Posted On:
July 31, 2010
Sex for legal services
What would the appropriate penalty be for an attorney who repeatedly offers to write off legal bills in exchange for sex? What if the attorney has a long history of ethics complaints, had previously been suspended for 15 months (and continued to practice law anyway), and lied to disciplinary counsel about his conduct? According to the New Jersey Supreme Court, disbarment would be too harsh, and the attorney is suspended for one year.
A one-year suspension from practice, with reinstatement conditioned on the successful completion of an approved sensitivity training course and proof of the institution of accounting controls in his office, is the appropriate measure of discipline for Witherspoon. More substantial discipline is not warranted on the record in this case, which does not include criminal conduct, unwanted, traumatic physical contact, or particularly vulnerable subjects of Witherspoon’s attention. Preying on clients as Witherspoon has done deserves to be dealt with harshly because it goes to the heart of the trust on which the attorney-client relationship is based, but it would be disproportionate to disbar him for his boorish, insensitive and offensive, but hardly criminal, conduct.
I'm not familiar with NJ law, but in South Carolina and I thought most states, solicitation of prostitution is criminal. I suppose, in NJ, solicitation of prostitution is not criminal so long as it is in the context of an attorney preying on his clients?
