Sweet Sale Gone Sour

Misconduct in the sale of a law practice and other violations drew a 15-month suspension by consent as approved by the Arizona Presiding Disciplinary Judge

The Agreement sets forth in detail the factual background for the ethical violations, which is not repeated herein. Generally speaking, in PDJ 2023-9087, Mr. Negrete failed to abide by all requirements of ER 1.17 when he sold his law practice. In State Bar File No. 23-1423, he failed to adequately communicate with a personal injury client or properly protect that client’s information upon termination of the representation. In State Bar File No. 23-1877, the State Bar avows that the only allegation it can prove by clear and convincing evidence is that Mr. Negrete failed to adequately supervise a paralegal, who mishandled a notice of claim in a personal injury case.

Respondent was admitted in 2009; the sale at issue was to Sweet James Lawyers LLC.

He was aware of the governing Rule but “did not consider its terms or ask his counsel about the Rule.”

The buyer law firm was profiled in the San Francisco Standard in a colorful story

The pantheon of personal injury attorneys hawking their services in San Francisco has a new member: Sweet James.

He trundled into the city on May 1, squinting from the side of a Muni bus ad, his hornet yellow 800 number shining beneath him.

If you live in San Francisco, you’re probably wondering: Who the heck is Sweet James?

Behind the widespread Muni ads—he’s bought 200—is a Newport Beach-based law firm with a large footprint in California, Arizona and Nevada. At its helm sits James Bergener, who purportedly earned the moniker “Sweet” because of the close bonds he forms with his clients.

But it’s not all sugar.

In a 2019 lawsuit, Bergener’s former business partner alleged that his “erratic behavior” damaged the Sweet James brand. His wife’s subsequent participation in the 16th season of Bravo’s hit reality TV show, Real Housewives of Orange County, threw Bergener’s reported financial troubles and the dissolution of their marriage into the spotlight.

Even Bergener admits there’s been some spice.

“I grew up in a very conservative, puritan background,” Bergener said in a video message released in December 2021. “With [my ex-wife] Noella, I explored a world of sex, drugs and rock & roll. We went down a very unhealthy path. And I lost almost everything—including myself.”

…If you’re now thinking “Not-So-Sweet James,” quit patting yourself on the back. You’re not the first to make that joke. Real Housewives of Orange County broadcast it to millions of people.

When Noella Bergener joined the cast for Season 16, which ran from December 2021 to late April 2022, she brought Sweet James to a new reality TV audience.

Noella Bergener added a splash of zany to the bougie Orange County cast, bragging to her friends about the couple’s sex dungeon and, later, about gifting him—ahem—a “stack of vaginas” for his birthday. Don’t Google this at work.

Although “Sweet James” did not personally take part in the series, he was a constant feature of the plotline.

By Episode 2, Noella Bergener said she had learned her husband owed nearly $6 million in taxes to the U.S. government. The Standard could not find documentation of these tax liens.

Soon thereafter, he served her with divorce papers, which became a central plotline of the season.

During the first attempt, Noella Bergener was not home, and her mother received the divorce papers instead.

The papers were from Puerto Rico—where the couple had moved before Noella Bergener returned to California to take part in the show—and were written only in Spanish. She had to ask her son’s nanny to translate them for her.

During the second attempt, James Bergener disguised the service as a flower delivery to ensure she would personally receive the divorce papers, Noella Bergener recounted to her costars