Useless Buffers: Take Michael Corleone’s Advice

A consent five-year suspension was approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court of an attorney for misconduct described in the report of the Disciplinary Board

Respondent has been engaged in misconduct since at least 2011, he has employed non-lawyers to not only solicit clients to hire Respondent in their attempt to refinance their residential realty, but he has abandoned many of those clients by a lack of communication, diligence, and advice for which they paid in advance. Often, Respondent’s non-lawyer employees served as a useless buffer between Respondent and his clients, who were not in a financial position to risk losing the $3,000 advance payment of fee to Respondent while they were having difficulty making their mortgage payments…Respondent circumvented [FTC MARS Rules] protection for no reason other than his own financial benefit.

 The only mitigating factor was a lack of prior discipline. The attorney was admitted in 2006.

He also violated unauthorized practice rules by representing clients in jurisdictions where he was not admitted to practice.

Title reference linked here. (Mike Frisch)