Well, we did have one, but she is off the bench now.

And since I've given up the full force of my freedom of speech, since I'm a member of the Bar, she shall remain unnamed.

It would be interesting to have this case run all the way up to the Supremes. Can a private organization limit its members comments about anything? Could the Washington Bar proscribe negative comments about the Seahawks by its members?

The one I am thinking of is retired and living in a cabin somewhere frightening wildlife.

The scary thing about the bar trying to control lawyer speech in this manner ,imo, is that one of the functions of lawyers is to check judges, should they be subject to corrupting influences. I read an article in the Bar Bulletin circa late 90s. I would like to see this issue taken up by the courts; they've been reluctant, but imho, it is past time to confront it.

Cynthia: Yup, that's the one. She sure frightened a lot of my 'wildlife' back in the day.

The difficulty, of course, is that if you practice in many counties, as I do, and three states, and you actually 'complain', you are completely screwed for the next ten years by either the network of clerks or the presiding judge. So we just go on silently dealing with things like policies that aren't written down, (but that we are supposed to know) and other ridiculous stuff that if I recounted would certainly identify me and my practice.

There have been many occasions that I have thought about writing a letter of complaint to the Presiding Judge of the Oregon Supremes, but it just ain't worth it for the repercussions suffered on a day to day basis.

Oh, the stories I could tell!

I had to click through to see if you were referring to Overgaard: http://bluehole.org/wp/?p=1544

Query whether the Oregon State Bar is a private organization ... I'm pretty sure it's public, so generally, constitutional limitations would apply.