A $250 An Hour Paralegal Gets Suspended Again
The Arizona Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved a consent two-year suspension of an attorney who had been suspended and not sought reinstatement.
While employed as a paralegal, he impersonated an attorney and was paid a $250 hourly fee
In summary, Mr. Lerch was working as a paralegal on an at will verbal status by a law firm and two licensed attorneys were to supervise his bankruptcy work. He was referred a client by Chuck Fennimore. That client was involved in complex litigation in Texas. The law firm and its principal was not aware of this case. Notwithstanding, Mr. Lerch verbally contracted with the client that the law firm would represent client, her father and their company. Client agreed to pay Mr. Lerch $20,000.00 for the review and evaluation of her case. Client paid those funds as directed by Mr. Lerch to his then defunct law firm’s bank account and another $2,500.00 to Fennimore. Only Mr. Lerch could disperse funds from the account. During the pendency, none of the attorneys in the law firm spoke with or received copies of the emails between Mr. Lerch and client.
None of the communications between Mr. Lerch and client indicate that Mr. Lerch acted as a paralegal. The emails Mr. Lerch sent regarding the litigation used the email account from his defunct firm, not the law firm he was otherwise working for. He billed the client $250.00 per hour. None of his assistants were lawyers. While his itemized fee statement listed the law firm’s name he was working for as a paralegal, he intentionally listed his defunct email account on the document rather than the email of the listed law firm.
As to sanction
But for the hiring of a Texas lawyer to mediate the agreement, the actions of Mr. Lerch would probably have remained hidden, encouraging him to continue to pretend he was a licensed lawyer and defraud other members of the public. Two central tenants of lawyer discipline is the protection of the public and to deter similar conduct by other attorneys. A two (2) year suspension is fully warranted. The PDJ finds the proposed sanction of suspension meets the objectives of attorney discipline and the Agreement is therefore accepted.
(Mike Frisch)