What It Takes To Get Disbarred In New Jersey

The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed with a dissenting opinion of the Disciplinary Review Board and disbarred a convicted sex offender.

The offense involved a minor child.

The DRB majority had proposed a two-year suspension.

From the dissent

How can clients then trust the sound advice that they seek from an attorney – in any area of the law – when they know that the attorney is morally deficient?

..,.we cannot help but wonder how members of the public would feel if, during the course of the representation, they learned that the attorney they had placed so much trust in was a registered Megan’s Law offender. How would they then feel, when they learned that we, as a profession, allowed that attorney to maintain a license? We doubt they would have much faith in any of us going forward, always wondering what the next attorney might be hiding about his or her character. We also doubt many members of the public would be able to understand why this attorney was not disbarred.

The dissent also notes that the attorney concealed the conviction from disciplinary authorities “for almost fifteen years, despite his legal duty to notify the [Office of Attorney Ethics] of his guilty plea.”

The dissent was authored by Chair Bonnie Frost and member Jeanne Doremus. (Mike Frisch)