD. OF EXAMINERS OF CERTIFIED COURTROOM INTERPRETERS

2015 OK 2

Summary: This is an administrative matter that sets the rules governing the newly formed State Board of Examiners of Certified Courtroom Interpreters.

Discussion: The Oklahoma Supreme Court is adopting rules to a board of examiners who will officially accredit foreign language translators to work in Oklahoma courtrooms. This is an administrative action regarding the Court’s governance of the operations of the Oklahoma court system.

FEE SCHEDULE FOR STATE BD. OF EXAMINERS OF CERTIFIED COURTROOM INTERPRETERS

2015 OK 1

Summary: This is an administrative matter that sets the fee schedule for the newly formed State Board of Examiners of Certified Courtroom Interpreters.

Discussion: The Oklahoma Supreme Court is adopting rules to a board of examiners who will officially accredit foreign language translators to work in Oklahoma courtrooms. This is an administrative action regarding the Court’s governance of the operations of the Oklahoma court system.

The Oklahoma Appellate Court System

For an overview of how the court system plays a role in making law, see my previous post.

Oklahoma has two appellate courts of ‘last resort’, one for criminal matters and one for civil matters. These courts are co-equal in authority, but differ in jurisdiction. An organizational chart can be found here. There has been little controversy over the years regarding what is a criminal matter and what is not. (For a rare example of when that boundary was tested, see Leftwich v. Court of Criminal Appeals, 2011 OK 80.)

The Oklahoma Supreme Court is responsible for all matters that are not criminal in nature. It is also responsible for administrative matters like accrediting lawyers, court reporters, etc. and occasionally issues administrative rulings in that regard. Due to the broad jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, it publishes a significant number of opinions each year. Also, in order to ease its caseload, a lesser appellate court named the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals handles those cases assigned to it by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is limited solely to criminal actions where the legislature has provided for an appeal. (Allen v. State, 2011 OK CR 31.) Due to the narrow scope of its jurisdiction, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals publishes far fewer cases than the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

All of these courts publish their opinions when the case should be considered binding precedent. There are vast libraries of books filled with these opinion, all maintained by private corporations who have a financial interest in having you use their books. Luckily, a few years ago Oklahoma made the decision to move from paper books as their official publisher to their own website. All of the binding precedent for Oklahoma are all online and can be searched with simple keyword searches and can be found here. To read a case citation, or to write one, it is necessary first to list the name of the plaintiff "vs." or "v." defendant followed by a comma, then the citation which is made up of the year of the decision, an abbreviation of the court, and a number which is merely how many judgments have been made that year. For example, the first case cited above was 2011 OK 80. That means that it was decided in 2011 by the Oklahoma Supreme Court and this was the 80th case of that year. The proper court abbreviations are OK for the Oklahoma Supreme Court, OK CIV APP, for the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, and OK CR for the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Most opinions, certainly all within the last ten years or so, have numbered paragraphs. This allows one to cite a particular paragraph within the opinion with the addition of "¶ (number)".

Where does "the law" come from?

   This introductory message is aimed at the layperson interested in understanding the laws of the State of Oklahoma. Oklahoma is structured like the other states in the union. There is a formal written state Constitution that is the bedrock foundation of all other law in the state. All of the laws and regulations of the state government spring from this source. 

     When we think of ‘laws’ the most obvious example are the laws enacted by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. These laws are called statutes. Oklahoma Statutes are divided loosely by topic into 85 titles. Each title is divided into sections. These can be found online here. The proper way to cite a particular section of law is to give the number of the title, the abbreviation “O.S.” which stands for “Oklahoma Statutes” and then the section number. Usually the section symbol “§” (which is just two ‘s’es stacked on top of each other) is placed before the number of the section. Sometimes the abbreviation ‘sec.’ is used instead. Thus, the citation “12 O.S. §2” refers to title 12 (Civil Procedure) of the Oklahoma Statutes at section 2. This is the statute which refers another area where laws are created; “common law” or court created laws. Here’s what it says:

Section 2 - Common Law to Remain in Force in Aid of General Statutes

The common law, as modified by constitutional and statutory law, judicial decisions and the condition and wants of the people, shall remain in force in aid of the general statutes of Oklahoma; but the rule of the common law, that statutes in derogation thereof, shall be strictly construed, shall not be applicable to any general statute of Oklahoma; but all such statutes shall be liberally construed to promote their object.

     Statutes set out the law, but sometimes they are vague, contradict another statute, or conflict with the state or federal Constitution. Other times there may be a controversy between individuals before the court where there is not an applicable statute (think of technology advances, for example). The court must create some sort of answer to the conflict, it cannot simply tell these individuals “There’s no law here, so… good luck.” Under common law, the court has power to fill the ‘gaps’ between the statutes when there are none that apply, or to define the terms of a statute when there is any lack of clarity. The legislature may come along after and change the court-made law with a statute. Often, though, the legislature will make laws intentionally broad and allow the court to fill in the particulars with real-world examples.

     In order to avoid having the same questions come before the court again and again, the appellate courts publish some of their rulings, called opinions. All of the published opinions of the Oklahoma appellate courts can be found here. These opinions set forth the facts of the case before the court, the question (or questions) of law that were previously unclear, and the court’s ruling of what the new rule or interpretation is along, perhaps, with some of the reasons why. The published opinions of the court are binding on all lesser courts, who should rule on similar matters in the same way. A later post will explain the Oklahoma appellate courts in greater detail.

     The final source of ‘law’ in Oklahoma are the regulations of the various state agencies. State agencies fall under the executive branch, but have a limited amount of executive, legislative and sometimes judicial authority. All of the regulations of all of the administrative agencies in the state of Oklahoma can be found here. When a given topic will require a significant technical knowledge in order to make appropriate rules, the legislature establishes an agency to handle that topic and gives them authority to set up regulations or rules that have the effect of law. This is how, for instance, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality comes to set rules and regulations regarding water and sewage that have the force of law. Rather than debating specific technical requirements for septic tank systems in the state House and Senate by legislators who probably know nothing about the underlying trade, technical experts are hired to establish these rules and enforce them. All of the regulations of all of these departments are subject to legislative review, and the legislature can force them to be changed if they so choose. If an agency wishes to enforce its rules it may need to use the regular courts to do this. However, within many of these agencies are special courts to handle enforcement matters. Again, these are loosely under the review of the Oklahoma judiciary in that decisions of the agency-based courts can be appealed into the regular court system. 

     And so it is that each branch of the government is capable of ‘making laws’. The legislature can pass bills to create statutes. The judiciary can clear up conflicting statutes, refine broad statutory language, create rules when the statutes do not provide a rule, and can test statutes against the Constitution. The executive can make rules and regulations through administrative agencies. With all of these pieces in motion, it should not come as a surprise that when you ask a lawyer “What is the law on…?” that most often his answer will begin, “It depends…”

Disclaimer

"The Most Expensive Advice in Life is Free."

This blog is here for general education and discussion. Nothing on here is legal advice you should put to use in your life.

Legal issues are highly fact-driven and can be very particular. Lawyers charge money to help people make decisions and go to court, and its based on more than a few Google searches. If you make major life and/or legal decisions based on what you read on the internet don’t blame me.

If you have a legal problem and are in central Oklahoma, call me at (405) 459-7530 and I will be glad to see what I can do. If I cannot help you, I may be able to refer you to someone who can.

If you have not signed a written fee agreement with me, then you have not hired me as your attorney. If you are not paying me, then I’m not your lawyer.