Disbarment sought for lawyer in scheme that provided phony certificates of completion to court
State bar officials are seeking to disbar a suspended Nevada criminal defense lawyer who helped provide false certificates of completion of court-ordered counseling and community service.
Brian Bloomfield has been cooperating with prosecutors after taking a felony plea in a criminal case related to the phony certificates filed for misdemeanor defendants in Las Vegas Justice Court, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
However, his role in filing or helping to file records falsely certifying in 91 cases that counseling or community service had been completed by a client requires disbarment, Nevada State Bar Counsel David Clark said in a Tuesday attorney disciplinary filing.
“When a lawyer engages in intentional deception of the court, he violates the most fundamental duty of an officer of the court,” Clark wrote.
Attorney William Terry is representing Bloomfield and says he and his client will fight the disbarment effort. “Nothing that Mr. Bloomfield did benefited himself, and that’s the big difference between the cases the Bar is citing and what our position is,” Terry told the newspaper.
The Nevada Supreme Court will have to approve any discipline of Bloomfield before it becomes final.
Bloomfield has not yet been sentenced in the criminal case, pending his testimony in a criminal trial of another defendant concerning the certificates of completion, the Review-Journal notes.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Defense lawyer who continued to practice after felony plea is temporarily suspended”
