Opinion ID: 1936508
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: business transaction with client

Text: ¶ 21. Count Eight alleges a violation of SCR 20:1.8(a) (a lawyer is not to enter into a business transaction with a client except under certain circumstances). [12] ¶ 22. This count involves Attorney Eisenberg's attorney/client relationship with a client on a building code violation matter which was followed by the client entering into a listing contract to sell the property through his alternate persona of Alan Eisenberg Real Estate Company. Attorney Eisenberg introduced the client to one of his employees, who was serving in a dual role both as a legal assistant for Attorney Eisenberg's law firm and also as an employee of the real estate company. The client was not advised of the conflict of interest, was not given an opportunity to seek independent advice, and did not waive the conflict in writing. ¶ 23. The employee testified that he knew the client was one of Attorney Eisenberg's law clients but that there was no office policy forbidding real estate transactions with law clients. However, Attorney Eisenberg testified that the real estate listing contract which the client signed was not binding until he approved it, which he never did. ¶ 24. The referee found that there was no indication that the listing contract was invalid until Attorney Eisenberg approved it, there was no evidence to support a finding that Attorney Eisenberg had no direct knowledge of the listing contract under these circumstances, and Attorney Eisenberg's defense that he simply failed to properly supervise his support staff was not persuasive. ¶ 25. We adopt the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the referee. Once again, given the duty imposed on the referee to assess the credibility of the witnesses, we cannot conclude that the findings of fact are clearly erroneous. Furthermore, without question, those findings support the legal conclusion that there was a violation of these two counts.