High court suspends lawyer after thefts reported

High court suspends lawyer after thefts reported


Written by JAMES FISHER The News Journal

Oct. 21 delawareonline.com





An attorney who leads Laurel's school board has been temporarily barred from practicing law after he acknowledged keeping fees paid by clients hidden from other partners in his law firm, the state's highest court says.



Patrick E. Vanderslice, 44, of Laurel, was suspended from the bar for a year by the Delaware Supreme Court, a more severe level of discipline than the public reprimand and probation the state’s Board on Professional Responsibility had advised was the proper punishment. The decision came after Vanderslice admitted to his partners at the Georgetown firm Moore & Rutt, P.A., he had stolen $1,780 in client fees from December 2010 to September 2011.



“Because Vanderslice committed theft (an offense involving dishonesty and a breach of trust,) we conclude that he should be ‘professionally answerable’ for his conduct,” the Supreme Court wrote in an Oct. 12 opinion. “A public reprimand, usually reserved for inexperienced lawyers... would be unduly lenient.”



Vanderslice did not return calls for comment. A family member who answered the phone at his home today said Vanderslice was unwilling to discuss the suspension.



The thefts started, according to the Supreme Court’s retelling, when Vanderslice was buffeted by several deaths in his family in 2008 and 2009 and sought treatment for depression. Then, in the fall of 2010, Moore & Rutt cut its partners’ pay by 25 percent, trying to keep itself afloat during the recession that began two years before.



“To mitigate his financial difficulties resulting from the pay cut, Vanderslice misappropriated clients’ ‘consultation fees’ and ‘flat fees’ from the firm on eight occasions between December 2010 and September 2011,” the Supreme Court opinion said.



The firm discovered what was going in in September 2011 and confronted Vanderslice, who admitted keeping the money for himself, according to the opinion. He reported the matter to the Supreme Court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, setting in motion the investigation that led to his suspension.



Vanderslice was elected to the Laurel Board of Education in May 2011, and is currently president of the school board. He was also a member of the Public Integrity Commission from June 2010 to February 2011.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20121015/NEWS01/121015032/High-court-suspends-lawyer-after-thefts-reported?nclick_check=1