Lawyer suspended for boosting law school grades in Williams & Connolly application
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The New Jersey Supreme Court has suspended a lawyer who falsified a law school transcript when he sought a job with Williams & Connolly.
Seth Asher Nadler received a one-year suspension for reporting grades higher than he had earned and reporting high grades in courses he had never taken, Law360 reports.
The Legal Profession Blog links to the March 13 decision and the Nov. 8, 2019 recommendation by the state supreme court’s disciplinary review board.
Nadler is currently an associate with Imbesi Law in New York City, the recommendation says.
Nadler reported a cumulative grade-point average of 3.825 at the University of Minnesota Law School, according to the disciplinary review board. His actual GPA was 3.269.
Nadler’s resumé submitted to Williams & Connolly not only cited the 3.825 GPA; it also asserted that he had received “honors in legal writing.” Actually, the course was graded on a pass-fail basis, and Nadler had received a “P.” The resumé also listed an article that he researched and wrote with three other people without listing the co-authors.
Nadler maintained that his legal writing professor told him that he could truthfully represent that he received honors in legal writing because of his arguments in the appellate advocacy section of the course. He also said he was told that he could cite the article without reference to the co-authors.
In mitigation, Nadler had cited his unblemished disciplinary history, his volunteer work and his pro bono representation.
A majority of the disciplinary review board had recommended a two-year suspension. One member recommended a one-year suspension and another recommended a three-month suspension.
“In our view, however, this type of conduct and its degree and scope, committed by an attorney so early in his career for no purpose other than to promote his self-interest, call into question the core of his character,” the board said.
Nadler did not immediately return an ABA Journal request seeking comment.
