Is Jose Baez Guilty of Ethical Violations?

In January 2011, when asked to speak about a bar complaint filed against him by a judge in Orange County, Florida, which concluded with a ruling of no probable cause, Mr. Baez made a single comment which can be found at the following link.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-jose-baez-bar-complaint-20110202,0,6636437.story

Jose Baez: “I have been cleared of all Bar complaints filed against me.”

“I have been cleared” – This is a truthful statement.  Mr. Baez has “been cleared”.  However, it should be noted this is not a declaration of innocence and this is not a statement Mr. Baez did not violate his ethical responsibilities.  In fact, the structure of this sentence attempts to pull responsibility away from Mr. Baez for possible ethical violations by putting the action in the hands of someone other than Mr. Baez, who did not clear himself.  He has “been cleared” by someone else.  In this case, we assume the someone else is the Florida Bar.

“of all Bar complaints” – The word “all” indicates the existence of more than one Bar complaint.  There are multiple Bar complaints.

“filed against me” – This phrase limits “all Bar complaints” to only those “filed”.  Mr. Baez is acknowledging there are other Bar complaints, but they have not been filed.  This distinction is important as the phrase “Bar complaints” would have indicated only filed complaints as any not filed would not yet be “Bar complaints” as they were not yet in front of the Bar.  By adding the phrase “filed against me”, Mr. Baez is highlighting his sensitivity to “Bar complaints” and limiting his response to only those filed thus far.  As seen in the linked news article, an additional Bar complaint was filed within a month of this comment being uttered.

We have learned Mr. Baez avoids speaking about his guilt or innocence of ethical violations.

We have learned Mr. Baez feels a need to distinguish between filed Bar complaints and those not yet filed.

We have learned Mr. Baez was most likely aware of a soon-to-be filed Bar complaint when he made this statement to the press.