In Keystone State, Technical Violation Ends Notable Career

As we have previously noted, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court takes a singularly dim view of unauthorized practice by admitted attorneys who practice within its borders without an active license.

The latest recipient of discipline – a six-month suspension – is an attorney who was admitted in Georgia in 1995 and has always been in good standing there.

She joined Alston & Bird in 1995 after clerking for a federal bankruptcy judge and was an associate and partner there for a decade. She was then hired as an associate general counsel to Tyco working in a Princeton New Jersey office.

She obtained a limited in-house New Jersey license in February 2007 after her August 2005 move and rose to vice president in 2009 and corporate secretary in 2012. It does not appear that New Jersey took any action on the delay in registration. 

Then trouble came when she took a position as a senior vice president and corporate secretary to the Lincoln Financial Group. There she supervised the work of a team of lawyers.

They are located in Radnor Pennsylvania. Her Pennsylvania license had been inactive since July 1. 1995.

When she realized that she needed an active Pennsylvania license. she immediately advised her employer and petitioned for reinstatement.

Prosecution followed. 

She admitted the violations and has retired to “stay home with her family.” She did not realize that her work at Lincoln Financial involved the active practice of law.

There have been a number of these cases involving in-house counsel with a Pennsylvania location, invariably leading to suspension.

As Michael Conrad used to say, “be careful out there.”(Mike Frisch)