Last Thursday, John Phelps wrote candidly about violence against lawyers in an Arizona Republic op-ed.
John is the CEO/Executive Director of the State Bar of Arizona. Here is how he opened his editorial:
“The murders of Phoenix attorney Mark Hummels and his client Steven D. Singer are part of an unsettling trend in the legal world. Threats and violence are on the rise.”
John Phelps
“In the same week that Hummels was murdered, a prosecutor in Texas, Mark Hasse, was also gunned down. Last year, an attorney in Yuma, Jerrold Shelley, was shot and killed by a man upset over a divorce.”
You can read his complete editorial here.
John goes on to discuss Steve Kelson, a Utah lawyer who has researched instances of violence against lawyers all across the country. (He is in the beginning steps of his process to do the same in Arizona in 2013.) The statistics Keslon reports in John’s op-ed are startling and should give us pause.
In his conclusion, John reminds us of attorneys’ highest duties: “Mark Hummels died after leaving a mediation. His death was the result of trying to find resolution. He died fulfilling Cicero’s belief that ‘we are all servants of the laws in order that we may be free.’”
“Our thoughts and prayers go to Mark and Steve Singer’s family, friends and co-workers.”
News screen grab (referring to shooter Arthur Harmon)
UPDATE: This morning, a shooting in Delaware highlighted the flash point that the legal system can be. News reports indicate that multiple people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a security checkpoint in a Wilmington courthouse. Identities of those killed and hurt have not yet been announced. But the final paragraph of the news article is revealing: “Wilmington Police Chief Christine Dunning, attending a roundtable on gun violence with Vice President Joe Biden and other law enforcement officials in Philadelphia, declined comment on the shooting and deferred to officials on the scene in Wilmington.”
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AZ Attorney 
February 11, 2013 at 9:58 am
How many of us have run into the nut case pro se litigant? What do we do if we feel threatened? We can’t discuss it with the subject as it will likely set him off or escalate his devolving mental state. Random acts of violence are one thing – dealing with a pro se litigant is an entirely different scenario for which there has been little attention.
February 11, 2013 at 10:05 am
IMHO, the trend to which Mr. Phelps refers is a reflection of the sentiments of contempt felt by most citizens toward the legal profession and the judiciary in particular. Mr. Phelps quotes Cicero with the premise that those who practice law perceive themselves as servants of the law. Balderdash! Most attorney’s practice law to maximized their profit. The members of the judiciary are more concerned with organizational politics and their paychecks rather than faithfully upholding and sustaining the law. Of course, there are exceptions but they are few.
February 12, 2013 at 9:31 am
[…] was gunned down along with a client, I wrote about the tragedy. And then, yesterday, I wrote about an Arizona Republic op-ed by John Phelps, State Bar of Arizona […]
August 13, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Arthur Douglas Harmon is the Howard Towers of Arizona. Nichole Hampton would have said, “That crazy old man came and shot me!” Harmon took his own life. Mark Pfalmer Hummels was shot to death. Hummels took his wife’s name Pfalmer like John Lennon.
August 28, 2013 at 8:48 am
Like the Howard Towers’ victim, Mark Pfalmer Hummels was cremated per request.