New Jersey A Forgiving Place To Unethical Lawyers

An attorney with a lengthy record of prior discipline has been suspended for three months for a retainer agreement violation.

The attorney was admitted in 1993, suspended three months for false statements to a tribunal in 1999, admonished in 2001 for record keeping violations, admonished in 2004 for possession of marijuana, censured in 2011 for failure to appear at a criminal trial, reprimanded by consent in 2013 for practicing while ineligible, and censured in 2014 for again practicing while ineligible.

From the Disciplinary Review Board report in the fresh misconduct case

The evidence not only clearly and convincingly establishes that respondent failed to provide Reyes with a writing setting forth the basis or rate of his fee, but also that he lied about it to the committee investigator and later testified about it falsely at the DEC hearing. As the DEC aptly pointed out, respondent’s June 24, 2014 letter to Byrnes implied that the document that Cruz actually had prepared was a retainer agreement that he had prepared. However, at the DEC hearing, he testified about a hand-written retainer agreement that he had prepared at the courthouse during his initial meeting with Reyes. Respondent claimed that he had either lost or failed to maintain a copy of this agreement. His testimony simply lacks credibility. Respondent is, therefore, guilty of violating RPC 1.5(5).

We do not agree, however, with the DEC’s conclusion that the evidence did not clearly and convincingly establish respondent’s failure to communicate with Reyes. The complaint alleged that (i) respondent either failed to appear in court or was late on twelve of Reyes’ fourteen appearances and that he failed to communicate to Reyes that he would not appear or would be late; (2) his failure to do so left Reyes “afraid, nervous  and extremely worried;” and (3) although Reyes frequently asked respondent to provide her with the discovery in her matter, he failed to communicate with her about it in any meaningful way.

A record of sanctions like these would get you disbarred in many jurisdictions.

And he lied here.

What is wrong with New Jersey? (Mike Frisch)