Scott Sulley disbarred in Arizona

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Former Justice of the Peace Scott Sulley has been disbarred.

The Arizona Supreme Court handed down the ruling today. Sulley was also ordered to pay more than $2,000 in court costs and attorney’s fees.

In September, the Supreme Court issued Sulley a lifetime ban from serving as a judge. The disbarment from practicing as an attorney in the state came on the recommendation of the State Bar Association after an investigation into the Maricopa/Stanfield Justice Court that started in 2013.

Sulley was accused of mishandling more than $200,000 in the Justice Court and failing to oversee the administration of the court to the point of preventing appropriate administrative training. The Commission on Judicial Conduct also found that he created a hostile work environment.

The State Bar also accused him of verbally abusive behavior, inappropriate remarks from the bench and generally giving the court a bad reputation in the public eye.

The order of disbarment was issued by Chief Justice Scott Bales. According to the record, when the State Bar filed its brief recommending disbarment, Sulley did not file an answering brief.

“Upon review of the State Bar’s brief and the record, it is ordered that respondent Scott Sulley is disbarred from the practice of law in the State of Arizona effective the date of this order,” the document states.

Sulley practiced law in Pinal County for 15 years before he was elected to be JP for the Maricopa/Stanfield Justice Court. He was also the first magistrate of the City of Maricopa after incorporation in 2003.

In all practicality, a disbarment is a death knell for a law career. According to Rick DeBruhl, chief communications officer with the State Bar Association, a disbarred attorney who wishes to re-enter the legal field must wait five years, take the bar exam again, “and basically start over.”

They will also be judged by the Bar on a “character and fitness” assessment. “Needless to say, character and fitness will work against them,” DeBruhl said.

He called coming back from disbarment a “Herculean effort,” to the point that no one at the State Bar Association specifically remembers anybody who was able to do so.

He pointed out a disbarment is also reciprocal in other states, so a former attorney like Sulley cannot simply pick up and pass the bar in another state and start practicing.

By DeBruhl’s estimates, disbarments in Arizona run from around a dozen to as much as 30 per year for a variety of offenses.

Last month, Lyle Riggs was elected to take over the JP court.