Opinion ID: 1921960
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Respondent Is Retained by J.C.

Text: 13. In late 1986, J.C. called Respondent and explained that he needed to speak with her regarding a confidential matter. When they met, J.C. told Respondent that while he had legally separated from L. F-C., he had never obtained a divorce. He further told Respondent that when E.Y. stated that she would leave him if he was not going to marry her, he became distraught, obtained a marriage license and married E.Y. without telling her the truth that he was not divorced. Tr. 170-71; Tr. 300, J.C. explained that E.Y. was pregnant and he asked Respondent to help him clean up the mess he had made. J.C. insisted on complete confidentiality of this information. Tr. 170-72. 14. Respondent advised J.C. to tell E.Y. the truth, that he was not divorced from L.F-C. He responded that he could not tell her at that time because E.Y. was two months from giving birth and he did not want to upset her. He said that he would tell her after the baby was born and the divorce was close to being finalized. Id. at 173. 15. Respondent advised J.C. that she did not practice domestic relations law, but she agreed to provide him assistance and guidance with regard to his divorce and separation agreement. J.C. retained Robert Liotta, Esquire, to be his attorney of record in the divorce proceeding. Tr. 171-72, 175-227; BX 2, 8,16, and 19. 16. In the Spring of 1987, Respondent assisted Mr. Liotta in providing legal advice to J.C. with regard to amending his 1984 separation agreement with L.F-C. Based on her discussions with J.C., Respondent provided edits and revisions on a draft of the proposed Amendment to Separation, Support and Property Settlement Agreement of August 23, 1984. Tr. 176-77, 225-26, 233; BX 5. The proposed amended separation agreement acknowledged that L.F-C. was challenging the validity of the 1984 separation agreement because of her lack of counsel and also because of alleged misrepresentations made to her by J.C. as to the 1984 agreement's purpose. Tr. 233; BX 5 at 5. The proposed amendments to the 1984 separation agreement, which Respondent reviewed and revised, imposed additional financial obligations on J.C. to L.F-C. Tr. 233; BX 2. 17. While Respondent did not enter her appearance in J.C.'s divorce proceeding, she received copies of correspondence and pleadings in that action and consulted with Mr. Liotta. Respondent also took custody from J.C. of the fraudulent 1986 marriage license application and the marriage certificate of his purported marriage to E.Y. Respondent had these documents placed in the Ginsburg firm's safe. Tr. 196-97, 230. 18. Respondent considered J.C. to be her client, but she did not disclose her representation of him to anyone at Ginsburg, Feldman & Bress or set up a file for him at the firm. Tr. 177-78, 231-32. Because of J.C.'s confidentiality concerns, Respondent initially hand-wrote the memoranda which she sent to Mr. Liotta so that even her secretary would not be aware of her representation of J.C. Tr. 177-78; RX 14. 19. J.C. executed a Complaint for Divorce from L.F-C. in December 1986 before a notary in Respondent's law office. Tr. 175, 227 (Shay); BX 8. The filing of that complaint, however, was delayed until March 30, 1987 while Mr. Liotta, with counsel from Respondent, attempted to negotiate a settlement with L.F-C.'s attorney, Armin Kuder. [1] Respondent did not communicate directly with Mr. Kuder. Tr. 174-76, 228-29; BX 5, 8, 19. 20. Respondent did not bill J.C. for her services in connection with his separation and divorce from L. F-C.