In re Palazzola

• Decision Date: 21 December 2020
• Docket Number: S20Y1100
• Citation: 853 S.E.2d 99,310 Ga. 634
• Parties: In the MATTER OF Christopher John PALAZZOLA.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

310 Ga. 634

853 S.E.2d 99

In the MATTER OF Christopher John PALAZZOLA.

S20Y1100

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: December 21, 2020

Paula J. Frederick, General Counsel State Bar, William D. NeSmith III, Deputy General Counsel State Bar, Jenny K. Mittelman, William Van Hearnburg, Jr., Assistant General Counsel State Bar, for State Bar of Georgia.

Per Curiam.

This disciplinary matter is back before this Court on the report and recommendation of the State Disciplinary Review Board, which reviewed the report and recommendation issued by Special Master S. Jeffrey Rusbridge at the request of the respondent attorney, Christopher John Palazzola (State Bar No. 559321), pursuant to Bar Rule 4-216 (d).¹

While the Special Master recommends a six-month suspension with conditions on reinstatement, the Review Board recommends that Palazzola, who has been a member of the Bar since 1999, be suspended from the practice of law for a period of three months without conditions for violating Rules 1.16 (d), 5.3, 7.1, and 8.4 (a) (4) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct found in Bar Rule 4-102. After the matter returned to this Court, Palazzola filed motions demonstrating that he voluntarily stopped practicing law by June 1, 2020, and otherwise satisfied the requirements for any suspension that we impose to begin nunc pro tunc on that date. See In the Matter of Onipede , 288 Ga. 156, 157, 702 S.E.2d 136 (2010).

The misconduct at issue involves dealings by Palazzola or his law firm's staff with three clients who were seeking to contact or were represented by a former associate who had left the firm; his law firm's false and misleading advertisements; and his dishonest failure to establish and contribute to two of his associates’ retirement accounts as promised. In recommending a shorter suspension, the Review Board disagreed with the Special Master only about whether Palazzola's dishonesty regarding the retirement accounts constituted "professional conduct" within the meaning of Rule 8.4 (a) (4). What sorts of deceptive conduct by a lawyer involving the management of his law office can violate Rule 8.4 (a) (4) is an unsettled and difficult question, and because we would not impose a suspension exceeding the time that Palazzola has already voluntarily stopped practicing law whichever way we decided the retirement account question, we need not resolve that question in this case. Instead, for the reasons discussed below, we suspend Palazzola from the practice of law nunc pro tunc as of June 1, 2020, a suspension from which he is hereby reinstated with conditions regarding law practice management to be met within six months of this order.

1. The facts.

The pertinent facts as found by the Special Master in his report are as follows.

(a) Dealings with clients. This matter arose from a grievance filed with the State Bar by two of Palazzola's former attorney associates who left his law firm in October 2012. When one of the former associates was employed by Palazzola's law firm, she represented a certain client. After the associate resigned from the firm, the client contacted the firm on more than one occasion and asked to speak to the former associate, but was told that she was unavailable. Palazzola's staff did not tell the client that his lawyer had left the firm. On a later occasion, the client was told by staff that the former associate had left the law firm, but despite knowing her new address and telephone number, staff told the client that such information could not be provided to him.

In addition, Palazzola's staff knew that a second client had chosen to continue to be represented by the same former associate after she left the law firm; that subsequently, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service ("USCIS") sent official correspondence regarding the second client's case to the former associate at Palazzola's office; and that although his staff opened the envelope containing the correspondence, they did not notify either the former associate or the second client of the receipt of the correspondence and instead returned it to the USCIS.

Finally, Palazzola knew that a third client had chosen to continue to be represented by the same former associate after she left his law firm, and although the former associate asked Palazzola to forward the client's file to her, he failed to do so for weeks.

(b) Advertisements. Palazzola paid for weekly Spanish-language print advertisements for his law firm in Mundo Hispanico for various periods in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Each of these advertisements included the same photograph of the same five individuals, one of whom was Palazzola, in front of a bookcase containing what appeared to be law books, and stated (as translated into English), "More than 100 years of experience in the following legal areas," followed by a listing of approximately 17 areas of practice. Palazzola knew that on the dates of publication of the advertisements, one or more of the individuals in the photograph was not a member of or employed by his law firm.

Moreover, Palazzola knew that at the time the advertisements were published, he personally did not have 100 years of practice experience in any practice area, as he had only about 13 years of experience as a practicing lawyer in 2012.² Palazzola stated in his answer to the Formal Complaint that he had been under the impression that the advertisements would say that the firm and its associates had combined experience of over 100 years. But he also stated that during most of 2012, the only other lawyers in his firm were the two associates previously mentioned, one of whom then had about one year of experience as a licensed lawyer and the other of whom had four. Thus, Palazzola knew at the time the advertisements were published that the statement claiming 100 years of experience in the listed practice areas was false as to every practice area and would have been false even if the statement had explicitly referenced the firm's combined experience, as there was no evidence that the combined experience of the lawyers in his firm was more than 18 years as of 2012.

In addition, one of the advertisements stated under the law firm's Internet address, "Atlanta · Miami · Los Angeles" – but Palazzola had no office in Miami or Los Angeles. Palazzola indicated to the Special Master that he had listed Miami and Los Angeles in the advertisement based on his "of counsel" relationship with another law firm, which was not stated in the advertisement. Moreover, the law firm with which Palazzola had an "of counsel" relationship also did not have offices in Florida or California, indicating on its own letterhead only that it had "of counsel" relationships with two other firms located in Florida and California.

(c) Retirement accounts. Palazzola promised the two attorney associates mentioned above that he would set up retirement accounts for them and that his law firm would match their respective contributions up to a certain percentage of salary. Palazzola then caused the retirement account contributions to be withheld from their salaries according to their elections, and noted as much on the pay stubs of their paychecks for each pay period. For each pay period, Palazzola, in his capacity as the owner of his law firm, received from the payroll service he used for the firm a check that included the amount of the associates’ supposed retirement account withholdings. However, Palazzola did not actually establish the retirement accounts or match his associates’ contributions during the several months of the associates’ employment; instead, he placed their contributions in a non-interest bearing law firm account.

After resigning from the law firm in 2012, the associates filed complaints against Palazzola with the United States Department of Labor, which during the course of its investigation established the amount that he owed to each of the associates, including interest. In 2014, Palazzola paid each former associate the full respective amounts owed, including interest, and admitted that he should have done so sooner, as both associates had resigned from his law firm two years earlier.³

2. The Special Master's conclusions of law.

The Special Master reached the following conclusions of law in his report.

(a) Dealings with clients. The Special Master concluded that Palazzola violated Rule 1.16 (d)⁴ when he failed to promptly provide the third client's file to his former associate. See In the Matter of Hooks , 292 Ga. 781, 782, 741 S.E.2d 645 (2013) (attorney's failure to supply a client file to replacement counsel is a violation of Rule 1.16 (d)). The Special Master noted that Comment 9 to Rule 1.16 says, "[e]ven if the lawyer has been unfairly discharged by the client, a lawyer must take all reasonable steps to mitigate the consequences to the client," and that even where an attorney has not been paid by a client, it is improper to withhold the client's file. See State Bar of Georgia, Formal Advisory Op. No. 87.5 (Sept. 26, 1988).

The Special Master also concluded that Palazzola violated Rule 5.3⁵ when he failed to properly supervise or instruct his staff so that they would act in accordance with his professional obligations. Specifically, the Special Master held that when Palazzola's staff failed to tell the first client that the former associate handling his matter had left the firm and told him that they could not provide contact information for her, their actions deviated from Rule 1.4 (a) (3) and (4), which respectively require a lawyer to keep his client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and to promptly comply with reasonable requests for information. Likewise, when Palazzola's staff received official correspondence in the second client's case that they failed to forward to either the client or his new attorney (the former associate), they again acted contrary to the requirements of Rule 1.4 (a) (3), and this conduct also violated Rule 1.16 (d).

Finally, the Special Master noted...