Steve Quest (p/k/a Montagraph) vs. Nicholas Robert Rekieta & Rekieta Law, LLC (2023)

[Spaded Dave]

could there be potential for some blowback from the Minnesota Bar Association?

Very unlikely. Disbarment is extremely rare. There's only an average of 4 disbarments a year in Minnesota and it seems like they primarily are the result of felony criminal misconduct, which defamation is not.

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Only three Minnesota lawyers have been disbarred so far this year, for the following reasons:

Bradley Hans Ratgen - Insurance Fraud

John Timothy Hernandez - Misappropriation of funds of at least 9 clients, among other things

Ignatius Chukwuemeka Udeani - A clusterfuck of reasons that I can't even summarize properly

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Even suspensions seem to be pretty rare, at 18 total this year for a lawyer population of over 10,000.

A few of the reasons I found for these were:

-Possession of child porn.

-Failing to diligently pursue criminal cases within their jurisdiction (City Attorney)

-Attempting to exert improper pressure on a judge while also failing to properly represent their client and engaging in abusive communications.

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To the standards are pretty high to achieve any meaningful disciplinary action against an attorney in Minnesota it seems.

 

[Confetti Meringue]

To the standards are pretty high to achieve any meaningful disciplinary action against an attorney in Minnesota it seems.

Simply telling Nick to get treatment for alcoholism, or a stern talking to, would shake him greatly. He likely won't have any disciplinary action unless he represents clients, though.

Don't attorneys have mandatory hours to maintain their license? That might be a more interesting route to explore.

 

[AnOminous]

Simply telling Nick to get treatment for alcoholism, or a stern talking to, would shake him greatly. He likely won't have any disciplinary action unless he represents clients, though.

Don't attorneys have mandatory hours to maintain their license? That might be a more interesting route to explore.

Do you mean CLE (Continuing Legal Education)? That's pretty minimal, 45 hours every three years in Minnesota. I can see Drunkieta being too lazy even for that. They also "urge" 50 hours of pro bono work a year, although it's not mandatory.

 

[prolapsed_cranium]

Simply telling Nick to get treatment for alcoholism, or a stern talking to, would shake him greatly. He likely won't have any disciplinary action unless he represents clients, though.

Don't attorneys have mandatory hours to maintain their license? That might be a more interesting route to exexplore.

Their are Coninuing Legal Education requirements and those are tracked by the licensing entity. They're quick on the trigger if you don't meet your CLE hours

 

[Captain Manning]

Considering this and his earlier motto of "Lawsplaining the Interwebs" could there be potential for some blowback from the Minnesota Bar Association?

No. Because, for one thing, he's not a member of the Minnesota Bar Association. They can't do shit to him. The MBA is a voluntary association like the American Medical Association. That was a frequent misunderstanding by KickVic when they were trying to figure out how they could cancel Nick.

Nick's law license is regulated by the Office of Lawyer's Professional Responsibility (OLPR), an adjunct of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Eventually Nick got at least a dozen complaints against him sent to OLPR (including one by Melinda Scott), many of which pointed out he was frequently drunk and belligerent on Youtube. They didn't give a shit. They didn't give a shit because they mainly exist to regulate a lawyer's conduct when they're acting in service of a client. They don't seem to care if he acts like a drunken retard on the Internet in his own time.

Note that, unlike Nick, Marc Randazza actually HAS been disciplined. He got hit with a one-year suspension (which was itself suspended) by the Nevada Supreme Court (which included reciprocal discipline in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Florida), CLE classes, and costs. That arose out of conduct he engaged in (and apparently admitted to) when he was the General Counsel for some porn company.

 

[East_Clintwood]

Note that, unlike Nick, Marc Randazza actually HAS been disciplined. He got hit with a one-year suspension (which was itself suspended) by the Nevada Supreme Court (which included reciprocal discipline in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Florida), CLE classes, and costs. That arose out of conduct he engaged in (and admitted to) when he was the General Counsel for some porn company.

The fact he was able to plead that shit down to a slap on the wrist will never not be kinda wild to me. I genuinely think if his primary practice was anywhere other than the clown world that is Nevada he'd have been fucked.

 

[Himedall All-seeing Waifu]

To the standards are pretty high to achieve any meaningful disciplinary action against an attorney in Minnesota it seems.

It should be. Nick is right about this. It should be difficult to disbar someone for conduct that has no bearing on ability to practice law.

What rubs people the wrong way is that they thought he was the upstanding man advocating for the 'awful but lawful', and not a degenerate trying to carve margin of acceptance for himself.

Simply telling Nick to get treatment for alcoholism, or a stern talking to, would shake him greatly. He likely won't have any disciplinary action unless he represents clients, though.

Don't attorneys have mandatory hours to maintain their license? That might be a more interesting route to explore.

I doubt this would shake him. He does not want to practice law again.

My prediction is that he would try to fight it and drum up sympathy for 'being cancelled'. When that fails he would claim victim status.

 

[Captain Manning]

The fact he was able to plead that shit down to a slap on the wrist will never not be kinda wild to me. I genuinely think if his primary practice was anywhere other than the clown world that is Nevada he'd have been fucked.

I honestly never really looked too deeply into what he did. I just know that his porn client was super pissed, and initiated legal procedings against him, which he lost. Randazza ended up filing for bankruptcy, and the Nevada Supreme Court hit him with some sanctions. IIRC, this fucked up his opportunity to intervene in the Alex Jones case. The judge refused to sign off on his pro hac vice application because of those disciplinary measures. I guess Nick is his defamation case consolation prize.

I brought it up to illustrate that in order for something like that to happen to Nick, he'd have to do something really stupid while officially representing somebody.

Or he'd have to be convicted of certain felonies.

I doubt this would shake him. He does not want to practice law again.

That's exactly the thing. To the extent that he's not even really practicing law at all anymore, I think it's even less likely OPRL would give a shit.

 

[AnOminous]

I brought it up to illustrate that in order for something like that to happen to Nick, he'd have to do something really stupid while in an officially representing somebody.

They threw out the others pretty lickety-spit, because they were absolutely flagrantly bullshit. Even if they don't actually sanction him for his balldotardation in the Monty case, I think they're letting it hang over him to make him sweat.

 

[East_Clintwood]

I honestly never really looked too deeply into what he did. I just know that his porn client was super pissed, and initiated legal procedings against him, which he lost.

He did a whole bunch of sketchy shit, but probably the most serious, and disbarment worthy, was soliciting bribes from the people he was supposed to be suing for copyright infringement on behalf of his employer. For instance he refused to go after xvideos, despite his employer repeatedly asking, and then it turned out he had a $35k retainer and was billing them monthly. However my favorite bit that came out was from when he tried to get a bribe from TNAflix because it led to one of my favorite fucking quotes ever:

 

[waffle]

He did a whole bunch of sketchy shit, but probably the most serious, and disbarment worthy, was soliciting bribes from the people he was supposed to be suing for copyright infringement on behalf of his employer. For instance he refused to go after xvideos, despite his employer repeatedly asking, and then it turned out he had a $35k retainer and was billing them monthly. However my favorite bit that came out was from when he tried to get a bribe from TNAflix because it led to one of my favorite fucking quotes ever:
View attachment 5268047

WOW! What a piece of shit. Who would ever hire this guy for anything after that? That is literally cartoonishly corrupt.

Nick must be literally retarded to give an absolute serpent like that "cash price of a starter home in the mid-west" money to lose his case, and be happy about it not less. He either 1) doesn't know, or 2) thinks its something he can look past. I can decide which one is worse. If I had to guess classic Nick negligence would suggest it's 1) and he just thought "oh, if it were that bad he would have gotten disbarred".

You don't "see the error of your ways" from that kind of an ethical lapse, You either get too scared to do it again, or (more likely) you get more sneaky. I guess Monty probably doesn't have enough money to outbid Nick for the loyalty of his own attorney, but Schneidr might - if Nick really thinks Schneider's as unethical as Nick says he is then Nick should be worried.

 

[break these cuffs]

WOW! What a piece of shit. Who would ever hire this guy for anything after that? That is literally cartoonishly corrupt.

Nick must be literally retarded to give an absolute serpent like that "cash price of a starter home in the mid-west" money to lose his case, and be happy about it not less. He either 1) doesn't know, or 2) thinks its something he can look past. I can decide which one is worse. If I had to guess classic Nick negligence would suggest it's 1) and he just thought "oh, if it were that bad he would have gotten disbarred".

Birds of a shit-feather flock together, Rand.

 

[Swole McPole]

Note that, unlike Nick, Marc Randazza actually HAS been disciplined. He got hit with a one-year suspension (which was itself suspended) by the Nevada Supreme Court (which included reciprocal discipline in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Florida), CLE classes, and costs

I'd never really paid any attention to any of this while it was happening, so I googled it.

There's a very helpful website, Corrupt Marc Randazza, that lays out the various complaints and judgements against him

 

[Useful_Mistake]

There's a very helpful website, Corrupt Marc Randazza, that lays out the various complaints and judgements against him

It’s one of those sites that think that hotlinking every word to wikipedia definitions makes them look trustworthy. If, for example, when talking about Supreme Court of Nevada upholding his punishment, the niggers would link to something other than a wiki article explaining what Supreme Court of Nevada is, I’d actually give a shit about what is written there. Not a single fucking link links to any actual documents. The best they have is a link to a screenshot of a summary of a document. Half the page them trying to get you to click on their other shitty articles.

We know the man has done bad, but fucking hell, why do these niggers can’t do a half decent job?

 

[East_Clintwood]

Nick must be literally retarded to give an absolute serpent like that "cash price of a starter home in the mid-west" money to lose his case, and be happy about it not less. He either 1) doesn't know, or 2) thinks its something he can look past. I can decide which one is worse. If I had to guess classic Nick negligence would suggest it's 1) and he just thought "oh, if it were that bad he would have gotten disbarred".

There's no way he can't know since it's not exactly a secret. I suspect it's number 2, and he thinks that Randazza should get the benefit of several doubts he clearly doesn't deserve because he was able to plead it down. As much as I applaud Randazzas stance on first amendment advocacy I wouldn't trust that greasy little shyster as far as I could throw him let alone pay him tens of thousands of dollars for shitty legal work.

 

[im5!XxhO]

The fact he was able to plead that shit down to a slap on the wrist will never not be kinda wild to me. I genuinely think if his primary practice was anywhere other than the clown world that is Nevada he'd have been fucked.

Given that story I really wonder what you have to do to get disbarred in Nevada. Murder your client? Embezzl half a billion dollars?

 

[Spaded Dave]

Given that story I really wonder what you have to do to get disbarred in Nevada. Murder your client? Embezzl half a billion dollars?

This is a recent example.

https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/vegas-lawyer-is-disbarred-for-forming-law-firm-with-nonlaywer-who-did-most-of-the-legal-work

Spoiler: Bullet Points

• Failed to supervise the nonattorney working on their law firm’s cases. Orlandi had formed a law firm with the nonlaywer, and he performed most of the legal work. The nonattorney also propositioned a client, implying that he would pay for or provide legal services in exchange for companionship.
• Continued to bill a client for the nonattorney’s services after the client asked that no further work be done.
• Began working without permission on cases of clients who had hired the nonattorney and billed them for services after they ended the representation.
• Told an opposing lawyer that she was no longer working on a case without informing the client.
• Improperly claimed to the state bar that she was exempt from maintaining a client trust account.

I don't even know if this is enough to meet the standard since they got a default due to the lawyer not even bothering to respond to the ethics complaint. Who knows if a response could have weaseled them out of it.

 

[im5!XxhO]

This is a recent example.

https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/vegas-lawyer-is-disbarred-for-forming-law-firm-with-nonlaywer-who-did-most-of-the-legal-work

Spoiler: Bullet Points

• Failed to supervise the nonattorney working on their law firm’s cases. Orlandi had formed a law firm with the nonlaywer, and he performed most of the legal work. The nonattorney also propositioned a client, implying that he would pay for or provide legal services in exchange for companionship.
• Continued to bill a client for the nonattorney’s services after the client asked that no further work be done.
• Began working without permission on cases of clients who had hired the nonattorney and billed them for services after they ended the representation.
• Told an opposing lawyer that she was no longer working on a case without informing the client.
• Improperly claimed to the state bar that she was exempt from maintaining a client trust account.

I don't even know if this is enough to meet the standard since they got a default due to the lawyer not even bothering to respond to the ethics complaint. Who knows if a response could have weaseled them out of it.

Actually refusing to do lawyer work might actually qualify even if she responded. But damn that is a wild case as well.

 

[Swole McPole]

It’s one of those sites that think that hotlinking every word to wikipedia definitions makes them look trustworthy.

Hey, you know that any individuals that's going to go to the trouble of making a website that documents all the failings and mendacity of somebody they only know over the internet is going to be batshit insane. I just take that as read.

I just wanted somewhere that I could get the gist of all of the disreputable things that he's reported to have done.

That said, in an era when even the things that used to be the papers of record are full of lies and propaganda, why would you expect Joe Blow's website to be any better?

 

[prolapsed_cranium]

The fact he was able to plead that shit down to a slap on the wrist will never not be kinda wild to me. I genuinely think if his primary practice was anywhere other than the clown world that is Nevada he'd have been fucked.

That's a typical way things are handled with Bar discipline, especially if it's your first time, and/or you cooperate with the investigation.