Compliance

The Arizona Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved a reprimand of an attorney

The Agreement sets forth in detail the factual background for the ethical violations, which is not repeated herein. Respondent served as the compliance lawyer for Legal Help Partners, PLLC (LHP) – a licensed Alternative Business Structure (“ABS”). The violations at issue relate primarily to LHP’s advertising content and representation agreements.  Ms. Long is physically located in Georgia but became licensed in Arizona “in order to serve as the compliance lawyer for LHP and had no other significant contacts with Arizona.”

In describing the conditionally admitted misconduct, the Agreement states:

Respondent was negligent in running television and web advertisements that conflated corporate names and did not properly notify consumers of the co-counsel arrangement under which their cases would be handled. Respondent was also negligent in failing to make the required division of responsibility disclosures in the underlying written co-counsel and client agreements.

According to the Agreement, LHP has modified its problematic processes and procedures and has hired a compliance attorney based in Arizona to handle all Arizona client matters.

Agreed sanction

The PDJ agrees with the parties that a reprimand is sufficient to achieve the recognized purposes of the attorney discipline system, particularly because the underlying ethical issues appear to have been remediated.

(Mike Frisch)