Dr. Jones' letter purports to be motivated by Dr. Jones' desire to locate his stolen records and the perpetrator(s) of the crime. Why is the letter addressed to professionals?  Any professional who had information about this problem would already have contacted the police or District Attorney, as I did.  I believe that the letter is being sent to professionals to stir up a whispering campaign about me.  Does anyone really think there is a professional out there who is in possession of information, is withholding it, but will turn it over for Dr. Jones' proposed $10,0000 reward?  No.  This is just Dr. Jones' framework on which to hang his unspoken innuendoes about me.

Dr. Jones doesn't let people know that all I received was a copy of the materials someone stole from him.  He makes it sound like I had original documents.  That never occurred.

Dr. Jones may try to make me testify as to whether I have any speculation as to who might have delivered these papers to me.  Is the important thing trying to locate and punish the desperate individual who resorted to the mad tactic of burglarizing Dr. Jones's office, or is the important thing cleaning up an atmosphere where the type of unethical conduct displayed by Dr. Jones has destroyed many families, particularly children?

In Juvenile Court, if Dr. Jones testifies that some woman cannot benefit from reunification services, she may never see her children again as they may be adopted out.  What we see in family court is horrible, but Dr. Jones can do much more harm in other venues.  On the other hand, in the first case I had with him, my client never saw her child again.  The child was given into the custody of a father who was violent, and mother gave up.  It was my concern for children like that child who never saw mother again that has motivated me. One of the worst things that can happen to a child is to have a parent die.  In relation to this cihld, it was as if the mother died, or as if Dr. Jones killed her in emotional effect.  I don't want to see any more of this.

I think you know or suspect that the work I have done to expose the truth has been very difficult.  It has made a small group angry with me.  Fortunately, many attorneys tell me privately that they are glad that I have had the courage to bring the problem to light.  This has not been easy for me.  In Kathy Justi's case alone I put in more than $70,000 of work for which I am afraid I will not get paid.  That occurred in the space of a few months.  I am sure you can see that all of the pro bono work I have done on this problem has been at a great financial cost to my family.  However, to me it is more important that we live in a society where the family could would realte to people in a nontoxic way.  I was very gratified when my work was recognized by a special award in 1997 from the Santa Clara County Bar Association and the Pro Bono Project of Santa Clara County.

I have faith in you, my colleagues, to understand that there is no way that I would be involved in a burglary.  I would not encourage illegal action, and if anyone mentioned it, I would specifically discourage it.  If I thought that the remedy lay in illegal action, I would not spend so much time on taking legal steps to set things right.  In one pro bono case referred to me by the battered women's group, I spent a year trying to get discovery of records from Dr. Jones.  He spent an entire year stonewalling.  At the very end of that year, we were greeted with the fact that all the records I was seeking had been stolen.  My client is still paying Dr. Jones' fees under an award that was made without being able to obtain documentation.  Because someone burglarized Dr. Jones' office, all of my clients are denied their (stolen) records.  In fact, Lisa, mentioned above, now has records that cannot be authenticated.  I haven't given them to another psychologist for fear the psychologist would then be attacked for receiving stolen information.  Lisa is the one who lost through the burglary.  We could have gotten the records legally, but once the burglary occurred, the situation was a horrible mess.

Dr. Jones claims that some subpoenas for his records were quashed.  The subpoena Lisa H. tried to do was not successful.  She was absolutely legally entitled to the information. But Dr. Jones, a Ph.D. psychologist, succeeded in stopping this mother with about a 6th-grade reading level from getting her records.  We all know that court responds to verbal ability.  It is not a victory Dr. Jones should be proud of.  As to the subpoena for Kathy Justi, that one remains undecided by the court and may yet result in documentation being produced.

As you may know, I have a large and busy office.  I have a reputation for being a tough litigator, but my reputation is absolutely that I do not lie.  (Sometimes some attorney who has a miscommunication or lies a lot themselves will accuse me of lying, but that is something that no amount of truth telling can avoid.)  I don't even lie about my time estimates.  And I know the judges know this.  So I am not afraid for my reputation.  The truth is not going to hurt me.  Innuendoes and implications whispered around the courthouse, to which I cannot reply, will be a passing unpleasantness.  But what needs to be done is to clean up the mess that gave rise to these innuendoes in the first place.

The Komar Commission, including Judge MaryAnn Grilli, is investigating the problems of custody/visitation in Family Court.  Communicate with them.  Let them know how you feel about the atmosphere in which we are working.  I know you want an ethical and fair atmosphere.  The cynicism and other depressing attitudes that have become current can be eliminated.  Yes, practicing law is difficult.  But it should occur in a basically fair situation, and decisions about children should be made by unbiased and competent personnel.

Sincerely,