Must be Tempting
To know a juicy story, with sex, politics, and prominent people, and be forbidden to tell, is tough. It is such a temptation that the authorities wrote a rule especially for lawyers, to threaten us not to reveal confidential information. But Karl Rove is also a tempting target. And there is money in writing books, so they say.
It is tough to deal with one temptation, but two, or three all at the same time? Joseph Stork Smith, of Carmel, IN, did not handle the pressure well, apparently. He decided to write the book, name the names, and tell the sordid stories that he got from his legal client. Some have speculated on who the client is, but the Indiana Supreme Court in its Order did not name her. I respect that. And having read the opinion, it is pretty juicy writing for a per curiam decision.
Smith got a disbarment. End of the line for him. Started practice in 1976, so early he is in his early 60s most likely. Succumbed to temptations.
Maybe if he had not subtitled the book “Machiavelli’s Sexy Twin Sister”….
Once ought to be enough.
Allen County, IN Public Defender Mitchell Hicks, has seen the twice drunken arrestee too many times in the practice, he has to know better, but….“I screwed up,” he said.
A fight with a former client outside a bar… an unregistered gun… trouble. Arrested for a second alcohol offense, he took it like an adult (unlike so many defendants). Sentencing was as follows:
[Judge Fran] Gull ordered Hicks to serve 60 days at the Allen County Jail on the drunken driving charge but suspended 50 days of that sentence. She ordered him to serve 365 days on the charge of carrying a handgun without a license but suspended 275 days.
She then said he could serve his time in the county community corrections program and that his [driver’s] license will be suspended for 180 days.
100 days of home detention. No Disciplinary Action by the Indiana Supreme Court, yet.
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Biglaw lawyers ought to know!
Some firm names just ring out as BIGLAW, and among the biggest is Baker & McKinzie. Biglaw firms have lots of people around, and they suggest that lots of people provide good protection for their clients. When you get billed for 10 lawyers work on your business matter, you should have especially good protection from the harms that some solo or other errant lawyer might commit.
Not in the case of Martin Weisberg! He was sentenced to two years for committing “a calculate fraud and lies” to steal $1.3M from his securities clients.
The scheme was to put $30M of client’s money into a “trust account,” but he did not tell the clients that it was earning interest. Lawyers use interest free or IOLTA trust accounts for handling small amounts of money for clients, if the interest that would be earned is not worth the time to set up the account. The Rules co permit the earned interest be used for public purposes, instead of simply going to the bank. But when the amounts involved make it worth the time to open an interest earning trust account, the lawyer must do that. Weinberg put $1.3M earned interest in his pocket. That violates lots of laws, and lawyer rules. He got caught. The Sentencing Order included:
[T]wo years in prison,… three years of supervised release, 1,000 hours of community service, a $297,500 restitution order and a $250,000 forfeiture.
I always wonder why if the finding is $1.3M in losses, the restitution and forfeiture together do not equal at least $1.3M – plus interest.
Lawyers with Troubles 