Councilman Warren Redlich, who sits on the Town Board in Guilderland and runs a private law firm, said he is asking a federal court to overturn a recent ruling by the Committee of Professional Standards preventing him from practicing law in Guilderland.
The committee is also requiring Redlich make changes to his Web site, but Redlich said his free speech rights allow him to preserve the site’s content.
He said complaints made by the committee involve claims posted on his Web site that he can handle cases without the defendant appearing in court.
Redlich said he does make such claims, only because he does handle a number of traffic cases, more than 99 percent, where his client does not have to appear in court.
My Web site is honest, he said. `My Web site is straightforward.`
The committee also states Redlich should not practice law in town court, as he has oversight of the judges’ salaries and the police department, but Redlich said he sends a letter to Guilderland Town Court when his clients are appearing in Guilderland asking the case be moved to another municipality where he has no jurisdiction. By doing such, there is no conflict, he said.
He also said he reserves the right to defend his mother should she appear in court, and the decision by the ethics committee would infringe on her sixth amendment right to council.
Redlich said other complaints made by the standards committee about sexually explicit materials on the Internet did not yield any directives from the committee.
`That allegation is kind of trivial,` he said.
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