High Emotions

A three-judge panel concluded that a Virginia attorney had violated Rules 1.2(a) and 1.4(b) but determined that the appropriate disposition was a “dismissal for exceptional circumstances.”

 The order contains a handwritten description of those circumstances: (1) the “nature of the situation caused high emotions that had an affect on [the attorney’s] judgment;” (2) no prior complaints; (3) the attorney removed the client’s name from litigation promptly after the client had objected; and (4) the client is pursuing a civil remedy.

High emotions and a civil suit hardly strike me as exceptional circumstances to avoid discipline in the wake of findings that two ethics rules were violated. (Mike Frisch)