Mississippi's Criminal Defense Blog

Unqualified non-lawyer legal “expert” Professor Matt Steffey shows his stupidity once again in an article in The Clarion-Ledger. This time, he offers his opinion on former Circuit Judge Bobby Delaughter’s employment prospects.

Judge Delaughter, who pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI, was scheduled to report to prison today to begin serving an 18 month sentence. According to the article, Steffey offered the following asinine prediction regarding what Delaughter would do for a living after he was released:

Steffey said he foresees DeLaughter working for a law firm as a jury consultant, strategist, arbitrator, mediator or the like.

This one sentence demonstrates that Steffey knows absolutely nothing of the practice of law in Mississippi (or perhaps anywhere).  Even if Delaughter is able to serve as a mediator or arbitrator without a license to practice law, there is no Court or party that will ever use him for this purpose.  Furthermore, no litigant is going to hire him as a jury consultant or strategist due to his felony conviction, and due to the fact that ethical rules may prohibit a law firm from utilizing him in these capacities.  The fact that Steffey thinks this is a possibility shows that he is utterly clueless.

And shame on The Clarion-Ledger for continuing to tout this fool as a legal “expert.”