If there was just one tenet of belief among the sneaky ranks of big-time criminal defense attorneys, it would be this: Thou shall not squeal on a client.
Francis Pignatelli was a prominent defense attorney in Ohio until 2005, when federal agents learned that he had been helping clients launder drug money in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. To temporarily avoid prosecution, Pignatelli acted as an undercover informant for investigators, helping to obtain evidence that led to the arrest of t
Mark Brennan. Photo by Mark Manger.
It began with Presiding Disciplinary Judge William Lucero slapping attorney Mark Brennan with two contempt citations. It ended with Brennan leaning into opposing counsel Kim Ikeler, moving him bodily away from the podium and calling him "a little piece of shit." In a little-used courtroom in the Denver City and County Building, the combative Brennan has been fighting for his professional life -- and, perhaps, making the case for the opposition that he's ever
Mark Brennan. Photo by Mark Manger.
As I reported last week, things got pretty testy near the end of the three-day disciplinary hearing for attorney Mark Brennan. A physical confrontation between Brennan and his chief accuser, Kim Ikeler of the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, erupted when Ikeler approached the podium as Brennan was delivering his closing argument.
Now Law Week Colorado has posted a brief video clip of the square-off, along with Brennan's version of the incident. He cla
Photo by Mark MangerMark Brennan is facing some unpleasant music.The Colorado Supreme Court's disciplinary judge has finally issued a ruling in the long-running saga of Mark Brennan, the pugnacious attorney who won a $1.2 million judgment against the City of Denver in 2006 -- only to see it thrown out by Judge Robert Blackburn, who denounced Brennan for "boorish and unprofessional behavior" during the case, the subject of my 2007 feature "Blackburned."
Presiding disciplinary judge Willia
