Tina L. Morin v. Montana Office of Disciplinary Counsel

Petitioner Tina Morin (“Morin”) is a lawyer who represented the husband of J.A.L., an incapacitated person subject to guardianship. J.A.L. requested an attorney. Morin sought to assert on J.A.L.’s behalf her constitutional and statutory rights to choose her own legal representation. However, the guardians and the guardian ad litem, claiming to be her appointed counsel, refused. The guardians filed a complaint with the Montana Office of Disciplinary Counsel (“ODC”), claiming Morin had harassed them. The Commission on Practice of the Supreme Court of Montana (“COP”), found Morin violated Mont. R. Prof. Cond. R. 4.2(a) by contacting an allegedly represented party and suspended her after a hearing in which the COP barred Morin from presenting any exhibits, J.A.L.’s testimony, or the testimony of an expert witness in her defense. Therefore, the question presented is: Did the COP violate Morin’s due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment when the COP ordered Morin suspended from practice for allegedly violating Mont. R. Prof. Cond. R. 4.2(a) in the course of her legally asserting J.A.L.’s constitutional and statutory rights to counsel of her own choosing?