How not to practice law: Show up drunk

 This is not the first time we have seen this example of "how not to practice law," but there are two interesting questions.  In this particular instance, discussed in the Legal Profession Blog, the lawyer was charged with "attempting" to violate rule 1.1 on competence.  So my first question is:  why charge with attempt to violate a rule?  Can't we argue that appearing drunk before the court in and of itself constitutes incompetence?  

The second question is common to many cases: what should be the proper sanction?  Is it a mitigating factor if the lawyer has a health problem, mental health problem or issues with alcohol?  Is it an aggravating factor?  In this case, the lawyer also had a history of disciplinary sanctions; yet, the sanction was reduced from 90 days to 30 days.  

How not to practice law: try to get your client to pay a fee by providing sexual services

We have seen stories like this before but it is notable that the discipline imposed is for an attempt to violate the rules of professional conduct.  That is not so common, although we did see another example last year in a similar case (see here).

In this new case, the client apparently did not have enough money to pay the lawyer what he said his services would cost, so he told the client she could pay him by having sex with him.  Like I said, we have seen cases like this before, but in this one we have the transcript of the actual conversation in which the lawyer explained the transaction he had in mind.  Don't follow the link if you are easily offended by language of a sexual nature.  Here is the link to the story which includes the transcript of the conversation. The decision of the court, which also includes the transcript, is here.

Eventually, the lawyer had his law license "annulled" which I assume is akin to a permanent disbarment.

Discipline for attempting to violate the rule on sex with clients

Model Rule 8.4, which is the basis of Rule 8.4 in most, if not all states, holds that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to "violate or attempt to violate" the Rules of Professional Conduct.  Yet, you rarely see cases imposing discipline for an attempted violation of the rules.

This makes Lawyer Disciplinary Board v. Sayre interesting.  In this case, the Virginia Supreme Court imposed discipline on an attorney for a number of offenses and one of them involved an attempt to violate the rule against sex with clients.  The lawyer admitted that he knowingly engaged in inappropriate and sexually suggestive communications with the intent of initiating a sexual relationship with a client. Because his attempt was unsuccessful, the Court ruled the conduct was not a violation of rule 1.8, but it was a violation of rule 8.4.

The Legal Profession blog has a summary here.