Kathleen Kane entering the courtroom as a defendant.
It is unclear why the board waited until she was out of the office to discipline her or if they would have done so had she been re-elected. I suspect they didn’t want to interfere with the will of the county’s people who elected her to represent them. However, I think it was clear long before her term ran out that the people of Centre County were not happy with her actions. The Disciplinary Board did not seem to have a problem revoking the law license of Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, mid-term.
Another issue that became clear, and I would assume is an issue in all small-town legal systems, is that the attorneys are very much indebted to the judges, especially the defense attorneys. Small counties only have a few judges; in Centre County, there are four. Thus, attorneys are constantly in front of the same judge. The attorneys seem hesitant to in any way annoy a judge because there might be repercussions on other cases and even their careers. When attorneys do not have to be afraid of these repercussions, they can more vigorously defend their clients.
In a small legal system where everyone knows everyone, social relationships become part of the system. You have read and will read much more about “ex parte” communications in the coming chapters. Recall, these are communications between lawyers and judges in which only one party participates. It seems like they are commonplace in Centre County as people are constantly running into one another. Sometimes these communications are harmless, and sometimes they are even helpful. However, there is a reason they are not supposed to happen.