In Attorneys Can Lie in Pennsylvania Courts, Dr. Benjamin Wood Johnson exposes how the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board dismissed a complaint backed by irrefutable proof: an email from January 24, 2024, in which a Penn State student formally requested grade adjudication. That request, preserved in the record, directly contradicted the false statements later advanced by Penn State's attorneys. Yet, when confronted with this evidence, the Board not only refused to act but issued a dismissal letter riddled with contradictions, thereby shielding the misconduct rather than confronting it.
Drawing on primary documents, including the student's adjudication request, the university's retaliatory dismissal, and the Board's October 8, 2024 ruling. Dr. Johnson demonstrates how the disciplinary system functions less as a watchdog than as a shield for the powerful. The Board claimed lack of authority while simultaneously rendering findings, ignored documentary truth, and left complainants without recourse.
This book reveals how Pennsylvania's legal institutions have collapsed into a self-protecting system where honesty is optional, evidence is disregarded, and justice is displaced by loyalty to power. It is a companion volume to The Pennsylvania Corruption Machine, which drills deeper into one crucial node of the state's accountability failure: the very agency sworn to police the legal profession.
For lawyers, students, scholars, and citizens, this is a sobering reminder that when oversight bodies abandon their duty, corruption is not only possible, it becomes institutionalized. The Disciplinary Board's own words, contrasted with the record it ignored. Their own conduct [or misconduct] makes the case undeniable. This is a stunning indictment that: in Pennsylvania, attorneys can lie, and the system will look the other way.
