CHICAGO LEGAL MALPRACTICE LAWYER BLOG

Mandatory Sentencing for Medical Marijuana – NYTimes.com.

This is a New York Times story on the prosecution of a family growing marijuana. They claim the marijuana is for medical purposes. The feds disagree. In the end, a jury will decide the fate of these people.

This case raises an ethical question for lawyers. Let’s say you are a lawyer in Colorado or Washington state. Someone comes in to the office and proposes a new company to sell medical marijuana. You form an entity. You write an operating agreement and you assist the client in setting up what appears to be a lawful business. Also, assume your clients obtain a state license and comply with all of the laws of their state.

BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD.

This case results from an error in judgment that took place in 2003, more than 11 years ago. A lawyer instructed a staff member to falsely attest that certain persons had witnessed the signing of a will. This is one of the easiest of disciplinary cases for the administrator to prove.

Here are the pertinent allegations:

Filed May 27.

A lawyer converted $1300 in client funds and loaned those funds to his sick brother. He later repaid the funds to the client. However, the ARDC opened an investigation and the deception was found out.  The ARDC hearing board recommended a censure. The Review Board increased the sanction to a 30 day suspension.

The Panel explains:

The Lawyer’s Duty of Candor to the Client – Should It Be Formally Defined?

Is it ever appropriate to lie to your client? Judge Raymond J. McKoski, an adjunct professor of law at John Marshall Law School, has posted a thoughtful article on the lawyer’s duty of candor to the client. The article is titlted: “The Truth Be told: The Need for a Model Rule Defining a Lawyer’s Duty of Candor to a Client.” A link to the paper can be found here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2419494.

McKoski notes that Model Rule of Professional Conduct 4.1 “bars a lawyer from making a false statement of material fact to a third person in connection with the representation of a client.” He notes, however, “there is no Model Rule establishing and defining a lawyer’s duty of candor to a client.” McKoski believes that there should be such a rule. Indeed, he proposes the addition of a new subsection (c) of Model Rule 1.4 which would provide as follows:

BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD.

Each year the ARDC files many cases against lawyer who convert funds from client trust accounts. This case is slightly different. The ARDC has charged one member of a two-member firm with failing to (a) maintain accurate and complete client trust account records and (b) failing to make “reasonable efforts” that the other lawyers in the firm were in compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct.

This is a case alleging inadvertent conversions of client funds due to a lack of record-keeping by the lawyers and the firm. There were several bounced checks and some clients apparently had to wait longer than they should have to receive their settlement checks.

This is an unpublished case, captioned, In re Marriage of Marie Brinkley v. Leonard Przysucha, 2014 Ill App (1st) 131397-U. The case is a dispute over child support obligations. The respondent allegedly had a large balance of unpaid child support. The petitioner, however, had obtained a bankruptcy discharge and did not disclose the child support claim in her bankruptcy petition.

The leading case on the issue is Berge v. Mader, 2011 IL App (1st) 103778. In that case, the court held that the petitioner was judicially estopped from pursuing the child support claim because she failed to disclose it in her bankruptcy papers.

In the Brinkley case, which is arguably identical, the lawyers for petitioner did not disclose the contrary authority and were sanctioned. The Court explained: ”

In re Balivet – 2014 VT 41 :: 2014 :: Vermont Supreme Court Decisions :: Vermont Case Law :: US Case Law :: US Law :: Justia.

Vermont has reprimanded a judge for failing to rule promptly in a family court matter involving the guardianship of a minor child. This is the first time I have ever seen a member of the judiciary disciplined for a lengthy delay in a ruling.

In November 2001, the respondent judge granted the child’s grandfather to be his guardian.

MATTER OF NOVINS, 2014 NY Slip Op 3465 – NY: Appellate Div., 1st Dept. 2014 – Google Scholar.

Some of the facts set forth in ethics cases are almost impossible to believe. This is one such case where an associate of a law firm agreed to assist a former client with a legal malpractice case against his employer.

After a personal injury case was lost, and the client threatened to sue the firm for legal malpractice, an associate of the law firm contacted the aggrieved client and negotiated a written contingency fee agreement with the aggrieved client.