Tuesday, March 24, 2020

How not to (start the) practice of law -- UPDATED

Original post: March 22, 2020

It has been a while since I posted a story to our running count of "how not to practice law" category, so I here is one.  Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have seen a case with the same or similar facts.

So you say you want to start working as a lawyer in a good firm.  Presumably a great firm, even.  But your resume is not quite up to par.  Here is what not to do:  Lie.  Cheat.  Alter your transcripts.

Yes, folks, once again, we have another winner in our ranks.  This wanna be lawyer altered the law school transcripts 26 times to make it look better. The lawyer falsified the transcript to reflect, among other things, grades that were higher than he had received, high grades in courses that he had never taken, and a cumulative GPA of 3.825, rather than the 3.269 that he had actually achieved.

For that he was charged with multiple violations of rule 8.4, and the Disciplinary Review Board recommended a two year suspension.  The New Jersey Supreme Court, however, lowered the sanction to one year.  Which penalty would you have voted for?

The case is In re Seth Asher Nadler (March 13, 2020).  The Legal Profession blog has more details.


UPDATE March 24, 2020:  Above the Law has a comment on the case here.


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