Every quarter or so the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility (for attorneys) puts out a newsletter. One of its interesting features is the section listing disciplinary actions against bad lawyers. Typically, misconduct involves an attorney (1) stealing a client’s money; (2) neglecting cases; (3) failing to respond to something; (4) conflict of interest; or (5) committing a crime (e.g., drunk driving).
Here’s a winning entry from the Winter 2005 edition:
“John Smith” (Shelby County):
In one case, [John Smith] prepared a fictitious court order purporting to award $170,000 to his client when there was no such order. In a second matter, [Mr. Smith] falsely informed his client that he had prepared a motion to set aside the dismissal of that matter when no such motion had been prepared. He further mailed to his client a fictitious motion with a false certificate of service to all parties.
Hmmm. I wonder how long Mr. Smith thought he could get away with those documents (especially the $170,000 order) until someone figured out something was amiss.