Six Months Is Not Enough
The full Maine Supreme Judicial Court has vacated a six-month suspension imposed by a single justice and remanded for a more severe sanction determination.
The order was sought by the Board of Bar Overseers.
The attorney had been reinstated after a money laundering conspiracy conviction
In June 2014, as a result of his guilty plea to, and resulting conviction of, federal charges of conspiracy to launder money and aiding and abetting, 18 U.S.C.S. §§ 1956(a)(1), (h) 1957(2) (LEXIS through Pub. L. No. 115-231), Prolman was suspended indefinitely from the practice of law in Maine. Following his guilty plea, Prolman received a sentence of twenty-four months’ imprisonment and twenty-four months’ supervised release. In November 2015, the Board filed a motion seeking further disciplinary action against Prolman, and Prolman responded with a motion seeking limitation or termination of his suspension. After a hearing on those motions in February 2016, a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court (Alexander, J.) issued a decision concluding that Prolman had violated M.R. Prof. Conduct 8.4(a)-(d) but nonetheless ordering the termination of Prolman’s suspension as of July 1, 2016, thereby reinstating him to the practice of law. Pursuant to that order, Prolman’s reinstatement and continued active practice was conditioned upon his compliance with the terms and conditions of his federal supervised release.
And was then the subject of a complaint from a vulnerable client
When he arranged for his client to live in his apartment, Prolman was aware of his client’s social history, history of abuse, submissiveness to men, and vulnerability to abusive physical and sexual relationships. Despite this knowledge, on more than one occasion while Prolman and his client were residing at his apartment between March 29 and April 9, 2017, Prolman approached his client seeking sexual gratification and engaged in sexual acts with her. The client regarded Prolman’s sexual acts as “gross.” Although she did not consent, she also did not communicate her objection to Prolman’s sexual acts, simply submitting to what Prolman demanded as she had done in past relationships with men who had taken advantage of her vulnerability…
…During the time his client was residing at the apartment, Prolman consumed and provided his client with wine. Prolman’s conditions of supervised release prohibited his use or possession of alcoholic beverages, and a violation of those conditions also would be a violation of the March 17, 2016, disciplinary order requiring compliance with the terms of his supervised release.
The court here
We all agree that the sanctions imposed were simply insufficient and represent an abuse of discretion. Three of us would conclude that the ABA Sanction Standards have been engrafted onto the Maine Rules of Professional Conduct, and that the court erred as a matter of law and therefore abused his discretion in failing to apply those Standards. Three of us would look to those Standards for guidance but would not determine that they have been wholly engrafted into the Maine Rules.
Unanimously, we vacate the judgment and remand the proceedings to the court for the imposition of a sanction that reflects the serious behavior of the attorney and that, at a minimum, would require Prolman to apply for readmission upon demonstration of a thorough understanding of the ethical obligations of a Maine attorney.
Three justices concurred
We would… hold that Maine Bar Rule 21(c) incorporates the ABA Sanction Standards, and we would vacate the judgment and remand this matter to the court to impose a sanction using the methodology and framework set out in those ABA Sanction Standards.
(Mike Frisch)