Failure To Insulate Draws Reprimand

Two domestic relations attorneys have been reprimanded  by the Circuit Court for Fairfax County Virginia for their involvement in a client’s alleged illegal surveillance of her spouse

During the course of the divorce proceedings, Respondent Curran and Respondent McGarry became aware of the allegedly illegal surveillance conducted by Andrea Marsh and/or her family members. Based upon the materials Tim Marsh obtained from Andrea Marsh’s email account, Tim Marsh and his legal counsel were also aware of at least two of the recordings. In an email dated 13 April 2017, Mr. West sent to Respondent Curran an email informing him that it appeared that Andrea Marsh had been electronically surveilling Tim Marsh. Respondent Curran subsequently informed Respondent McGarry of Mr. West’s email.

Notwithstanding the fact that Respondent Curran and Respondent McGarry had been informed that their client had probably engaged in the illegal recording of Tim Marsh, they failed to take prompt and definitive action to insulate themselves from the allegedly illegal recordings and to ensure that information from the recordings was not used in the course of ongoing divorce litigation.

After they had warned the client

Upon receiving these subsequent emails, neither Respondent repeated to Andrea Marsh the earlier warnings they had provided to her regarding the illegality of the recordings. Further, neither Respondent instructed their client to stop sending any such recordings. The Respondents’ failure to do so constitutes a violation of Rules of Professional Conduct 1.2(e) and 1.3 (a). Respondents accept responsibility for their actions even though each Respondent strongly contends, that neither one of them asked the client or her family members to send either · of them the recordings, and neither knowingly used the information in the recordings in litigating the divorce proceeding.

(Mike Frisch)