No Female Clients Allowed

A three-month suspension and a censure from the Oklahoma Supreme Court for suggestive communications with clients

Mr. Stout received his license to practice law in Oklahoma in 1983. In February 2017, C.B. hired Mr. Stout to represent her in a juvenile deprived action. C. B. was the aunt of the deprived juvenile and was seeking full guardianship of her nephew and ultimately desired to adopt her nephew. During the course of the representation, Mr. Stout made unwanted sexual advances towards C.B. and sent her sexually suggestive emails. He also requested his client send him sexually suggestive photographs. Mr. Stout tried to hide his sexually suggestive communications requesting that their “private” communications be conducted through Facebook Messenger and that business communications be conducted through text. On more than one occasion, Mr. Stout requested that C.B. delete the messages he sent, because his wife did not know about these conversations.

Mr. Stout appeared in court on behalf of C. B. three or four times. She testified before the Trial Panel that she believed Mr. Stout had provided competent representation in court and she had no problem with the quality of his representation. However, C.B. did not reciprocate the feelings for Mr. Stout and she testified that she felt uncomfortable with his continued representation. C. B. terminated the attorney-client relationship with Mr. Stout and then retained a different attorney who provided legal services pro bono to complete the outstanding legal matters. C.B. testified that this incident has not caused her to mistrust lawyers.

Mr. Stout admitted to the Trial Panel that he sent sexually suggestive comments to C.B. by text message and social media. He admitted these actions toward his client were improper and created harm to his client.

Mr. Stout voluntarily contacted Lawyers Helping Lawyers (LHL) within days after receiving the OBA letter notifying him of the formal complaint filed against him regarding his actions toward C.B. and C.R. A person connected with LHL suggested Mr. Stout consider obtaining treatment from a sexual addiction in-patient treatment center in Tennessee. Mr. Stout immediately followed up on this recommendation and within three days he was admitted for in-patient treatment. He completed the program and remains faithful to his follow-up care. He has admitted to his improper behavior and expressed deep remorse over the effect of his actions on C.B.

In 2016, C.R. retained Mr. Stout to represent her in a divorce case. In the course of this representation, Mr. Stout sent sexually suggestive text messages to C.R. with instructions to delete the messages after reading them. Mr. Stout explained to C.R. that neither his wife or C.R.’s boyfriend need to see what he was sending via text. Mr. Stout also engaged in text communication with C.R. that included crude sexual remarks about C.B., who was also a friend of C.R.

Because of the sexual overtones in the communications, C.R. did not feel like Mr. Stout was 100% focused on representing her in her divorce matter. Although she was uncomfortable with his actions, she wanted her divorce completed as quickly as possible so she did not terminate the attorney relationship. Toward the end of the representation, she personally handled modifying some of the child support documents in order to avoid having additional communications or interactions with Mr. Stout.

Mr. Stout admitted to his improper behavior and that his client had no intention of seeking any sexual relationship from him. He took full responsibility for his actions and said that at the time he engaged in this behavior his thinking was distorted from his sexual addiction.

 In 2016, L.B. retained Mr. Stout to represent her in a criminal matter. A mutual friend indicated that Mr. Stout would work with her with respect to payment of legal fees. L.B. understood this to mean a payment plan would be worked out. L.B. then contacted Mr. Stout who agreed to accept representation for the fee of $7500. L.B. did not have a drivers license or ability to come to his office so Mr. Stout offered to meet L.B. in her home. L.B. did not have money at the time to pay, and she wound up having sex with Mr. Stout that evening “because [she] was in a desperate situation.” This was the only sexual encounter they had. L.B. testified she paid the entire amount of the requested fee in payments over time by cash and by check. Although no contract was signed, Mr. Stout believes that he may have given her a reduced fee following the sexual encounter. Neither L.B. or Mr. Stout has exact records as to the amount paid in fees. Both parties agree that L.B. did pay money for the legal services.

Mr. Stout admitted to the sexual encounter at the PRT hearing, and he also assumed full responsibility for his actions and made clear that L.B. did not encourage this behavior. Mr. Stout expressed remorse and further admitted to the PRT that L.B. “didn’t make any suggestion. It was all — it all started because of me, not because of her.”

At the time of the OBA investigative interview, the OBA only had knowledge of Mr. Stout’s alleged improper conduct toward C.B. and C.R. However, when the OBA investigator asked Mr. Stout if he had been inappropriate with any other clients, he voluntarily told the investigator about L.B. Prior to this interview, the OBA had no knowledge that Mr. Stout had a sexual encounter with a client. Although Mr. Stout thought it was extremely unlikely L.B. would ever come forward to the OBA, Mr. Stout wanted to be honest and forthright, because he believed it was important to “tell them the truth.” Without Mr. Stout’s honesty, the OBA may not have ever known about this encounter.

Sanction

 The OBA has established by clear and convincing evidence that the respondent, Richard E. Stout, violated Rules 1.7, 1.8 (j) and 8.4 of the ORPC and Rule 1.3 of the RGDP. Mr. Stout is suspended from the practice of law for three months, ordered to pay costs in the amount of $1,579.51, in addition to the following conditions: (1) Mr. Stout shall not accept female clients and will not meet alone with a female at any time associated with his practice of law; (2) he will remain in treatment as recommended by his counselor; (3) he will remain in contact with Lawyers Helping Lawyers; and (4) he will maintain site blocking protection on his electronic devices.

(Mike Frisch)