Pending further disciplinary action, the State Bar of California suspended the right to practice of Michael Pines, whose exploits had garnered considerable press attention [Amanda Bronstad, NLJ; earlier here and here]
Posts Tagged ‘don’t’
State bar: lawyer claimed to “channel” client’s dead wife
Really bad lawyer conduct? Or only medium? “The State Bar of Arizona is looking to throw the book at a Phoenix attorney who told a client that she was channeling his dead wife, then allegedly lied about it during an unrelated disciplinary proceeding.” [National Law Journal]
Don’t
A bright-line rule in legal ethics: don’t order that witnesses be killed [Philadelphia Inquirer, WSJ Law Blog on prosecutors’ allegations in a case against New Jersey criminal defense lawyer Paul Bergrin]
Faking cancer to dodge a lawsuit
Doing that sort of thing is never a good idea, and now it’s drawn a three-year sentence for obstruction of justice for a former vice president at a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech company. He’s appealing the sentence as excessive. [AP, Boston Globe, Boston Herald]
Hiding client’s embezzled money?
A South Carolina lawyer with expertise in “asset protection” and his associate have pleaded not guilty to federal charges over their alleged roles in an arrangement to do that; an Aiken, S.C. lawyer “pled guilty on September 18 to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering for his role in the scheme.” [WISTV.com, Columbia State]
Don’t
Don’t gamble away your clients’ $2 million class action settlement on stock market day trading and lose it [Sandeep Baweja of Orange County, Calif., who has agreed to plead guilty; earlier]
Judge-menacing Philly lawyer ignores disbarment
A “judge ordered the Office of Disciplinary Counsel to lock [Allen] Feingold out of his offices” after he went on practicing law notwithstanding his suspension and eventual disbarment, even going so far as to use another lawyer’s letterhead and electronic-filing code without his permission. That was aside from the question of whether he’d earlier attempted to choke, or only attempted to strike, a judge who’d ruled against him on an arbitration matter. [Above the Law, Legal Intelligencer, AmLaw Daily]
Tax Court: NYC lawyer can’t deduct $100K+ for sex “therapy”
TaxProf: “The Tax Court yesterday denied a New York tax lawyer’s claimed $100,000+ medical expense deduction for the costs of prostitutes and pornographic material.” Earlier here. More: Gothamist last year on related state-tax enforcement action (“The state auditor also argued that ‘in addition to being illegal in New York State, these expenses are not substantiated with receipts.'”
Himself for a client dept.
According to U.S. Justice Department and Colorado bar authorities, Denver immigration lawyer Ravi Kanwal was himself in the United States unlawfully. [Legal Profession Blog via Ambrogi, Legal Blog Watch]
Don’t
If you’re a judge annoyed at a court worker’s parking her car in a restricted parking space at the courthouse, don’t take it upon yourself to let the air out of her tires [Maryland circuit court judge Robert Nalley, who’s stepping down from an administrative post but not from the bench after conceding the bit of self-help in question; Washington Post]