Disgraced Oregon judge John Mann resigns his law license

But don’t you dare call him “disbarred”

Former Chief Administrative Law Judge John M. Mann — who was convicted of ten counts of encouraging child sexual abuse last spring — has now officially surrendered his law license. His resignation was accepted and signed as a Supreme Court order yesterday, by Chief Justice Meagan Flynn.

Despite his epic fall from such bureaucratic heights, however, he was not disbarred — and Oregon’s State Bar and Judicial Department will fight you if you say otherwise.

Under the Bar’s unique rules, the self-resignation — called a “Form B” — is an emergency chute that an attorney can deploy in the middle of a disciplinary investigation, when the writing is on the wall. It’s a way to avoid the expense and humiliation of a formal proceeding… as well as most of the consequences.

Many other states have such a rip-cord for lawyers to pull, but most of those resignations come with at least a recitation of facts and/or an admission of guilt.

But Oregon Form B’s come without an admission or even a rebuttable presumption of guilt. There are literally no strings attached, except that the attorney can no longer practice law — and even that is iffy.¹

So, despite the fact that Mann pleaded guilty to possession of child porn and is currently sitting in prison, to his licensor the Oregon State Bar, he’s just one of many who, for whatever personal reason, no longer desired to contest or defend against the allegations and instances of misconduct leveled at him.

It’s a racket that harms victims, and Oregon should bring its disciplinary resignations in line with other states: Form B’s must come with an admission of guilt.

¹ “No practicing law” is more of a suggestion than a requirement— just ask any victim of former attorney Lori Deveny, who kept at it for months after her resignation, with the Oregon State Bar’s knowledge and apparent consent.

And while we’re at it: Why is the Bar’s website directory so fucked up that perv judge John Mann looks like he resigned without problems, but another judge’s entry (who resigned without problems) looks like something ominous happened and you need to call the Bar asap…