Act Of Betrayal

The D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility has recommended the reciprocal discipline of court admonishment of an attorney who filed a motion to withdraw from representing an applicant for bar admission. The motion stated: “[the sanctioned attorney] did not believe that [his client] had the character and fitness to serve as a bar member and that [he] had not paid his attorney’s fees.”

The Florida court found that the lawyer had violated his duty of confidentiality, engaged in a conflict of interest and used an improper method to seek his desired withdrawal. Admonishment seems a tad light for such a fundamental ethics breach.

I mention a similar D.C. case in a comment to this post. The case is linked here.  (Mike Frisch)