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Another Reason to Be Nice to Your Secretary

By Eric Lipman

Monday, the New Jersey Supreme Court heard argument in an attorney discipline case. At issue is whether David Gross should be disbarred for keeping a $50,000 "bonus" given by one of his clients that was super-pleased with his work. The state Disciplinary Review Board found that keeping the money, rather than turning it over to his then firm, Budd Larner, constituted "willful misappropriation" and recommended disbarment. The vote was 5-2, with the dissenters recommending a mere censure or temporary suspension. The details of the incident, as reported in the New Jersey Law Journal, do make it sound rather shady: Gross' problems arose when told his secretary, Claudette McCarthy, about the gift. She had worked for Gross for many years and he gave her glowing evaluations, the DRB said. McCarthy testified that she typed an invoice setting up the Keene payment and a letter advised Keene to send the check to Gross in an envelope marked 'personal and confidential.' Letters not marked that way would be opened in the mailroom and the check would have automatically been set aside for deposit in the firm account, according to testimony. Gross instructed McCarthy to remove the letter from her computer and told her...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on April 28, 2010 (boomark / email).