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Thompson Hine LLP, a full-service business law firm with approximately 400 lawyers in 11 offices, was ranked number 1 in the category “Most innovative North American law firms: New working models” by The Financial Times and was 1 of 7 firms shortlisted for The American Lawyer’s inaugural Legal Services Innovation Award. The firm has been recognized by the National Law Journal as a Legal Technology Trailblazer and featured by Bloomberg for its innovative service delivery models, which drive accuracy and predictability. The firm’s commitment to innovation is embodied in Thompson Hine SmartPaTHTM – a smarter way to work – predictable, efficient and aligned with client goals. For more information, please visit ThompsonHine.com and ThompsonHine.com/SmartPaTH.

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<img style="max-width: 100%;height: auto;max-width: 100%;height: auto" loading="lazy" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3851" src="https://www.thelawforlawyerstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/754/2018/03/Contract.1-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200">In a warning to semi-retired lawyers and others, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month <a href="http://filehost.thompsonhine.com/uploads/Doud_v._Mich_Grievance_Admx_a593.pdf">affirmed a 90-day suspension</a> for a lawyer who&nbsp;let others draft&nbsp;and sign his name to deficient&nbsp; pleadings, saying that &ldquo;a lawyer&rsquo;s good name and professional reputation are his primary stock in trade, an asset to be cultivated and safeguarded throughout his career &mdash; even after ceasing the active practice of law.&rdquo;
&ldquo;One size fits all&rdquo; briefs
The case started out in&nbsp;a Michigan district court, which found that briefs filed under the lawyer&rsquo;s name&nbsp;from 2012-2015 in multiple social&nbsp;security benefits cases were &ldquo;woefully deficient both as to the quality of the briefs and the management and monitoring of the appeal process on behalf of clients.&rdquo;&nbsp; The briefs sometimes had little to do with the facts of the particular case in which they were filed; the district court hearing panel, in its <a href="http://filehost.thompsonhine.com/uploads/In_re_Doud_Panel_Decision_ff70.pdf">opinion</a>, called them &ldquo;one size fits all&rdquo; briefs.
The panel found that in the process of retiring from the firm in which he was a senior partner, and withdrawing from actively practicing, the lawyer authorized his firm for a period of some years to continue submitting district court filings in his name in numerous social security benefits appeals as though he were attorney of record.&nbsp; But he didn&rsquo;t review these filings, or supervise the lawyers who actually prepared them.&nbsp; Rather, his participation was&nbsp;simply&nbsp;a &ldquo;fa&ccedil;ade&rdquo; to help the firm.&nbsp; (In fact, said the panel, the firm&rsquo;s social security practice was essentially run by a secretary.)
The panel described how once a brief was filed in the district court,&nbsp;no further work would be done on a social security appeal.&nbsp; Neither the lawyer whose name was used nor any other lawyer at the firm saw&nbsp;the opposing party&rsquo;s brief, no lawyer submitted&nbsp;any type of response, and none ever&nbsp;saw a report and recommendation&nbsp;or a final decision.
In this process, the clients obviously got short shrift.&nbsp; The panel described at least one of them as having been &ldquo;abandoned.&rdquo;
Duty to supervise, duty of candor
In its panel opinion, the district court said that the lawyer violated Michigan&rsquo;s versions of <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_5_1_responsibilities_of_a_partner_or_supervisory_lawyer.html">Model Rule 5.1</a> (duty to supervise subordinate lawyers) by not supervising preparation of briefs that were submitted using his signature and his filing&nbsp;credentials; and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_3_3_candor_toward_the_tribunal.html">Rule 3.3</a> (candor to the tribunal), by authorizing&nbsp;submission of briefs bearing his name &ndash; thus&nbsp;falsely representing that he had reviewed or monitored their preparation.
The district court panel recommended a 90-day suspension; as one of the aggravating factors, the panel noted that the lawyer had a &ldquo;selfish motive&rdquo; in lending his name to the appeals, since it helped keep the firm profitable, and his retirement benefits flowing.
The Sixth Circuit adopted the&nbsp;panel&rsquo;s findings and recommendations.&nbsp; It wrote that &ldquo;this case presents a sad example of a decent lawyer, who in the autumn of a successful career, became careless in permitting the use of his name for improper purposes and needlessly brought dishonor to himself, his firm, the profession and the justice system.&rdquo;
Takeaways...
First, whether you&rsquo;re winding down your practice or in your prime, it&rsquo;s clearly risky to let anyone use your name to sign court filings you don&rsquo;t have control over, even if it&rsquo;s someone at your firm.
Second, and&nbsp;maybe not so well-known, is that your state&rsquo;s disciplinary authority is not the only body that can mete out professional discipline.&nbsp; The federal district courts have inherent power to regulate the conduct of the lawyers who appear before them; they usually have their own disciplinary procedures laid out in their local rules; and by local rule, the district court usually adopts the lawyer conduct rules of the jurisdiction as the ones that govern.
And last, the lawyer here came under extra criticism for his &ldquo;continuing resistance to this disciplinary action and stubborn refusal to acknowledge his leading role in the failings.&rdquo;&nbsp; If you&nbsp; ever find yourself in the disciplinary cross-hairs, don&rsquo;t do that &mdash; it&nbsp;will seldom help your cause.

core/freeform

Ethics

Legal Ethics, Professional Responsibility and the Business of Law

What’s in a name?  Semi-retired lawyer suspended for letting others use it