Two of the Craziest Bar Reprimand Stories of All Time
No matter who you are, you should always be cognizant of your actions. Whether you like it or not, attorneys are held to higher standards. Not just by the public, but also by ethical
and professional rules. Despite this, attorneys are still human and make mistakes. Some mistakes, however, are so absurd that all you can do is laugh in disbelief. Here are two of the craziest examples, where attorneys threw common sense out the window, sometimes literally:
Crappy Pranks: A criminal defense attorney loved pulling pranks. Unfortunately for him, one of his “pranks” was witnessed and caught on video. This attorney was admitted to his Ohio bar in 1976 and never had any disciplinary actions against him until 2021. Before leaving his house on the day in question, this attorney relieved himself into an empty chip canister, drove for approximately 20 minutes, and then tossed the chip can loaded with excrement into the parking lot of a victim-advocacy center which was involved in one of his cases. During the disciplinary counsel proceedings, this attorney had admitted to pulling this prank at least 10 other times. According to the court opinion, his reasoning for the pranks was to blow off steam, and he enjoyed thinking about the surprise on the faces of those who found the cans. Talk about causing a stink!
Candor, I Barely Know Her (Also, Forum Decorum): This next attorney is a lesson to all practitioners to be mindful of what you say. We all want to zealously represent our clients
and fight for the best outcome, but zealous and scandalous are vastly different. This attorney, admitted to the California bar in 2008, embodied zero grace or respect in his negotiation tactics, which led to his reprimand. In 2019, this personal injury attorney went to war for his clients and treated opposing counsel like the enemy. While trying to negotiate a settlement, he determined that the best method for getting a sizeable settlement was to insult and berate opposing counsel. In his emails, he seemingly used every expletive in the book and dropped extremely inappropriate insults in nearly every other sentence. For obvious reasons, these insults aren’t included, but in his attempt to win hundreds of millions for a few hundred-thousand-dollar claim, this attorney also decided to make idle threats, such as “I know where you live.” Just a friendly reminder that “think before you speak” also applies to emails!
While there are many other examples of times when lawyers were reprimanded for their behavior, these two cases are perfect examples of what not to do. While enjoyable, they serve as a reminder, that whether you believe you are zealously representing your client or just trying to reduce stress, always be mindful of what you do.
