Former judge James Burge's law license reinstated after suspension

After a six-month suspension, the Ohio Supreme Court has reinstated Lorain County attorney James Burge's law license, it was announced Tuesday. The former Lorain County Common Pleas judge, who resigned that post after being convicted of several misdemeanors and fined $3,000, declined comment on the matter. Burge's license was suspended in August based on previous criminal convictions for failing to disclose his interest in an office building at 600 Broadway in Lorain owned by Whiteacre North on financial disclosure forms; assigning paid legal work to attorneys who rented office space from him and threatening defendants from the bench. The court called the sanction appropriate because Burge resigned from the bench and he was unlikely to commit misconduct again. Burge was given credit for three months and three weeks served on suspension following an April 2015 conviction for tampering with records and falsification, charges that were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors due to a clerical error by a visiting judge. A Democrat first elected in 2006, Burge resigned as judge following his conviction, and then-Gov. John Kasich appointed Michele Silva Arredondo, a Republican, to replace him. Current Judge Chris Cook later defeated her in the November 2016 election. In the meantime, Burge ran to regain his seat but was defeated in the March 2016 Democratic primary by current Judge Christopher Rothgery. In the case of the Lorain office building, The Chronicle-Telegram previously reported that Burge and his business partners made a deal to sell the property to another attorney, but the deal fell apart in early 2011. Burge then sold his interest in the company to his wife in June of that year for $1. Burge also sent a letter to three state representatives disparaging Lynn Slaby, a veteran judge on the 9th District Court of Appeals in Akron, as "a hobgoblin of a small-minded, mouth-breathing, Tea Party type whose political style and abilities uniquely qualifies him to do nothing" and the court itself as "nothing more than an affirmative action program for intellectually challenged, Summit County Republican lawyers." He also referred to Caucasian defendants as "crackers" and African American and Latino defendants as "homeboys" while on the bench. Evidence of that behavior was presented during the suspension case. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.