MARIN COUNTY: DALLAS COUNTY: CONNECTION?| ....Then came a storm of
opposition that rattled the Marin legal community in late February,
when an investigator hired by a dozen disenchanted citizens went public
with a report asserting that Dufficy showed favoritism toward a
hometown coterie of attorneys and court-appointed experts, and
maintained conflicts of interest that tainted his rulings. Investigator Karen Winner suggested the FBI was investigating possible criminal violations, a claim rekindled repeatedly by citizens who say they've been interviewed by federal agents with an eye on Dufficy's conduct. The FBI will not confirm or deny the reports. Dufficy supporters dubbed Winner's report a hit piece. Seven family law attorneys published a counterattack backing the judge. Buoyed by the Winner report, another group of critics launched a recall drive against Dufficy and three other judges and the district attorney. And some family law court fixtures began turning against Dufficy. Shepherd, the Larkspur divorce attorney, said she once considered Dufficy a close friend. But the organized resistance to Dufficy caused her to question the close social quarters she and other attorneys kept with the judge. "All of a sudden it just dawned on me,'' she said. "It looked terrible.'' Shepherd said she had long benefited from being an insider in Dufficy's court, and a member of an A-team of local matrimonial lawyers known as the FLEAS, or Family Law Elite Attorneys Society. She recalled festive weekends spent at Dufficy's ranch in Calaveras County, schmoozing with the judge and other regulars in the family law court. She remembered dinners with Dufficy and her colleagues, and the shop talk she felt was better left in the courtroom. "I'm not saying there were corrupt things going on,'' she said. "But I could see why there was this perception of inappropriate conduct. And the only way our system of justice can work is if people feel it is fair and fairly administered.'' Camera, Dufficy's former colleague, said the bonds Dufficy developed with certain attorneys grew so tight that he knew there were some cases in which his clients didn't have a chance. "Against some attorneys in there, you didn't have a prayer,'' Camera said. |