Legal Filings

Legal Filings

Ethics Watch Asks Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel to Investigate McInnis

Colorado Ethics Watch has asked the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel to investigate reports that former Congressman Scott McInnis, a licensed Colorado attorney, earned $300,000 from a private foundation for original writings on water issues but delivered to the foundation reports that were partially written by a non-lawyer assistant and allegedly contained plagiarized material.

Rule 8.4 of the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct prohibits attorneys from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, deceit or misrepresentation.  Rule 5.3 requires attorneys to supervise non-lawyer assistants to insure that the assistants do not engage in conduct on the lawyer’s behalf that would violate the Rules of Professional Conduct.  The application of these rules has been called into question by reports that Congressman McInnis submitted as his own work articles that were partially written by a water engineer, without knowledge or approval from the Hasan Family Foundation, which contained sections that appear to have been copied from a 1984 article written by Justice Hobbs.

Luis Toro, Director of Colorado Ethics Watch, issued the following statement:  “News reports alleging that Congressman McInnis’ fellowship work was largely outsourced to a water engineer and contained plagiarized material raise serious ethics questions under the Rules of Professional Conduct that apply to all Colorado lawyers.  Today’s filing will insure that the matter is not overlooked by the Office of Regulatory Counsel simply because no one formally brought it to the office’s attention.” 

Click Here to Read Request for Investigation

Click Here to View Exhibits to Request for Investigation

Click Here to Read Related The Colorado Independent Story 8/9/2010

Click Here to Read Related The Denver Post Story

Click Here to Read Related The Colorado Independent Story 7/22/2010