Defending An Attorney Gets Lawyer Privately Reprimanded

One thing that you do not often see is a lawyer prosecuted for an alleged ethical violation that occurred in the course of representing an attorney accused of an ethical violation.

It just happened in Kentucky.

The lawyer negotiated a $30,000 settlement with the attorney’s former client with a condition that the complainant refuse to voluntarily cooperate with the then-ongoing bar investigation.

The Kentucky Bar got ahold of the settlement agreement and filed charges as a result.

The Kentucky Supreme Court held that the attorney’s conduct impeded the bar investigation and imposed a private reprimand against the Unnamed Attorney.

A dissent found an abuse of discetion in the failure to admit into evidence the testimony of a proffered  expert witness who played a critical role (“salesman”)  in the court’s adoption of revised rules as part of the “20-20” process. (Mike Frisch)