Disbarred Lawyer Locked Out of His Office to Stop Unauthorized Practice

October 20th, 2009 | By David Sorensen

Some people just do not understand the message.

For five years the Office of Disciplinary Counsel in Pennsylvania issued suspensions, and eventually a disbarment last August, to Allen Feingold. However he he continued to practice law and failed to notify clients of his disbarment, according to orders in the case from the state supreme court.

So, for the first time in twenty years, the ODC took the drastic measure of locking Feingold out of his office to ensure that he would finally give up the practice of law. 

As part of an injunction ordered secured by the ODC through Philadelphia Common Pleas Court President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe, Feingold was prohibited from engaging in the unlawful practice of law — even from occupying any court-like setting or legal office.

Judge Dembe ordered Feingold to hand over the keys to his offices and directed the ODC to change the locks, while the ODC took on the job of  proper notification and transition of Feingold’s current and former clients.

In case you were wondering, Feingold was given a few chances. Feingold was suspended from the practice of law for three years in March 2006 and a consecutive order adding another two-year suspension was issued in August 2006. After failing to comply with those orders, Feingold was eventually disbarred in August 2008. Undaunted, he failed to notify certain clients of the disbarment and continued to practice law as recently as June 2009.

Not surprisingly, William Pietragallo II, chairman of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, described the case as “highly unique, highly unusual and highly necessary.” Pietragallo said this is the first time he has ever seen a conservator appointed to handle a case where the attorney hasn’t died or isn’t in some other way incapacitated.

Under the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct, a “formerly admitted attorney” is not allowed to perform law-related activities from an office that isn’t staffed with a full-time supervising attorney. Feingold also created letterhead in the name of another attorney who may have handled some of Feingold’s files once Feingold was suspended. Amazingly, even after the attorney learned of Feingold’s deception, and changed his password for electronic filings with the court, Feingold learned of the new password and continued making filings under the attorney’s name, the ODC alleged in the complaint.

Take-away: Watch out not only for unauthorized practice of law around you — maintain strict and frequently revised and updated security protocols for your own electronic systems, including passwords Otherwise, you may unwittingly find yourself “locked in” to an ODC nightmare.

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