Junior Partner

A junior attorney who became embroiled in his senior partner conflicts of interest and business transactions with his client drew a reprimand from the New Jersey Supreme Court for reasons explained by the Disciplinary Review Board

In short, respondent’s involvement in the conflicted representation and improper business ventures was comparatively limited to that of Bonfiglio, the senior attorney, who was solely in charge of all business and legal matters, who rarely included respondent in business meetings, and who embroiled respondent in egregious conflicts of interest.

Like the admonished attorney in [Aaron Scott] Gilbert, respondent performed the various legal services for [client]] Cameron and the entities at Bonfiglio’s direction and supervision. However, unlike Gilbert, who had been admitted to the bar for just three years before he was entangled in the conflicted representation, which involved one transaction that spanned less than one year, respondent had between five and thirteen years of experience at the bar when he engaged in the conflicted representation, which spanned eight years, between 2004 and 2012, and encompassed multiple matters. During that timeframe, respondent failed to ensure his compliance with RPC 1.7. Additionally, despite his comparatively limited role in Bonfiglio’s businesses, respondent still acquired an ownership interest in CMG and, throughout his protracted involvement in that business venture from 2004 through 2010, failed to comply with the safeguards of RPC 1.8.

Nevertheless, like Gilbert, nearly a decade has elapsed since respondent’s misconduct ended and, in that time, respondent has had no additional discipline. See In re Alum, 162 N.J. 313 (2000) (after passage of eleven years with no further ethics infractions, discipline was tempered based on “considerations of remoteness”). Indeed, this matter represents respondent’s first brush with the disciplinary system in his twenty-three-year career at the bar.

Consequently, weighing the significant passage of time since the underlying conduct and respondent’s subordinate status to Bonfiglio against the protracted nature of respondent’s conflicts of interest, we, thus, determine that a reprimand is the appropriate quantum of discipline to protect the public and to preserve confidence in the bar.

The major players

Bonfiglio and Andrew Cameron, a successful businessman, had an ongoing personal friendship and attorney-client relationship from 1992 through December 2012, when their relationship deteriorated. During that timeframe, Cameron became “a regular fixture” in B&A’s Staten Island law office, where he would spend “many hours” talking to office staff regarding his “business and personal matters.” Additionally, Bonfiglio and respondent handled Cameron’s personal legal matters.

The intertwined business relations are set out at length in the DRB report and include investments in real estate and a number a pizza restaurants. (Mike Frisch)