We Still Have Paris: Stayed Suspension In Ohio For “Hitting On” Client
A six-month stayed suspension has been imposed by the Ohio Supreme Court on attorney Tasso Paris for soliciting sex with a client
The board also found that Paris did not understand or accept the wrongful nature of his conduct based on testimony in which he (1) asked why the client referred a female friend to him after terminating his representation if he was “hitting on” her, (2) stated that the client’s fiancé was present during all but one of their meetings, (3) claimed that he merely referred to the client as a “red haired Irish girl”—and only when explaining that no one was going to believe her claim that she had had only one drink before her St. Patrick’s Day automobile accident, and (4) claimed that his father had attended the client’s sentencing hearing.
The parties had agreed to a stayed suspension but the board had a dimmer view.
Noting the increasing frequency of cases involving repeated and unwelcome solicitation of clients for sexual activity, the board, however, urges us to hold that in the absence of significant mitigating factors, this court will impose an actual suspension on attorneys who have engaged in such conduct—as we do in cases involving attorneys who have engaged in a material misrepresentation to a court or have engaged in a pattern of dishonesty with a client.
In accordance with this suggested presumption and in light of Paris’s repeated and unwelcome solicitation of his client, his failure to appear for her sentencing hearing after she rebuffed his advances, his failure to acknowledge the wrongful nature of his conduct, and the absence of additional mitigating evidence, the board recommends that we suspend Paris from the practice of law for six months with no stay.
While the court noted that it has “consistently disapproved” of such behavior, it rejected the board’s proposed sanction
We by no means condone Paris’s conduct in this matter, but on the stipulated facts before us, we find that his actions are most comparable to cases in which we have imposed fully stayed suspensions.
Justice Kennedy concurring eschews per se rules
The majority opinion tacitly rejects the board’s request that we adopt a new presumption that in the absence of significant mitigating factors, the court will impose an actual suspension for the repeated and unwelcome solicitation of vulnerable clients for sexual activity. The dissenting opinion argues in favor of adopting this presumption. I write separately to squarely address whether it is this court’s role to create a new presumption in favor of an actual suspension in lieu of our deeply rooted process of determining the appropriate sanction in each individual case…
In my view, however, deception and fraud are not the only types of misconduct that strike at the core of a lawyer’s relationship with the court and with the client. Instead, every act of misconduct does so and diminishes the honor and nobility of our great profession.
Justice Resnick concurs in the result.
A dissent from Justice Lanzinger
In my view, this court should do more than merely express disapproval of the attorney’s actions by imposing a stayed suspension. The extent of the mitigation is that he has no previous discipline and has cooperated with the investigation. On the other hand, he stipulated that he acted with a selfish motive and engaged in multiple offenses. In addition, the board found that he did not understand or accept the wrongful nature of his actions and so failed to show that his misconduct was unlikely to recur. Most importantly, the client was harmed when Paris did not appear for her sentencing, which she attributed to her rebuffing his sexual advances.
Our earlier coverage is linked here. I was of the view that six-months of actual suspension was pretty light on crime. (Mike Frisch)