[ad_1]
Ethics
Lawyer disbarred for destroying his pc, altering metadata earlier than ethics listening to
The New Hampshire Supreme Court docket has disbarred a Portsmouth, New Hampshire, lawyer based mostly on allegations that he destroyed his pc earlier than an ethics listening to and altered metadata. (Picture from Shutterstock)
A New Hampshire lawyer has been disbarred based mostly on allegations that he destroyed his pc earlier than an ethics listening to and altered metadata to make it seem that he had offered battle letters to a consumer when borrowing $275,000 from her.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court docket disbarred Portsmouth, New Hampshire, lawyer Justin P. Nadeau in an April 16 opinion famous by the Legal Profession Blog.
The state supreme court docket mentioned it agreed with a listening to panel, which discovered that Nadeau engaged in “a deliberate, multiyear effort to deceive the disciplinary authority” by falsifying proof and failing to protect proof.
Nadeau was previously a Democratic congressional candidate, based on the New Hampshire Journal’s coverage of the disbarment.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court docket’s Skilled Conduct Committee found that Nadeau violated 9 ethics guidelines for transgressions that included coming into right into a enterprise transaction with the consumer, failing to acquire an knowledgeable waiver of conflicts of curiosity, failing to supply the consumer with an announcement of charges for the private harm case that she transferred to him, and commingling of private funds with belief account funds.
The consumer was a weak one who had suffered a mind harm in a site visitors accident that brought about cognitive deficits, based on a hearing committee that thought-about the proof and advisable disbarment to the Skilled Conduct Committee.
When he met the consumer, Nadeau was going through monetary stress, based on the listening to board report. Nadeau’s legislation workplace was encumbered with greater than $290,000 in state and federal tax liens, his legal professional belief account had a shortfall of greater than $31,000, and he confronted a deadline if he needed to purchase the house that he had been renting, based on the listening to board.
He used the $275,000 mortgage from the consumer for the down fee. As well as, Nadeau did not well timed disclose that he collected a $165,000 referral payment within the consumer’s private harm case, the listening to board discovered.
However the New Hampshire Supreme Court docket mentioned it didn’t have to handle alleged ethics violations involving the consumer as a result of Nadeau falsified proof within the ethics case.
Nadeau had disposed of his laptop computer and laborious drive after agreeing to protect digital information associated to the consumer. In accordance with findings of truth, Nadeau offered conflicts paperwork with false dates to disciplinary authorities after which altered metadata with particular software program to make them seem genuine.
The disciplinary counsel relied on an knowledgeable who examined the pc of Nadeau’s paralegal, together with the lawyer’s file server.
A dissenter on the listening to panel referred to as Nadeau a “tragic determine” who had practiced for many years “with excessive accolades.” The dissenter, Robert Dabrowski, mentioned in July 2022 he didn’t see proof that Nadeau “acted as a malicious legal professional to defraud anyone.”
Dabrowski famous testimony that Nadeau had a “historical past of saving purchasers the place so many prior attorneys failed” them and mentioned he needs to be suspended, moderately than disbarred.
The ABA Journal was unable to succeed in Nadeau for remark. The telephone quantity for his former legislation workplace has been disconnected, and an electronic mail despatched to his legislation workplace deal with was returned as undeliverable.
Nadeau’s lawyer, Ragnar Huffmann, didn’t instantly reply to the Journal’s voicemail.
[ad_2]
Source link
