Reinstatement Sought In Vermont

An attorney who was disbarred in 2018 has filed a petition for reinstatement with the Vermont Supreme Court.

The court’s disbarment decision describes incidents with two clients, one of whom suffered from ADHD and post-traumatic stress and was hired as his administrative assistant

P.B. began working for respondent in January 2012 and received her last paycheck in January 2013. Over the course of her employment, P.B. experienced various difficulties relating to respondent. Relevant to the panel’s analysis and the issues on appeal are incidents where respondent tossed paperclips at P.B.’s cleavage, masturbated in her presence, and requested that she sign a contract in September 2012 indicating their relationship was “mutually welcome” and waiving any future claims against respondent. The panel’s findings regarding these events are as follows.

The panel found that respondent encouraged a “relaxed atmosphere” at the office and often engaged in verbal banter, teasing, and flirtatious conduct with P.B. In April or May 2012, respondent’s common practice of “joking” with P.B. escalated when he—on more than one occasion—threw paperclips at her in a manner that intentionally “targeted her breasts and cleavage” so that the paperclips would slip down her shirt and between her breasts. The panel found that, at various times throughout April and July 2012, P.B. told her psychiatrist “that her boss was making unwanted advances towards her or otherwise causing her stress.” The psychiatrist noted that P.B.’s PTSD symptoms “surfaced” and were “being exacerbated” due to the “unwanted sexual advances from [respondent].”

The panel made further findings that, in late July 2012, while respondent and P.B. were together in the law office, an incident occurred during which, at respondent’s request, P.B. unbuttoned her shirt, exposed her bra, and lowered her bra strap while respondent proceeded to masturbate to ejaculation in his pants. Respondent asked her to pull on his tie while he masturbated; P.B. did so. That evening, after the incident, P.B. went home and “broke down” in front of her mother while explaining what had happened with respondent. On August 7, 2012, P.B. sent an email to respondent stating that she felt disrespected and planned to stop coming to work due to respondent’s actions. Respondent replied that he never intended to make P.B. uncomfortable and that he would be happy to speak with her about her concerns. Following this exchange, P.B. and respondent revisited signing a contract to outline the boundaries of their personal and professional relationships—an issue that had been developing for several months.

The panel made the following findings regarding the contract agreement between P.B. and respondent. In May or early June 2012, respondent told his step-father about his interest in pursuing a romantic relationship with P.B. and was encouraged to “get something in writing” indicating that the relationship was consensual. Soon thereafter, respondent and P.B. participated in a conference call with respondent’s step-brother, who is also an attorney. During the call, respondent asked his step-brother to draft an agreement reflecting that the relationship was “mutual and welcoming” and containing a release of any sexual-harassment or gender-discrimination claim, preventing P.B. from alleging either claim in the future. Respondent’s step-brother drafted the agreement entitled “Notice of Intent to Engage in Mutually Welcomed Romantic Relationship and Waiver of Claims” and provided it to respondent, who gave a copy of the agreement to P.B. Notably, the contract provided a waiver by P.B. of “any and all” state and federal law claims of sexual harassment or gender discrimination against respondent—apparently including future as well as past claims. The panel found that P.B. “was confused and intimidated by the conference call, had a hard time following the discussion and understanding the issues, and did not understand the need for a written agreement.” Neither party signed the agreement at this point; no further action was taken regarding the agreement until the fall of 2012, following the masturbation incident.

After the masturbation incident and email exchange between respondent and P.B., respondent asked his step-brother to revise the contract. In September 2012, respondent and P.B. discussed and signed the contract. No witnesses were present, and P.B. did not have an attorney. The panel found that P.B. “believed from her discussion with respondent that they needed to sign the agreement to satisfy [r]espondent’s father and that it was required of her to continue working for [r]espondent.” The panel further found that “[r]espondent did not advise [P.B.] to obtain independent legal advice with respect to the agreement.”

Other relevant facts found by the panel regarding the relationship between respondent and P.B. include the following. At some point during the fall of 2012, respondent began counseling, which P.B. perceived to have a positive effect on respondent. In December 2012 or January 2013, respondent began to indicate that he was displeased with P.B.’s absences from work due to her agoraphobia and informed her that he wanted to hire another former client, A.P., as his new assistant and to have P.B. help train her for the position. P.B. and respondent were still engaged in a sexual relationship at this point. In January 2013, P.B. ceased working for respondent—it is unclear whether P.B. quit or she was fired—and A.P. began working in his office. From the time P.B. stopped working with respondent in January 2013 until the panel’s hearing, P.B. was unemployed, lived at home with her parents, and continued to suffer from agoraphobia and other symptoms related to her PTSD and ADHD conditions. In the spring of 2013, P.B. sought legal help from an attorney regarding respondent’s behavior toward her, but she did not initiate a claim against respondent. 

Another client had retained him for a divorce

Respondent represented C.M. in her divorce proceedings from December 2010 until June 2012. At the time, C.M. was a thirty-nine-year-old mother of five children who had recently separated from her husband of sixteen years. She had left the family farm and was living in a trailer in Newport Center, Vermont. Respondent engaged in a sexual relationship with C.M. from February 2011 until June 2012, while he was representing her in the divorce action.

Prior to entering the sexual relationship with C.M., respondent discussed with C.M. whether he could ethically enter a sexual relationship with her while representing her in the divorce action, and he told her he believed he could do so. However, respondent did not request or receive a signed written waiver from C.M. acknowledging that she was aware of the risks of engaging in a sexual relationship with respondent while he represented her or authorizing him to do so. Respondent also took steps not to be seen with C.M. in the area of the state where he practiced.

During the pendency of the divorce action, C.M. was under considerable financial strain; she struggled to make her monthly car and rent payments. C.M. paid respondent an initial “retainer” of approximately $2000 by cashing in a retirement account, but she stopped making monthly payments to respondent at some point over the course of his representation of her in the divorce proceedings. To alleviate C.M.’s financial burden, respondent made several offers to C.M. that she could stay with him at his condominium and hired C.M. as an employee of a tanning salon business that he owned. Respondent ended the relationship with C.M. very shortly after the final merits hearing in her divorce proceedings in June 2012. They had sexual relations on one occasion during the week following the divorce settlement and one final time in the fall of 2012.

Sanction

Here, considering (1) the aggravating circumstances due to the vulnerability of the victims and respondent’s pattern of misconduct; (2) the comparatively minimal impact of the mitigating factors; (3) the potential injury and actual harm that respondent’s conduct has caused to C.M., P.B., and public perception of the legal practice; and (4) comparisons of the offenses and facts present in this case with other similar cases in which suspension or disbarment was imposed in Vermont and in other jurisdictions, we adhere to the presumptive sanction and order the maximum penalty permitted by our rules—disbarment.

Click on the Glenn Robinson link to review the petition. (Mike Frisch)