Confidentiality Violations

A Vermont Professional Responsibility Program Panel has found misconduct and ordered a one year and three month suspension with a public reprimand

The petition of misconduct filed by Disciplinary Counsel alleged five instances of misconduct Respondent relating to the handling of two separate matters.

The attorney

Respondent is an attorney licensed to practice law in the states of Vermont, New York and Connecticut. He is a sole practitioner in St. Johnsbury and is also the Probate Judge in Caledonia County. Respondent has practiced law since 2000 and his practice focuses on criminal defense, family law and civil litigation.

In each matter , there was a violation of the duty of confidentiality.

Misuse of confidential juvenile court records in one matter

In the face of a statutory scheme layering confidentiality protections on juvenile records and the information contained therein and without clear authority to use the records in the civil case, the Panel concludes that Respondent abused his access to the juvenile records to gain advantage in for his client in the civil proceeding.

An unrelated matter involved disclosures to successor counsel in a criminal matter

In connection with MK replacing Respondent with a new attorney, Respondent transferred MK’s file to Attorney Sleigh. In an email to Attorney Sleigh, Respondent laid out additional information including thoughts that he had regarding his representation of MK and offering suggestions as to defense of the case. Exhibit 19. In addition to commenting on MK’s case, Respondent offered that he was also representing another criminal defense client and disclosed confidential client information about this unrelated case, including the client’s name and the charges against him. The client, BA, had not consented to Respondent’s disclosure of his identifying information or consented to allow Respondent to discuss other details of his case with Attorney Sleigh. BA testified that he had discovered the disclosure from his current attorney, Jessica Burke, who in turn had learned about the disclosure from Disciplinary Counsel.

B.A. was “shocked” but suffered no other harm; the Rule was nonetheless violated

BA’s criminal charges were a matter of public record at the time of the disclosure of his personal identifying information and the charges against him. However, an attorney is prohibited from disclosing even the identity of his clients without their express or implied consent. A lawyer is prohibited from revealing information about a client, even where the disclosure does not itself relay protected information but could reasonably lead to the discovery of protected information.

…After reviewing the evidence adduced at the hearing across all counts, the Panel has found that Respondent’s disclosure of information related to BA’s representation was unauthorized, unnecessary to advance either BA or MK’s case, and was self-serving on Respondent’s part. Respondent’s disclosure of BA’s information was made solely to suggest to Attorney Sleigh that there would be some value in having MK continue to retain Respondent as part of the defense team because Respondent’s position as a probate judge in Caledonia County could be used to justify transfer of the case to a purportedly more favorable venue. All this was positioning Respondent to continue earning a fee from MK while doing little actual work. BA was a victim of Respondent’s careless and selfish conduct.

The Panel found other violations as well. (Mike Frisch)