No conflict of interest here...
So while there's certainly nothing illegal about the practice, one might think that
a lawyer and the judge he presents cases before should never be 'Friends' on Facebook.
You'll never guess who turned up on the Friends list of attorney Shawn Bunyard...
Yup, Jim Bertoli.
Curiously, this 'Jim Bertoli' is 'Jim' and not 'James' as in Judge James G. Bertoli, Superior Court - Family Law Division, Sonoma County. It is possible that these are not the same people. This Jim Bertoli wears a ten-gallon hat, sunglasses, a shirt emblazoned with the Stars & Stripes, and is playing a patriotically adorned acoustic guitar. But those sunglasses provide little protection from seeing through to the striking similarity to the guy who habitually slaps (mostly) fathers with three and five-year restraining orders even when there's zero evidence against the defendant. That it's well known that Judge James Bertoli plays in a country band called 'Court-n-Justice,' is no reason to necessarily conclude that they're the same person either. He did, however, recently go on record (we have the transcript) stating that Shawn Bunyard plays in his band on occasion. Whoa. No conflict of interest there. Though some might concur that there's just a hint of incestuousness here.
Welcome to Sonoma County Family Law, folks!
Certain things even a nice pair of Ray-Bans can't hide.
