Suspension For Assisting Unauthorized Practice
An attorney who allowed a suspended attorney to practice law has been suspended for one year by the Delaware Supreme Court.
The web of the matter is a somewhat tangled one.
The attorney suspended here was on disciplinary probation as a result of problems with tax obligations.
He also had served as practice monitor for the suspended attorney who engaged in the unauthorized practice.
After the two-year suspension of the attorney
Martin testified that, although he knew Feuerhake was suspended, he never read the Court’s suspension order. The record reflects that Feuerhake researched and drafted briefs in several of Martin’s employment cases. For those cases, Feuerhake would submit an invoice, and Martin would pay him an hourly rate as a paralegal. Feuerhake also continued to work as a paralegal on the Burns and the Barkes litigation, which he and Martin had been co-counsel on prior to his suspension. For those two matters, Feuerhake did not receive compensation on an hourly basis. According to an email Feuerhake sent to Martin in September 2011, the two men were continuing, with respect to those two cases, to operate in accordance with the fee agreement they had reached when Feuerhake was licensed to practice law, namely that Martin would receive 60% of the fee and Feuerhake would receive 40%. For the Burns litigation, the email reflected that David Facciolo would receive 20% of the fee because he had referred the Burns matter to Feuerhake. Therefore, Martin’s and Feuerhake’s percentages were to be reduced to 48% and 32%, respectively.
Feuerhake met with clients and participated in proceedings.
The court
In this case, there is substantial evidence in the record to support a finding of Martin’s knowing misconduct. First and foremost, Martin knew that Feuerhake was suspended, yet he willingly allowed Feuerhake to move into his office space and continue to work on cases for him as a paralegal without reading the Court’s suspension order and determining the restrictions on Feuerhake’s ability to work for Martin as a paralegal. A lawyer with Martin’s experience, especially one with Martin’s own recent disciplinary history, would have known that the Court’s suspension order was publicly available and should have consulted it, which is precisely what Martin did when he was asked to hire another suspended lawyer, Ron Poliquin, to work for him as a paralegal.
The court rejected the Office of Disciplinary Counsel’s call for disbarment, concluding that the misconduct was insufficiently grievous to warrant that sanction. (Mike Frisch)