City Attorney Reprimanded For Suing City

An Arkansas attorney has been reprimanded and fined for misconduct committed as an elected  city attorney.

The conduct of Benjamin Lipscomb violated Rule 1.7(a) in that as elected and longtime Rogers City Attorney, the City was Lipscomb’s sole client. In November 2014, Lipscomb caused the City of Rogers to be sued in federal court, with him as the sole plaintiff, claiming an illegal or unlawful action by the City had harmed his status as a city official, thus placing his personal interest in direct conflict with the interest of his only client. Lipscomb continued to act as the legal representative of the City until he resigned on January 30, 2015. A concurrent conflict of interest existed between Lipscomb and his only client, the City of Rogers, as his representation of the City was materially limited by the personal interest of Lipscomb that was directly contrary to the interest of the City as set out in his litigation. The City of Rogers never consented to this conflict.

He violated other ethics rules including Rule 1.8(b) by using confidential information and

The conduct of Benjamin Lipscomb violated Rule 8.4(a) in that as the plaintiff in litigation against his employer, City of Rogers, in federal court Case No. 14-cv-5338, after it was filed on November 5, 2014, Lipscomb violated the rules of professional conduct related to conflicts of interest by using or acting through a Rogers city employee, Jan Brown, who worked under his direct supervision, to prepare pleadings in his case against the City of Rogers as well as other documents for Lipscomb’s personal business matters…

The conduct of Benjamin Lipscomb violated Rule 8.4(c) in that in November-December 2014, while a plaintiff in Case No. 14-cv-5338 against the City of Rogers, his sole client as Rogers City Attorney, Lipscomb improperly and possibly illegally used a city employee under his supervision, city property, city time and city resources for his personal legal and non-city employment matters. He directed the city employee, Jan Brown, to prepare an amended complaint for use in his federal lawsuit against the city and to prepare FOIA requests against the city for the benefit of him and his family member, conduct by Lipscomb involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation to the City of Rogers. After moving his residence outside the Rogers city limits in May 2011, and thereby becoming ineligible to hold the elected office of Rogers City Attorney, Lipscomb continued in said office, drawing his full salary and benefits, until January 30, 2015, accepting approximately $500,000 of city funds to which he was not entitled, conduct by Lipscomb involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. Arkansas Rule 8.4(c) provides that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.

(Mike Frisch)