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Having experienced family court firsthand as a clerk, and as a member of the ethics committee, I can tell you that the bar absolutely does care if a lawyer lies

Having experienced family court firsthand as a clerk, and as a member of the ethics committee, I can tell you that the bar absolutely does care if a lawyer lies in court. It is a sanctionable offense. At the low end, it is a fine in the thousands. The usual sanction is a suspension of the lawyer's license to practice for several months. At the upper end, the penalty is revocation of one's license to practice law.

solfox 3y ago
Why, then, is it most common for a judge to fine a lawyer $999 if they bother to issue sanctions against them? A laughable and seemingly arbitrary hand-slap for an attorney making $550+/hour! But it's not arbitrary because a $1000+ fine would result in mandatory reporting to the bar. One recent high-profile example of such a consequence-avoiding fine is THIS VERY CASE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/16/chatgpt-lawyer-fired-ai/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/16/chatgpt...