Wall of Shame: Touro's Pride and Joy...Mistrial, Yay!

I'm sure you all have read the story over on JJD's blog about Joseph Rakofsky, the newbie lawyer that managed to have a mistrial declared in a murder trial solely because of his inexperience.  If you haven't, here's the story and I have to add to it:

A Washington, D.C., judge declared a mistrial in a murder case on Friday, saying he was “astonished” at the performance of the defense lawyer who confessed to jurors he’d never tried a case before.

Judge William Jackson said lawyer Joseph Rakofsky did not have a good grasp of legal procedures, citing as an example the attorney’s rambling opening statement in which he told of his inexperience, the Washington Post reports. Rakofsky graduated from Touro law school in 2009 and obtained a law license in New Jersey less than a year ago, the story says.

Rakofsky had repeated disagreements with his local D.C. counsel, causing his client, Dontrell Deaner, to become “visibly frustrated,” the Post says. On Friday, Deaner told the judge he wanted a new lawyer.

The judge declared a mistrial after reviewing a court filing in which an investigator had claimed Rakofsky fired him for refusing to carry out the lawyer's emailed suggestion to "trick" a witness, the story says. Rakofsky's suggestion allegedly read: “Thank you for your help. Please trick the old lady to say that she did not see the shooting or provide information to the lawyers about the shooting.”

Afterward, Rakofsky refused to comment and rushed out of the courthouse, the story says.

I often find that the comments are more interesting than the story itself.  Even here on BIDER, I find your comments to be the highlight of my day.  On this particular story, an interesting comment was made by someone about Mr. Rakofsky:

Clarence Smith Apr 6, 2011 7:40 AM CDT

Rakofszki was never fired. He requested that he be relieved because of a conflict between his client and him. The judge removed him because he asked to be removed; it was Rakofszky’s request. Have you ever, even one time, read the transcript?

Conflict is completely different from and has nothing to do with “incompetence,” but none of the “reporters” have lifted a finger to read the transcript. After the judge removed him, he criticized Rakofszki (but never accused him of being incompetent). Anybody who was actually in the courtroom on Friday already knows this—the Judge was very clear about this.

I doubt that supposed email (and the quotation in it) exists. If the Post was willing to quote Rakofszki, why did they not print the supposed email? Is it possible that Rakofszki does have a lot of experience? Is it possible that he was telling the truth?

Some of you are truly awful. If you at least read the transcript, no one could fault you; but, instead, you glibly accepted what the Post said and ran with it. I was there on Friday and there is no way the Post reporter was even in the courtroom at the time the Judge was addressing Rakofszki. What the Post wrote and what actually happened are 2 different things. That kid has been catapulted into this, what is undoubtedly a terrible event for him and his whole family, and none of that which has been reported about him (which is said to have occurred on Friday) actually happened.

Could this be Mr. Rakofsky commenting on the story himself?  I didn't think of this on my own, but another comment called attention to the ludicrous misspelling of the dude's last name.  Could he be more obvious?
I really feel for the kid.  I made a comment on the story, something along the lines of ... silly him to think that going to law school would qualify him to be a lawyer.  Someone took my comment a little too seriously and asked if I was an attorney for thinking something so naive.  I am sure my readers know what I meant.
Maybe he's a narcissist.  Maybe he's overly confident.  Maybe he's misguided to consider this a win (someone who commented on the story had a looksie at this Facebook page where he declared this a win.  But isn't it though, in a way?).  The readers were ruthless in tearing him a new one.  I don't blame him for piping up.  His legal career is pretty much over before it began.  I have to pity him.
But no story or comment trail is complete without a troll.  The latest comment comes from a Tuoro student herself:

Mr, Rakovsky does not fairly represent Touro Law Center—and his behavior maligns the dedicated faculty and the many hard-working and high achieving students that Touro has educated over the years.  Touro Students work as Judicial Interns for the Federal Judges of the Eastern District Of New York as well as State Supreme Court Justices,  Our Vis Moot Team has consistently won honors in interntional competition, Touro Alumni serve honorably and competently in the NY State Judiciary and the Assembly.  My professors always stressed the importance of professional ethics,  I had the privilege of learning from professors who trained at Harvard and Yale.  I was fortunate to take part in Touro’s Collaborative Courts program which gave experience in arguing before federal judges.  I know better than to take on a case I am not qualified to handle.  Jackasses can be found at EVERY law school, but don’t malign a school because of ONE individual.  I remember Mr, Rakovsky.  He had many of the same professors I did so I dont know why he didnt learn the same things I did about professional responsibility and the duty of competence,

Did they teach you grammar and spelling at Touro as well?  I will quit maligning a law school for the acts of one student when law schools stop admitting people that aren't qualified or mature enough to be attorneys.  If every law school is allowed one "nut" a year without an impact on its reputation, that's 200+ crazy attorneys fucking up people's lives royal--yearly.  That's way too many nuts.  If we cherish our profession and our collective reputation, law schools need to become more selective with who they admit and who they allow to graduate.  

Law Students Behaving Badly: Using Their Knowledge for the Greater Good

So, does the bouncer have to worry about a lawsuit?
Thanks tipster!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Kenneth Starr did What???! Wall of Shame: Jonathan Bristol

I had to google Kenneth Starr when I read this story.  Nope, it's not the same Kenneth Starr, the one who almost ousted our President and the one who was most recently the President of Baylor University and the former professor at both George Mason Law and Chapman law and the Former Dean of Pepperdine Law School.  His name has been hijacked by another Ponzi Schemer.  This is old news, because it happened in May, but here it is:

The SEC previously charged Starr, Starr Investment Advisors LLC, and Starr & Company LLC with violating securities laws pertaining to custody of clients' assets and misusing client funds to buy a multi-million dollar luxury condominium on Manhattan's Upper East Side, among other things.

Starr was arrested in May and indicted on 23 counts of fraud and money laundering involving $59 million. Starr was a financial adviser to several celebrities including Uma Thurman and Martin Scorsese. 

What's newsworthy today is that his attorney was charged with taking part in this crazy scheme.  His attorney, Jonathan Bristol, is being accused of using his attorney trust accounts to as conduits for Starr's clients' stolen money.   The SEC charged him today.

Bristol had a legal and professional responsibility not to assist Ken Starr in conduct that he knew was unlawful," said George S. Canellos, director of the SEC's New York Regional Office. "Bristol crossed the line from lawyer to conspirator when he failed to safeguard funds entrusted to him, helped Starr steal client money, and lied to the victims to perpetuate the scheme."

According to the SEC, more than $25 million belonging to Starr's clients flowed through Bristol's attorney trust accounts. Without his clients' authorization, Starr would transfer their funds into the attorney trust accounts. Bristol would then transfer the stolen funds to Starr and his two companies for Starr's personal use.

Is that money laundering?  I wonder what his cut was... Hmmm.  

Wall of Shame: It's Pick on Tom Cooley Wednesday!

Got this one from a tipster and found it quite funny:
Kelly F. Fulmer, a Kentucky resident from a prominent family, posed as an attorney for years.  No one questioned his credentials as he defended a DUI and probated numerous estates, many of whom are still open.  He even had a Michigan Law School diploma on the wall.  Truth is that he attended, and didn't graduate, from Tom M. Cooley School of Law.  Ha.  You'd think he'd at least claim that he graduated from a school he attended.  I guess Tom Cooley is an embarrassment for non-attorneys as well.  It is a misdemeanor to practice law without a license in Kentucky, and he could also face charges of felony theft by deception.
Go Cooley!
Thanks Tipser!

Tom M. Cooley Hall of Shame! Go Team...

Hate to poke fun at Tom Cooley School of Law, but they make it so easy.  Every school has its notable graduates.  A tipster told me about two of them: Nazhy Buck and Lloyd Johnson.  Okay, so I'm overstating it. It's not really about notable graduates.  And it's not even about being notable, it's about gossip.  Nazhy Buck, according to her profile on the website on of the Center for Ethical Solutions where she is an intern, has a very impressive resume:

Nahzy Buck is a freelance Farsi linguist and educator, having most recently worked as a Research Translator for the Dari Translation Project at Carnegie Mellon University in 2009. Among her other positions, Nahzy was an Intelligence Analyst for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in Ottawa, Canada. She taught as an adjunct Professor of Persian Language and Culture in the Department of Iranian Studies at Hankuk University (University of Foreign Studies) in Seoul, South Korea, for five years. She was also an adjunct Professor of Middle East History at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. A native speaker of Persian (Farsi), Nahzy also has a command of written Arabic, which is uncommon for native speakers of Persian. She received her Master’s degree in International Relations from Kyung Hee University in Seoul, and has legal training from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, with a focus on constitutional law and civil rights. She has long been an advocate of religious minority rights, especially with regard to the plight of the Baha’is in Iran who, among other things, have been barred from access to university education for the past 30 years by government policy.

Wow.  Cooley should be proud.  But, wait!  She didn't graduate from Cooley.  She actually sued Cooley for expelling her from law school when she has a disability.  She lost that law suit.  Poor lady.  It's really not her fault.  She's obviously very intelligent.  Her husband, also a Cooley Grad, is a professor at MSU.  And her son is the youngest student to ever attend MSU.  However, as we discussed earlier, Tom Cooley has a notoriously low curve (2.0 to 2.4).  So, judge Ms. Buck as you may, she's evidence that some people are doomed to fail.  Including highly intelligent and accomplished people.

The second bit of juicy gossip is really sad, actually.  The author of this blog, Lloyd Johnson, graduated from Tom Cooley in 1989.  And, in 2010, he was murdered by his wife.  She was charged with murder and the unauthorized practice of Medicine--of all things.  Apparently, she had bloody tissue in her fridge.  Wow. Macabre!  

...Johnson had an open wound from an old injury that required attention.

Home healthcare providers had been hired, but Johnson was far too dedicated to his work as an attorney to keep the appointments, she said.

So, she treated it herself--killing him?  Not sure.  But it makes me grateful to be a not-so-busy-or-dedicated attorney and still alive.  Right?



I can't make this shit up.
Thanks Tipster!  I hope you make the cut at Tom Cooley!

Update:

The manner of death is accidental related to that old open wound from a boating accident,” he said.

Some of the contributing causes of death to the 413-pound Johnson were hypertensive cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, liver cirrhosis and morbid obesity.

Look's like it wasn't murder after all.  It was the lifestyle of an attorney.  :)  Go Cooley!  Thanks Tipster!

Wall of Shame: Above the Law and David Lat

Above the Law brings on the dumb while leading the lambs to slaughter. Can't say I'm surprised.

Thank you to First Tier Toilet and Rose Colored Glasses for bringing our attention to a shameful post at Above The Law entitled “In Defense of Going to Law School” written by Yale Law grad and BigLaw lover David Lat. No, I will not link to the post. I didn’t bother visiting Above the Law to read the original post in its entirety because I’m already too disgusted by what is apparently going on over there. Here is what David Lat wrote according to Knut at First Tier Toilet.

David Lat makes the following five points for the defense of going to law school:
1) "If a law degree is like a Biglaw lottery ticket, remember: some people still win."
2) "There are many great career options in law outside of large law firms." He includes "midsize or small law firms, federal government (e.g., the DOJ Honors Program), state government, clerkships (federal and state), fellowships, non-profits / public interest, and in-house (yes, even for new graduates). And that’s without even touching upon the many career alternatives for attorneys — all the things you can do with a law degree that don’t involve practicing law" after looking at placement data from Cornell Law, of all places (a school whose graduates are hurting badly).
3) "What else are you going to do with yourself?"
4) "Not everyone graduates with debt (or with as much debt as some people think)."
5) You get to put “Esq.” after your name.

Knut has an excellent take down of Lat’s law school apologist piece, so go over to First Tier Reality to read all of it. I really have nothing more to add to Knut’s rebuttal. The only thing I disagree with is that Knut believes Lat and Crittendon at the National Jurist have good intentions. No. No, they do not. Crittendon is a shill whose legal rag depends on the sponsorship and advertising of disgraceful toilets such as Seton Hall and Cooley. David Lat lives in a privileged world built on superficial factors such as the knowing the who’s who in Biglaw, rankings, and being able to put “Esq.” next to his name. These guys are too ignorant and elitist to have any good intentions besides self-serving their huge egos.

Regular readers of this blog know that I am not a fan of Above the Law and rarely stop by the site unless another scam blog or BIDER reader alerts me to an interesting post. I have never been a fan of Above The Law because the site has always been nothing more than an elitist Biglaw gossip and rumor mill ready to humiliate the next law student or lawyer who sends a tactless email. Laughing at other people’s misfortunes has never really been my thing, even when my life seemed pretty good at a T14. Above the Law encompasses everything that I’ve ever disliked about law school and the legal profession. As Knut pointed out in his post and many times before, Above the Law is completely out of touch with the majority of law school graduates and lawyers. They have their heads too far deep into the insignificant daily dramas of Biglaw to care about anything else.

Above the Law’s saving grace is Elie Mystal who continues to have his wages garnished to pay back the $150k he owes to Harvard Law. He occasionally reports on the law school scam and is the most sympathetic of the Above the Law writers to unemployed graduates and student loan victims.

I could care less with most of the gossip Above the Law publishes daily. I just think it’s a shame that one of the most widely read legal publications on the web is filled with so much immaturity, elitist (oftentimes racist) comments, and posts that aren’t based in reality for the majority of the legal profession or the world for that matter. It makes me very thankful that the scamblogging community exists as a much needed reality based legal community to counter all the lies and false hope out there being peddled by the mainstream legal media.

Wall of Shame: Eric Holder's DOJ is Racist?

I don't even know how to take this story, but it's worth discussing.  A right-wing blogger and a Department of Justice Attorney named J. Christian Adams, resigned after he won a default judgment against Philadelphia Black Panthers for intimidating white voters on election day and being directed to dismiss the case against them.  He is claiming that the dismissal of this sort of case against the Black Panthers is part of a pattern of racism.  It may just be a political thing.  I heard about the story on Rush Limbaugh's radio show and he was ranting and raving about a black President and black Attorney General makes for an anti-white government.  Helter Skelter, anyone?  Race war incitement?  Rush was also upset because this type of story was only being covered by Fox "News" and right wing pundits and no one else seems to care.

I care, but I don't really know how I feel about this story.  I hope that it's not true.  I hope that it's just a way for Republicans to drive a wedge between Republicans and Democrats.

I'm frankly sick of both parties.  But this story is of lawyers behaving badly, whether it's Mr. Adams or Attorney General Holder or President Obama.

Wall of Shame: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

Kwame Kilpatrick is emblematic of the idiocy and corruption that runs through our political system because of those important family connections. Here is a little background for those of you who only know about Kilpatrick's recent legal troubles (I'll get to that in a minute).

Spoiled and irresponsible, Kilpatrick was handed prestigious, six-figure jobs his entire life due to shady family connections in politics. His mother, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, is a Congresswoman for Michigan's 13th District. His father, Bernard Kilpatrick, served as chief of staff to former Wayne County Executive Edward H. McNamara.

Kilpatrick immediately succeeded his mother in the Michigan State House of Representatives when she vacated the seat to run for Congress. Kilpatrick was only 26 years old at the time. During his time in the Michigan State House of Representatives, Kilpatrick received a JD from third tier Michigan State University College of Law. Yep, another reminder that a TTT degree is useless unless you have the connections to get you a law firm or political job. Five years after being elected to the House of Representatives, Kilpatrick would become the youngest mayor of Detroit at the age of 31.

I really don't know what he did during his first term as mayor of Detroit, but everything that I've read has been bad. According to Wikipedia, he closed the century-old Belle Isle Zoo and Belle Isle Aquarium. An Associated Press article reveals more into some of the crimes that he and his family committed while he was in office:

Brash and arrogant, Kilpatrick was criticized during his first term for improperly using city credit cards to pay pricey restaurant tabs. It was later revealed that his wife used a city-leased vehicle for her personal use. Each time, he asked for his constituents' forgiveness, and he came from behind to win re-election in 2005.

This is video of Kilpatrick's mother stumping for him during his re-election campaign. I guess we can see where he got his brashness and arrogance.

Another article by the Associated Press stated that Kilpatrick charged at least $210,000 on his city-issued credit card during the first 33 months of his first term. I don't think anyone needs to be reminded that Detroit is cash strapped and one of the poorest and most dangerous cities in the United States. This idiot wasted money on cars and vacations when kids in that city are falling victim to senseless violence everday. The most recent story that made national headlines was a 7-year-old girl who was shot to death by the Detroit Police while she slept. Awful.

This man is involved with so many controversies and crimes that I don't have the time to list them all in one post. You can go over to Wikipedia again and read about Kilpatrick's wild Manoogian Mansion party and his connection with the murder of an exotic dancer who attended the party in 2002. You can also read about the whistleblower trial and the text-messaging scandal that finally ended his "career" in politics.

To make a long story short, Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by committing perjury in connection with an investigation into sexual text messages he had sent his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. He was supposed to have paid the city of Detroit a million dollar fine. Instead, he refused to pay the required monthly restitution payments and has been living it up in a Texas mansion and working (yes, a convicted felon who stole possibly millions from Detroit can find work and we can't) at Covisint, a Texas subsidiary of Compuware.

Yesterday, Kilpatrick was sentenced to 18 months to 5 years in prison. Kilpatrick has abused the legal system long enough and deserves his punishment, but I'd much rather see him pay the citizens of Detroit the million dollars they so desperately need to rebuild the city. Shame on you, Kwame!

Wall of Shame: Does Med Mal Make Attorneys Crazy?

This is a gem of a story.  A Texas Medical Malpractice attorney with 25 years of experience is arrested for attempting to kill a census worker with a shotgun who wouldn't get off her property quick enough.

Police say on May 8, Kathleen Gittel, an employee of the U.S. Census Bureau, stopped by Barnes' Leander home to "make contact with the resident," presumably as part of the bureau's effort to complete a Census count with residents who had not turned in their forms.

Barnes reportedly pointed her gun at Gittel, and then fired the weapon five times as Gittel tried to run. Williamson County Sheriff's Office spokesperson John Foster said none of the bullets hit the census worker.

I wish that was the whole story, because that's certainly enough--but there is so much more.  Carolyn Barnes, 53, once failed to obey an officer during a traffic stop.  She continued to rummage around below her seat contrary to orders and continued to inch her truck up, contrary to orders.  They had to spike her tires to get her to stop.  She was also arrested for assaulting a court officer who told her to keep her knife in the car.  She's a classic. I wish I had someone like this around the courthouse to entertain me.

Following her most recent arrest, Ms. Barnes submitted affidavits and other official looking documents to the press calling the Prosecutor's Office a "criminal street gang" engaged in a "conspiracy" against her her.  That's not crazy.   Actually, I found this little clip on her website which certainly is consistent with her views on the criminal justice system:

We soon realized that our expertise was needed in the area of Constitutional and civil rights violations and the dire need for criminal justice reform, prison reform, and exposure of corruption and abuse in these areas.  We are committed to truth and justice and represent our clients zealously in the area of criminal law.  We do not cut deals or coerce our clients into accepting a plea bargain that is not in their best interest, especially when they are NOT GUILTY.  If you are NOT GUILTY, then you need us more than ever.  

The Prosecutor also mentions that she has been more aggressive in court, interrupting the judge and such. I don't think that's a big deal. I interrupt the judge regularly when they are wrong--which is all the time.

Clearly this woman is suffering from a mental illness. I find it hilarious that she hasn't been disbarred yet.  High caliber attorneys out there in Texas, huh?  Shout out to University of Texas School of Law, Ms. Barnes' alma mater. I'm sure you're proud!

Wall of Shame: Lawyers Behaving Badly

This is so NOT politically correct, but I had to tell the BIDER readers about it.  Hippocrate Mertsaris, a disabled lawyer, touched a judge's butt--but his cerebral palsy made him do it.  Oops.  I hope that is true, but he is facing criminal charges for it. I wonder if that's what's going on with the guys on the subway who "accidentally" touch my ass or with GWB below.  Funny.  Sorry if you find this offensive.

Wall of Shame: Lawyers Behaving Badly

Hey all!  I'm back from vacation. I had a blast. I am not going to go into details, but the country I went to was a model of socialism that I wish we would imitate here.  Everyone appeared to be upper middle class--although they complain that unemployment is high at 6%.  They have no idea.

So, I'm going to ease back into blogging.  I found these several stories and I thought I would share:

• A lawyer stole $2.2 million of his clients' money to pay off a blackmailer.  What was she blackmailing him for?  Oh... she accused him of lying and threatened to have him disbarred.    Yah, you heard right.  He stole money so that he could prevent losing his law license.   I wonder what his score was on the MPRE.  What a dope!
• Three lawyers are among ten that allegedly defrauded banks of $10 million by creating dummy buyers and false appraisals, thereby causing banks to give out mortgages they wouldn't normally have given.  Yah, these three guys are scum--allegedly.  But I'm in no mood to think of a bank as a victim.  
• Susan Bysiewicz is up for Attorney General of Connecticut.  There's just one problem, she has never had a trial--or even a deposition--in her 24 years of practice.  I'm wondering who she slept with to be considered for this position.  I'll move to Connecticut.  Maybe they would consider me. I have TONS more experience than her.

Enjoy!

Wall of Shame: 2010 Edition

But I Did Everything Right hasn't done a Wall of Shame post since December so I thought I'd start the first Wall of Shame post of 2010 with the latest lawyer/thief to pull a Ponzi Scheme on innocent clients.

Mini Madoff

From today's Herald Tribune:

Arthur G. Nadel pleaded guilty Wednesday to 15 federal fraud counts, publicly admitting for the first time that he orchestrated a massive Ponzi scheme in Sarasota.

Once a key player in social and philanthropic circles, Nadel is now known as a "mini-Madoff" who bilked hundreds of millions of dollars from clients.

...

Nadel, 77, may spend the rest of his life in prison after his guilty plea to six counts of securities fraud, one count of mail fraud and eight counts of wire fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

...

"Arthur Nadel cheated his victims out of hundreds of millions of dollars of their retirement money and savings by lying to them over and over again and claiming false returns and profits," said Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

"Many of Nadel's victims were elderly and relied on the money that they invested in Nadel's funds for their retirement. While he deceived and impoverished others, Nadel funded a luxurious life for himself and his associates," Bharara said.

Nadel paid himself $55 million in performance and management fees. He also diverted $23.5 million in investors' money and allocated $22 million in profitable trades to his own accounts.

He bought real estate developments, businesses, the Venice Jet Center and a fleet of jets and helicopters with proceeds from the Ponzi scheme. He will forfeit those assets in the plea deal.

He and his wife were large donors to a number of local charities and foundations with money that prosecutors say came from the scheme.

******************

I also recommend reading L4L's latest post on another TTT dean who deserves a mention on our Wall of Shame, Dean Karen Rothenberg of U. Maryland Law. According to L4L, Rothenberg "received $350,000 in compensation for several sabbaticals she apparently never took" which was "on top of her $371,000 a year “base” salary".

Wall of Shame Part IV: Attorney Steals for a few Luxuries in Life, and gets Disbarred!

Minneapolis Criminal Defense Attorney gets disbarred for being a criminal and stealing approximately $125,000 from his partners at Halberg. Classic. And what did he spend it on? Stupid shit. Really. I wish I could say that he needed it for his mortgage.

Halberg was founded in 2005. Thomas A. Rothstein was in charge of his small firm's finances. He had several partners, each owning 25%. A annual distribution would be made to the partners and every time Rothstein cut a check, he would write an extra check out to himself. I guess he thought the few extra thousand would go unnoticed.

In 2006, "he also used the company credit card for unauthorized purchases, including $562 at iTunes, $230 at a car wash, $824 at Pilgrim Cleaners, $2,875 at Continental Diamonds, $527 for flowers and $2,500 at the Trent Tucker Poker Tournament." In 2007, Rothstein used the company credit card and spent "$767 at iTunes, $403 for Pilgrim Cleaners, $347 for flowers, $506 at Continental Diamonds and $1,250 for personal trainer Judy Beyers."

That's a ton of music. I'd love to have access to his iTunes library. I certainly hope he's got a nice body too, with all of those personal training sessions. I'm wondering if the jewelry and flowers were for a Mrs. Rothstein or for Ms. Beyers--since he was her best customer. And, why poker? I guess the money he was swindling wasn't enough. He needed to gamble as well. And he needed to have some CLEAN and pressed clothes on while he gambled. Also, I'm sure he showed up to his personal training session with flowers and a shiny ride every time.

What strikes me about this selfish slug, was that he didn't steal to pay for anything that could arguably be considered necessary. I guess he was doing okay as an attorney. He wasn't struggling to make ends meet. But he needed to steal to live glamorously???? I guess this can be considered an Angel's Fable. You know, like "The Fox and the Grapes," "The Tortoise and the Hare" or "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." I'll call it, "The Lawyer and the Luxury Lifestyle." And the moral of the story is: Lawyers that have glamorous lifestyles are probably swindling someone; clients, partners, employees... someone.

The Glory Days for our profession are over. Most lawyers I know are living paycheck to paycheck. Even the ones that kept their big firm jobs. The lure of the glamorous lifestyle will cause you to spend money you don't have, when/if you land that big firm job. And for the other 95% of lawyers that never get the Big Firm job, it's very hard to reconcile attorneys' reputation for excess with your bank account. Everyone out of law school thinks that they should be at least as well off as their parents, with a nice home, two cars and yearly vacation. Meanwhile, with such a tremendous debt on their backs, they are hardly paying their rent. Not to mention that everyone around an attorney thinks that they "can afford it." The situation is only made worse. Most lawyers can't afford very much at all. A quick perusal of the worn soles of shoes and frayed hems of suit pants at the courthouse will speak volumes about an attorney's lifestyle.

I'm a member of the generation that was supposed to be the first to do worse than its parents. I think it's my generation, and the next few as well.

Wall of Shame Part III: New and Creative Ways of Making Money as a Solo!

Leon Gelfgatt, a Boston Solo, thought that being a solo practitioner was not lucrative enough--no secret to most attorneys.  So, to supplement his income, Mr. Gelfgatt decided to start recording fraudulent liens against properties that were about to be sold.  When time came for the property to change hands, the new mortgagee had to pay the existing secured lien holder at the closing table.  As first in line, Mr. Gelfgatt showed up to receive his due--thereby screwing the legitimate mortgagee.  Way to use you legal expertise, Mr. Gelfgatt!  Mr. Gelfgatt was figured out after making about a million dollars off of several properties.  Gelfgatt pleaded not guilty and was held on $1 million cash bail by Cambridge District Court Judge Roanne Sragow-Licht.


I can't say I don't understand his logic.  Banks are so overwhelmed with all of the distressed properties, properties in short sale and foreclosure--they might not notice a million dollar shortfall.  Or maybe he thinks that is the cost of his license to practice the law? Or it could be that he was a desperate solo who wasn't making enough money?  


I know that illegality is not endemic to solo practitioners.  But they certainly do get caught more than guys at the white glove firms.  Aside from that, solos are put under the magnifying glass by the state bar associations more so than the big wigs.  Although, I have no intention of being a crook... it's enough to make me scratch my head and wonder whether being a solo is a viable option.  Will I be tempted to co-mingle my clients funds with my own to pay for my bar dues?  Will I feel the need to guarantee results in order to land a client?  Will I have to give a short term loan to a client who needs the money NOW so that they won't fire me and go onto the next firm who will?  These are issues that we studied in Legal Ethics.  These are also issues that I saw when I worked at small law firms.  I'm just wondering if it's possible to NOT starve as a solo, and to follow the rules.  


As one commentator on the article said:  
Its so much easier to go the usual route: just create phony billing and have a specially assigned judge help fleece the clients. The scam is foolproof, and there's no no risk of jail time.
Thoughts?

Wall of Shame Part II: Aaron F. Biber

This is really sad, but I had to bring this guy up. He's not an unethical lawyer, but an unethical person.  Mr. Biber, a Minneapolis Attorney, has been accused of raping a 15-old-boy.  The complaint if available here... and it's bad.  He has been suspended from work, at Gray Plant and Mooty.  As you can see from a perusal of the firm website, they pulled his name down right quick.  I also found him on the Minnesota Bar Associate Website:
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Aaron Biber
Gray Plant Mooty Mooty & Bennett PA
80 S Eighth St #500		Admitted to MN bar: 5/12/1988
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Phone: (612) 632-3000 / Fax: (612) 632-4444
aaron.biber@gpmlaw.com Judging by his admission, he's at least 46 years old.  Way to go in ruining your life, dip shit. Definitely a good candidate for the Wall of Shame.