Lawyers get a bad rap for being scheming crooks, but that’s mostly for over-zealous advocacy, which is perfectly legal. On the other hand, there are a few surefire ways to ruin a good reputation and welcome-in early retirement. For example, these three actions will basically guarantee disbarment:

Here’s an easy way to get in trouble with the bar: playing funny games with client funds. Funds are kept in escrow until earned and accounted for. This rule is so sacrosanct as to carry an almost mythical aura. Yet, some attorneys just aren’t capable of resisting temptation…

2. Sleeping With Your Client

Although the ABA rules of professional responsibility allow lawyers to sleep with their clients in limited circumstances – control yourself! In the case of New Jersey lawyer Kenneth Denti, he submitted falsified time sheets (cf. above) for years totaling expenses of $350,000, expensed meals with women he met on the Internet, and slept with his firm’s client. Later during disciplinary proceedings, Denti was questioned as to the female client’s “soreness.” According to Denti, it wasn’t the sexual activity to blame, but her use of his backyard trampoline.

3. Inexplicable Incompetence

Sometimes the facts are stranger than fiction. The case of Dennis Hawver probably takes the prize for this year’s most notable disbarment based on grounds of “inexplicable incompetence.” During a trial in 2005, rather than defending his own client, Dennis Hawver successfully convinced a jury to give his client the death penalty. He even declared, “I am in competent!” to Kansas’ Highest Court.

The Kansas Supreme Court ordered Hawver’s disbarment and granted his client a new trial.

Related Resources:

  • Former Gwinnett Lawyer Sentenced to Prison for Stealing Funds from His Clients (FBI)
  • Trial Interrupted as Defense Attorney Is Arrested for Meth, Fraud (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates)
  • California Attorney Arrested for Hiring Killers, Orchestrating a Murder (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates)

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