Ripple Effect

A thieving paralegal got an attorney sanctioned in five of the six jurisdictions where he was admitted, including a reciprocal public censure in Colorado 

On July 11, 2017, the Supreme Court of Nevada rejected a hearing panel’s recommendation of public censure and suspended Korrey from the practice of law in Nevada for three months, all stayed with a six-month period of probation. Korrey’s suspension was premised on the conduct of his paralegal and an acquaintance of the paralegal who from 2005 to 2008 stole checks written to third-party service providers from Korrey’s outgoing mail. The paralegal and his acquaintance had an accomplice from Wells Fargo who helped them open bank accounts to deposit the larger stolen checks. Korrey’s paralegal intercepted the request for investigation sent to Korrey from Nevada bar counsel and submitted a falsified response in Korrey’s name without authorization.

Once Korrey became aware of the theft, he discovered that his paralegal and his acquaintance had stolen 160 checks, totaling nearly $500,000.00. Korrey repaid his clients and the service providers in full and cooperated with Nevada bar counsel. The Supreme Court of Nevada faulted Kerrey for giving his employee unfettered access to his office, allowing him to accomplish the theft.

While the Nevada disciplinary case was pending, Korrey’s paralegal and his acquaintance pleaded guilty to criminal theft charges. Their pleas contradicted their testimony at Korrey’s Nevada disciplinary hearing, where they stated that Korrey participated in the theft. Korrey is also licensed in Arizona, Michigan, and California. He and the disciplinary authorities in Arizona and Michigan stipulated to public censure in those states for his misconduct.

Korrey’s misconduct constitutes grounds for reciprocal discipline under C.R.C.P. 251.5 and 251.21. The parties stipulated that injustice would result from imposing the same discipline as that imposed in Nevada and agreed to imposition of a public censure in consideration of numerous mitigating factors.

He also is admitted in D.C. and today the Court of Appeals imposed its form of reciprocal discipline. 

it is

ORDERED that David M. Korrey is hereby suspended from the practice of law in the District of Columbia for a period of three months, stayed in favor of a six month
period of probation. To the extent respondent attempts to challenge the imposition of reciprocal discipline by relitigating the discipline imposed by the State
of Nevada, such a challenge is improper in reciprocal disciplinary proceedings, see In re Zdravkovich, 831 A.2d 964, 969 (D.C. 2003) (“Put simply, reciprocal discipline proceedings are not a forum to reargue the foreign discipline”). Further, many of respondent’s due process arguments are based on Nevada law and have been resolved by the Nevada Supreme Court and this court will not review that court’s interpretation of its own law. See In re Williams, 3 A.3d 1179 (D.C. 2010)

(Mike Frisch)