Zealousness Run Amok

A three-year suspension has been imposed by the Rhode Island Supreme Court for an attorney’s serious misconduct in four family law matters.

The attorney was admitted in 1987, had no prior discipline and admitted the violations.

Among the violations was his obtaining an ex parte order to permit a client to remove items from a family home on the false representation that the opposing party agreed to the relief.

The court

We do find many aggravating factors. The respondent committed multiple acts of misconduct in four separate cases. There is a persistent pattern of deceiving judges before whom the respondent appeared, doing so without the knowledge of or notice to opposing parties and their attorneys, and obtaining orders to benefit his clients which they were not entitled to receive. The respondent did not just prejudice the administration of justice, he sabotaged it. By all accounts the respondent is an experienced member of the bar and a zealous advocate for his clients. However, in this matter we find that his substantial experience is an aggravating rather than a mitigating factor. The respondent is well-aware of the proper procedures to follow to represent the interests of his clients without violating the rules. He chose a course of action to win at all costs, and he repeatedly disregarded the procedural and ethical rules designed to provide fair hearings in our courts.

The court noted that the attorney offered no explanation for his ethical violations. (Mike Frisch)