A group of lawyers violating the law? Say it ain't so!It appears the lawyer lobby is far from disinterested.Next time someone tells you the ABA gave someone a good or bad ranking,remember they are a special interest group like everyone else.
The Justice Department and the American Bar Association agreed Friday that the association, the nation's largest group of lawyers, had indeed violated a 1996 court order that settled a government antitrust suit against the ABA.
The ABA even agreed to pay $185,000 to reimburse the government for its costs in investigating what the Justice Department called a case of civil contempt of court.
The joint agreement between the association and the government is still subject to court approval, but that was expected to be little more than a formality.
In June 1995, the government sued the ABA here alleging the association had allowed its law school accreditation process to be misused by law school personnel with a direct economic interest in the outcome of accreditation reviews, resulting in anticompetitive conduct.
A year later, the court prohibited the ABA from fixing faculty salaries, boycotting state-accredited law schools by restricting the ability of their students and graduates to enroll in ABA-approved law schools and boycotting for-profit law schools.
Friday, June 23, 2006
ABA to pay $185,000 fine for violating court order
The AP reports:
