California Here He Comes (With A Valid New Jersey License)

A reprimand was imposed on an attorney by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which adopted the sanction proposed by the Disciplinary Review Board.

Notably, the attorney had abandoned the client, left the state with no forwarding address and defaulted on the bar charges.

 Count one of the complaint alleged that, on an unspecified date, Cheryl Star retained respondent to represent her in a FINRA dispute.  According to the complaint, FINRA is the financial industry’s regulatory body for brokers. Thereafter, Star provided respondent with stock statements and tax returns and paid him $2,000 against a contingent fee for the representation.

After the FINRA arbitration was adjourned to July 2012 with no notice to Star, she became dissatisfied with respondent’s lack of communication and terminated the representation. Prior to the adjourned date, Star retained a new attorney.

At some point, respondent had closed his office and moved first to California and then to Chicago. He never notified Star of his relocation…

Count two of the complaint alleged that respondent moved to California without informing Star or providing her with his new address., and that he was silent about any plan to continue representing her. Further, respondent failed to notify the Supreme Court “that he was moving [out] of the State of New Jersey.”

As a result of respondent’s silence, Star was left to wonder what happened to her file and whether respondent had filed her FINRA claim, actions “contrary to the proper administration of justice and the proper handling of this matter.”

Abandon client, check.

Abandon practice, check.

Fail to respond and participate in bar grievance process, check. 

Please help me understand how this is a matter worthy of a reprimand. (Mike Frisch)