Bar Counsel Imposes Discipline For “Personal” Misconduct & Legal But Unethical Behavior

5335570Many members of the public, and some attorneys themselves, believe that if they do not lie, they do not steal, and they do not cheat, then their conduct necessarily complies with the Rules of Professional Conduct.  This is a false assumption.  Others believe that an attorney’s “transgressions” in her personal life will not affect her ability to practice law.  This too is incorrect.

The preamble to the ABA model rules explains that the “legal profession’s relative autonomy carries with it special responsibilities of self-government. The profession has a responsibility to assure that its regulations are conceived in the public interest and not in furtherance of parochial or self-interested concerns of the bar. Every lawyer is responsible for observance of the Rules of Professional Conduct.”

The rules further warn that “[n]eglect of these responsibilities compromises the independence of the profession and the public interest which it serves.”

Personal Misconduct 

Lying, cheating and stealing are proscribed by numerous canons of ethics.  Moreover, the ethics rules apply regardless of whether the misconduct occurs in the context of the practice of law.

For example, lawyers who may be perfectly good, even great, at their craft may still be suspended or disbarred for breaking the law.  Convictions for any felony as well as anything that reflects negatively on the lawyer’s honesty, character, or integrity, whether the result of conduct at work or at home, subjects the attorney to professional discipline.

The Bar does not just regulate the quality of a lawyer as a client representative.  Character matters.  Alot.  Illegal, dishonest, or other conduct that tarnishes the image of the legal profession is fair game for Bar Counsel.  As reported in this blog, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has suspended or disbarred practitioners for all types of “private misconduct,” such as domestic violence, solicitation of a minor, and failure to pay child support or taxes.

Legal But Unethical Conduct

The ethical rules also cover other conduct that may be perfectly legal and yet still subject counsel to significant professional discipline.  One example is the “simple mistake.”  Ethical guidance on what seems to be a straightforward question is mixed.  

get-out-of-jail-freeTake the typo.  No one is going to jail for an unintentional misspelling.  A “typo” could easily be characterized as a “simple” mistake.  But what if the typo caused the client to miss a non-extendable filing date, resulting in the lapse of valuable patent rights?  Ethical or not?

The USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) has imposed fairly significant discipline against patent and trademark practitioners whose arguably “simple” mistake of failing to timely pay maintenance fees led to the unintended loss of client patent rights.  For example, in In re Brufsky, a patent attorney received a multi-year suspension because his staff erroneously determined the client was responsible for payment of maintenance fees.

In another “mistake” case, In re Druce (discussed here), the OED disciplined a named partner in an IP firm for failing to “adequately” supervise a paralegal.  Such conduct could very well be characterized as “simple mistakes,” and is certainly not illegal conduct.  Yet the purported “simplicity” of the “mistake” provided no defense to the OED’s charges.

Another type of conduct that is legal, yet unethical, is the lawyer’s duty to communicate.  The Rules of Professional Conduct governing USPTO practitioners state “a practitioner shall . . . keep the client reasonably informed about the progress of the matter” and “promptly comply with reasonable requests for information from the client.” 37 C.F.R. § 11.104(a)(3) & (4). The ethics rules also impose a duty to “act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client.” 37 C.F.R. § 11.103.  Again, no crime and yet disciplinary authorities will not hesitate from sanctioning attorneys for such violations, as discussed in our posting here.

Another type of conduct that falls under the heading of “legal but unethical” relates to an attorney’s handling of their client’s money and other property.  For example, counsel owes a duty to maintain their client’s property separate from the practitioner’s property, maintain proper trust account records, and ensure that trust funds are properly balanced. 37 C.F.R. § 11.115.  If the attorney fails to keep proper accounting records or mishandles client funds, even if unintentional, she could be sanctioned by the bar.

Legal but unethical conduct was discussed in a Colorado bar ethics opinion regarding whether an error (not illegal) could still constitute unethical behavior.  The conclusion?  It depends.  As the bar opinion advised, “professional errors exist along a spectrum.” At one end are errors that “will likely prejudice a client’s right or claim. Examples of these kinds of errors are the loss of a claim for failure to file it within a statutory limitations period or a failure to serve a notice of claim within a statutory time period.”  At the other end of the spectrum are errors that may never cause harm to the client, either because any resulting harm is not reasonably foreseeable, there is no prejudice to a client’s right or claim, or the lawyer takes corrective measures that are reasonably likely to avoid any such prejudice. “For example, missing a nonjurisdictional deadline, a potentially fruitful area of discovery, or a theory of liability or defense may constitute grounds for loss of sleep, but not an ethical duty to disclose to the client.”

USPTO practitioners must keep their clients “reasonably informed about the status of the matter.”  37 C.F.R. § 11.104(a)(3).  Counsel must also inform their client of “any decision or circumstance with respect to which the client’s informed consent is required by the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct.”  Id. at § 11.104(a)(1). The duty to keep a client “reasonably informed” requires disclosure regarding  “significant developments” in the matter.  Not surprisingly, the duty to inform the client regarding “significant developments” includes the duty to disclose material adverse developments, including those caused by the attorney’s own error.  Again, violations of these rules, which arise from legal conduct, may result in professional discipline.

The duties that lawyers owe are far more expansive than simply not violating the law.  As the preamble to the ABA Model Rules explains, “A lawyer, as a member of the legal profession, is a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.”  Private misconduct outside of the practice of law, as well as legal conduct that violates the rules of ethics, can lead to serious disciplinary sanctions.

6 thoughts on “Bar Counsel Imposes Discipline For “Personal” Misconduct & Legal But Unethical Behavior”

  1. Lawyer multiplies proceedings,don’t summit evedence that completed judge’s order completed certificates,bad faith don’t ever return calls ,risks safety full knowledge of threw text messages video with proof imposes junctions against client for intergrity of other party,back filing ,tell client other felony charge don’t matter in case shows client a motion and filing different motion and brought to attorney attention and two weeks still haven’t tried to fix problem Palm Beach FL help

  2. Pingback: Disbar Sarah Braasch? Not impossible. – Sarah Braasch: WTF's Wrong with you?

  3. What about misleading the client to believe they will represent the client quickly charging a retainer without getting information about the problem then once hearing the clients reason, reasons why he needed representation the attorney backs out without refunding the clients money? Isn’t that classified as being sold out? Isn’t that upfront mis representation? I think an ethical attorney would refund any money minus the consultation fee and get As Much information from their client With A Proper Upfront Professional consultation FIRST.
    I’m talking about being charged a 25k retainer.
    The attorney found out his client lived on another coast of Florida, he knowing sells him out because he’s thinking this guy lives 300 miles away, he won’t try to get his money refunded because he lives so far away, it would be too much of a hassle for him when in reality it ends being a heartache.
    PLUS the clients vulnerability was so obvious as was his pain and suffering he purposely took advantage by giving the client false hope that he could help then right after saying oh yes I’ll take your case for $25,000 retainer. Then later the attorney tells him he can’t help him because he’s on the other coast and it’s too political he doesn’t know that much about that type of law when he knew all that up front but still requested a 25k retainer.
    This client told him that while representing himself up to this point he suffered from prostate cancer and 2 heart attacks which his primary care doctor wrote a statement stating that it was caused from stress therefore knowing his “future client” was near a breaking point, that anything the attorney said pointing toward hope would make it easier for the client to write a check for 25k.

  4. Attorney was hired by a real estate agent to threaten me to move from the property, so property could be sold. The prospective buyer did not want me on the property if they bought it. I was not under eviction. The attorney threatened to call the sheriff’s office on me to have me removed. Then the attorney threatened to trespass me. I was/am a legal resident of the property and every right to be there

  5. THE BAR IN THIS COUNTY IS DOING A LOUSY JOB OF OVERSEEING ABUSE BY LAWYERS AND JUDGES THAT RULE WITH THEIR POLITICAL PREJUDICE TO MISLEAD JURIES NOT ALLOWING DEFENCE TO DEFEND SHOWING BLANTANT FAVORTISM TO ONE PARTY OVER ANOTHER FROM THE START OF TRIAL. RIDICULOUSE FINES WHERE NO ONE WAS HARMED OR EVEN CLAIMED TO BE. AMERICA IS WATCHING THE DESTRUCTION OF THE JURDICIAL SYSTEM AND THE BAR HAS ALLOWED IT ALL TO HAPPEN.

    1. Leah it happened to me and im appealing the decision here in El Cajon California we have liberal judges who dont allow evidence for the purpose of Red Flag they want to take away your First and Second Amendment rights taking away your guns for their political ideology yet they allow hundred of thousands of illegals from bad countries emptying out prison and insane asylums to infiltrate our cities
      my email is santilliflooring@yahoo.com
      Im a christian and as the bible says we are in perilous times !

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