Recently in Judicial Misconduct Category

A call from a lawyer colleague alerted me to the fact that Judge Laureen D'Ambra is being considered as one of the nominees for a position on our Rhode Island Supreme Court was enough to increase my concern for the people of our fair state.

How many stories are there about Judge Laureen D'Ambra and the damage she caused to Rhode Island Families while she was assigned to the domestic calendarin Washington County for two (2) years on the Domestic Calendar?

I know of six (6) families victimized by Judge D'Ambra's actions in the course of her duties as a Rhode Island Associate family court judge and I am convinced there are likely to be many more. Due to bronchitis I am not in a position to write nearly as much as I would like at this time about Judge Laureen D'Ambra and the damage I believe she would invariably cause the people of Rhode Island if she were appointed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court by Governor Carcieri, but after this posting I will get ample rest and begin anew in the morning.

It is my understanding that public comment regarding the Nomination of Judge Laureen D'Ambra for the position of a seat on the Rhode Island Supreme Court will be taken on Tuesday evening.  I am uncertain where or exactly when, but I intend to speak out in the very least in the form of a formally documented letter to the Nominating Committee as well as to Governor Carcieri as quickly as possible.

As many of you may know or may have read, I fell victim to Judge D'Ambra in a divorce proceeding in July of 2007, and notwithstanding the "free pass" Judge D'Ambra was given on what were clear and definite violations of her judicial ethical canons, the evasion of any type of reprimand was not, in my humble opinion, due to any substantiated finding that Judge Laureen D'Ambra had not violated her judicial canons, but rather that her ability to escape any sort of punishment was by virtue of other considerations be they political, financial or otherwise in the form of "who she knows."

Though I was not born and raised in Rhode Island, it has come to be my home and most likely will be such until the day I die.  Yet there are some travesties that I cannot remain silent on no matter what pressures the powers may be may bring to bear upon me or the threat that I will lose my license to practice law which is my livelihood. I am in no uncertain terms convinced that the appointment of Judge Laureen D'Ambra to a seat on our highest Court is not something I can sit by and allow to happen without some sort of action and call to action for others.

If you have been wronged by Judge Laureen D'Ambra and you have felt that you have had no redress and no way of expressing or righting the injustice done to you, I invite you to be present on Tuesday evening to voice your dissatisfaction with Judge Laureen D'Ambra's nomination and consideration for a seat on our state's highest court.

I know of six cases that I have personally investigated that were unwarranted purely due to Judge D'Ambra's own unknown personal agenda and/or her lack of knowledge or even fundamental due process of law while she was appointed to on the Washington County Family Court's Domestic Relations Calendar in 2006 and 2007.  

I urge those who have been wronged by Judge D'Ambra, both citizens and lawyers, to come forward and post to this website, call me, contact Governor Carcieri and do what is necessary and prudent to show your lack of confidence for Judge Laureen D'Ambra's holding a seat in our highest court.

If Judge Laureen D'Ambra was lax and caused damage to citizens of our state and counsel who appeared before her in the family court shortly after she was appointed to the family court's domestic relations calendar in Washington County Family Court, what damage and havoc might be done to our state with this woman as a Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice. The thought is almost unfathomable.

I, for one, cannot stand idly by and say nothing based upon what I know about her conduct in recent years.  In my humble opinion her conduct does not speak well of our state, has placed our family court in a bad light before the citizens of this state and cannot and should not be tolerated. 

Comment here.  Tell your story.  Express your views and make a difference.  Having seen the operation of our court system for the better part of 20 years now, I have seen a need for improvement such that our image is not labeled by the nation as the most corrupt state in the United States.    I do not believe our state would regress by the appointment of Judge Laureen D'Ambra to our highest court.  The time to speak is now.  Write.  Call.  Send a letter to Governor Carcieri, but do not put this off.  There is no time to waste.  The committee and the Governor need your direction in the very least away from a candidate that is likely to injure our state and our citizens.  Tomorrow begins another day and a reminder of why I am so strongly against Judge Laureen D'Ambra's consideration in this regard.

Divorce has taken on a new life in Rhode Island and Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer Christopher Pearsall is leading the charge.  As a divorce lawyer appearing daily before the Rhode Island family courts on a daily basis, Chris saw an all too familiar scenario.

Divorce and family law cases occur daily with people who represent themselves.  Why do they do it?  They simply don't have the money necessary to hire a family law lawyer to represent them before the Rhode Island Family Courts. 

This ends up being a circular problem in Rhode Island divorce courts both for the litigants and the court. 

Let me explain. 

You have the legal right to represent yourself before the Rhode Island Family Courts.  The Rhode Island Family Courts and their administrators have the right and the duty to manage the cases that come before the Rhode Island Family Courts in order to keep the court cases moving along as efficiently as possible.

Imagine you're Joe or Jane Citizen and that you want to represent yourself before the Rhode Island Family court.   You file a roughly worded Motion for Change of Placement to try to get placement of your daughter.  You figure out just enough to get by the court's filing formalities so you get the feeling you're half way there.

Then comes the sometimes disappointing, often humiliating blow. 

What is it?  It's the court date. 

It takes you less than ten minutes to figure out that representing yourself like this was a big mistake. 

Why?  

The family court judges in Rhode Island are under a lot of pressure to keep their cases moving and they have considerable discretion in handling those cases.  Frankly speaking, whether you are a person representing yourself, or a lawyer who doesn't know what he or she is doing, realistically the court isn't going to be too patient with you simple because you don't know how to exercise your rights or to represent your client. 

Some litigants who represent themselves, called "Pro Se" (pronounced, "pro say") and attorneys who have little clue how to practice in the Rhode Island family courts may find themselves chastised, rebuked or even humiliated by the judge for slowing down his or her calendar for the day.  The feelings on both sides of this predictament are understandable but hardly complimentary.  Some judges may even be try to force you to obtain a lawyer when you've done your best and it's just that you don't have the money.

The end result?  You're treated like a second class citizen because you simply can't afford a competent lawyer to represent your interests.  The same is true for new lawyers or lawyers unfamiliar with the family court process, but the lawyer's difficulty may be in explaining to the client why he or she is paying you if the judge is essentially saying you have no idea what you are doing.  How do you keep a client when the judge virtually comes out and calls you incompetent?  It's an interesting predictament. 

Meanwhile, you are still in the position of having to represent yourself because you just don't have the money.  The consequences could be anything from having your case continued time and time again, to having it dismissed entirely because you are told to put on your case and you don't know what to do, what protocol to follow, what procedural rules apply or what standard the judge must apply in making a decision under the law.

Over the years I've been a pro se litigant representing myself, a new lawyer chastised for something a judge considered improper, and a seasoned lawyer who learned what the judges are looking for and trying to avoid wasting the court's time.

As Rhode Island's most affordable full-time Rhode island Divorce lawyer I have been very proud to offer services to those people that most lawyers turned away because of their lack of substantial upfront funds.

I have been able to help only a small percentage of people in Rhode Island that I have wanted to help with their divorce and family law issues.

Why?

Mostly because as low as I've been able to reduce my overhead and pass along savings to clients, it hasn't been enough.  Peopl who don't have the money to hire even a low-cost lawyer need help in Rhode Island.

So the doors are closing to my divorce courtroom practice to open up a new and more exciting business that I plan to use to help both the Rhode Island Family Courts and those people who are looking to represent themselves.

Welcome to Rhode island Divorce Coaching, a service provided to teach Pro Se individuals how best to present their case to the court, what is the best approach to take, what important principles of law are involved and how to properly address the court so that your case has the best chance of being taking seriously and processed expeditiously.

It is my goal that these services with be a benefit to Rhode Islanders and New Divorce Practitioners by providing them with the fundamentals at a low cost by having a mentor to help them while reducing the court's perception of the Pro Se litigant as an individual who is uninformed and is going to frustrate the process as a whole.

If you can't afford a lawyer, a little divorce and family law coaching may be just what the doctor ordered.  It's affordable and it's designed to help you represent yourself and potentially reduce the court's anxiety as well as your own.

As Rhode Island's pioneer of Divorce Coaching you may find yourself skeptical.  A divorce coaching session lasts 1 hour and costs only $100 which is less than half of what attorneys of similar experience and skills get on an hourly basis. 

If you have a divorce or family law issue and you are thinking about representing yourself and you would ultimately like to get heard, you may want to get on the phone and call me.

No other lawyer in Rhode Island is offering this service so if you believe it may be beneficial to you or a friend or family member, bookmark this page now.  Divorce coaching is the next waive of the future for Rhode Island Divorce clients and I've brought it to Rhode Island early.  As its founder and pioneer I am happy to say that I already have several very satisfied clients.

As new as Divorce Coaching is, I have already been able  to coach several people who achieved results that I believe were better than the results  most likely could have obtained for them myself.

Get tremendously valuable coaching from a highly qualified professional Rhode Island Divorce lawyer at 65% less than the value of these services from lawyers with similar experience and skill.

All I ask is that you don't call me asking for free legal advice. We all need to do our part in this world but we all need to make a living too.  If your divorce or family law issue doesn't mean enough to you to come up with $100 for my time, skill and experience, then how can you expect me to take your issue seriously when its not worth you coming up with $100 for good solid legal help that usually costs $225.

Testimonials are coming soon.

Welcome to Rhode Island Divorce Coaching!

On or about December 4, 2008, I received a letter from the General Counsel of the Rhode Island Supreme Court the letter reads as follows:

December 2, 2008

Via First Class Mail
Mr. Christopher Pearall
Attorney at Law
70 Dogwood Drive
Suite 304
West Warwick, RI  02893

Dear Attorney Pearsall:

        It has come to the attention of this Office that a potential violation of Rule 8.2(a) of the Supreme Court Rules of Professional Conduct may have occurred due to your posting of various disparaging, misleading, and false statements regarding a member of the Rhode Island Judiciary on your website:  http://www.attorneypearsall.com/2008/09/judgelaureendam.html as well as on http://www.links4women.com/articles/chris.htm .  Specifically, these entries appear to describe an incident that occurred in 2007 relating to your conduct as counsel before Associate Justice Laureen D'Ambra and they contain unfounded allegations of incompetence and impropriety against Justice D'Ambra as well as another judicial employee.

Rule 8.2(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct provides that

A lawyer shall not make a statement that a lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge, adjudicatory officer or public legal officer, or of a candidate for election or appointment to judicial or legal office.

December 28, 2008

Erika Leigh Kruse, Esquire
General Counsel
Rhode Island Supreme Court
Frank Licht Judicial Complex
Providence, RI  02903

Dear Attorney Kruse:

         Regarding your December 2nd letter, I do not own or control the content at Links4Women.com, therefore I can do nothing about the content that appears there.

        I have had no intention of violating Rule 8.2(a) of the Professional Rules of Ethical Conduct, however I do believe I have the right to express myself within the bounds of the Professional Rules of Ethical Conduct. 

I will re-read the article at AttorneyPearsall.com and any other articles over which I may still have editorial control in light of my 1 ½ year investigation.

        However, it would be very helpful if you (or the unknown complainant) would identify the statements believed to be in violation of Rule 8.2(a).  This will allow me to address any issues quickly and with clarity.

    Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Respectfully,




Christopher A. Pearsall
CAP/cp


Notwithstanding my response to General Counsel for the Rhode Island Supreme Court, I have become painfully aware of how things work in Rhode Island.

Therefore, after substantial consideration I have removed this article and any similar articles on my websites in favor of preserving my livelihood. 

My thanks go out to the unwavering support of my friends and family through this continuing ordeal.