Link to the original news post
On the 11th of July, SimDemocracy’s Bar Association elected the two democratically-selected seats of its Ethics Committee, which is tasked with imposing disciplinary sanctions on Bar Members who do not display professional conduct in court or anywhere else. These sanctions can range from anywhere between a simple reprimand to a full disbarment (a ban on practicing law within SimDemocracy). The three other seats are given out meritocratically i.e. are filled with the Bar Director and two other people directly appointed by them.
The two candidates who won the election were Mrgamerboy, a rather uncontroversial pick who had previously served as Bar Director, and Gato, a more controversial figure, being arrested at the time. The ex-journalist and ex-Ombudswoman had been found guilty of ToS Violation by Judge Terak for telling other users to “kys” a few days earlier on the 10th of July.
Immediately following the Ethics Committee election, the newly elected member Mrgamerboy initiated proceedings against also newly elected member Gato, proposing a disbarment. As per the Bar Bylaws, a violation of SimDemocracy law is a valid reason for initiating Ethics Committee proceedings, and potentially even disbarring someone. If successful, it would be the first time a sitting member of the Ethics Committee has been disbarred, in which case they also automatically lose their seat in the Committee.
The Committee-appointed special prosecutor to the case, Lyoko, has already written a report on the case in which he recommends a disbarment of Gato, mirroring Committee-member Mrgamerboy’s already established opinion.
On the other hand though, Gato, who was given the opportunity to defend herself before the Committee, argued that the appointment of Lyoko as a special prosecutor was inherently problematic, as he was one of the persons involved in the original court case in which she was found guilty. She points out that he is subject to a conflict of interest, as he wrote an affidavit in the SD v Gato, the court case in which she was found guilty of ToS Violation.
Lastly, she presents the argument that her offending conduct had been an “isolated incident”, and thus she shouldn’t be disbarred, as she has changed since.
The following is a quote from her argumentation before the Committee:
[...] I want to challenge my disbarment on the grounds of the offending conduct being an isolated incident for which I have apologized and since changed. [...]
Considering that Gato has since been sentenced to a four month ban and thus would be unable to practice SimDemocracy law anyway, the question of whether she will be disbarred or not is mostly of symbolic nature, with there being no real consequences for the case of either option being taken by the Committee.
As forecast by Committee member Ben, an initial draft of a potential resolution would be discussed by the Ethics Committee later on this day, the 23rd of July. While it is clear that Gato will most likely be disbarred, the question of for how long that disbarment will last is still unclear, with multiple interviewed Committee members indicating that they themselves didn’t know the answer to that question.
Gato and Mrgamerboy have sadly not responded to my interview request; they are both busy people though and I hold no grudge against them for this.
Q: Hello, since you're a member of the SDBA Ethics Committee and I'm planning on writing a news article on the case, I was wondering if you could just quickly summarize your thoughts on the current proceedings in the committee against Gato.
A: Proceedings have been rather slow, but that's common for most things in the judiciary.
Under the Bar Association Constitution Article 4, the very first reason listed for possible disbarment:
§2.1. Violation of SimDemocracy law.
Q: Hello, since you're a member of the SDBA Ethics Committee and I'm planning on writing a news article on the case, I was wondering if you could just quickly summarize your thoughts on the current proceedings in the committee against Gato.
A: I'd rather not to avoid seeming biased on it
Q: Hello, since you're a member of the SDBA Ethics Committee and I'm planning on writing a news article on the case, I was wondering if you could just quickly summarize your thoughts on the current proceedings in the committee against Gato.
A: The proceedings against Gato suck. I quite like Gato, and think they’re a great addition to our community, especially with their news articles and surveys and such. However, Gato crashed out super bad, and we can’t give people special treatment just because they’ve been here while of [course] they’ve done positive things in the past. The black and white so far is they’re being charged with some semi-serious stuff and I don’t know if they’re a good representative of the Bar Association anymore. No matter the outcome of the criminal proceedings or Ethic Committee hearing, I hope they do better in the future.