The Dangers Of Benevolent Despotism

The New Jersey Supreme Court has censured an attorney for dishonest conduct of four matters.

From the report of the Disciplinary Review Board

Respondent testified at the DEC hearing about mitigating factors that affected him at the time of his misconduct. Shortly after passing the bar in 1975, respondent joined a small law firm known at the time as “Mandelbaum Salzburg.” He became a partner in 1979. Over the years, the law firm grew, became known as MSLD, and had more than sixty attorneys when respondent left, in 2009.

During respondent’s entire thirty-four-year career at MSLD, he reported to Barry Mandelbaum, the managing attorney, and twelve years his senior. Respondent described Mandelbaum as a “benevolent despot” and a “mentor.” Respondent was never “encouraged” to generate business for the firm. Rather, he tended to work on legal matters that Mandelbaum generated.

Respondent described his relationship with Mandelbaum as a stressful one. Mandelbaum would berate respondent publicly, place notes on respondent’s door about perceived failings, and subject him to “105 decibel,” public “dress downs,” all of which were extremely embarrassing.

As the law firm grew larger, younger attorneys became partners. By the mid-2000s, some of those partners had come to expect respondent to complete work on projects that they had generated, placing additional pressure on respondent to perform.

Several years before respondent engaged in the within misconduct, MSLD established an executive committee to manage the law firm. Respondent perceived that the new arrangement rewarded some of the younger, income-generating attorneys, at his expense. Feeling exposed, he became “terrified” about losing his job. At that juncture, he grew even more reliant on Mandelbaum for protection…

Worried about being “kicked out” of MSLD, respondent felt tremendous pressure to complete tasks on time, according to schedules that other attorneys prepared for him. Also pressing was the fear that, because he was over sixty years old and had never been in another legal setting, he could not strike out on his own.

The misconduct

The record before us is not clear about the exact timing of respondent’s fraudulent acts, but he testified that everything came to a head in 2009. It appears, however, that respondent provided the falsified documents to his clients in these matters sometime between 2007 and early 2009

Mitigation 

There is also significant mitigation for our consideration. Respondent was open and sincere at the DEC hearing about feeling “pushed around” over the course of his legal career, and about the extreme pressure he felt before engaging in the aberrant behavior present in these matters. After thirty-four years with MSLD — his entire career — respondent finally “cracked” under the enormous pressure of multiple task masters and engaged in behavior that, when viewed in the context of his otherwise unblemished forty-year legal career, was aberrant.