Lawyer who once brought loaded gun to court should be disbarred partly for deportation threats, opinion says
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Disbarment is the appropriate punishment for a California lawyer accused of threatening to get opponents’ clients deported, failing to promptly return client money, and improperly handling his attorney trust account, a bar review department has found.
The State Bar Court of California Review Department ordered disbarment for Michael Philip Rubin of Woodland Hills, California, in a March 4 opinion, Law360 reports. The decision may be appealed to the California Supreme Court.
Rubin had been disciplined in two prior cases, the review department said.
In 1993, Rubin received a private reproval for carrying a loaded gun into the Van Nuys Superior Courthouse in his briefcase. In 1997, he received a one-year suspension for misconduct that included battery, failure to promptly pay client funds, failure to maintain respect for courts, and charging an unconscionable fee.
In the instant case, Rubin was accused of:
• Telling the opposing lawyer in an employment case that the lawyer’s client was in the country illegally, and he was doing everything that he could to get the client deported. Rubin also referred to the opponent’s client as an “illegal alien” in a case management report.
• Telling an opposing lawyer in a separate case that his client didn’t have legal immigration status, and he was “going to do something about that.”
• Failing to promptly pay $2,335 in sanctions ordered by a judge and failing to promptly report the sanctions order to the state bar.
• Failing to promptly give a client $37,617 in funds that she was due. Rubin had received the funds from the client’s previous lawyer after seeking return of the client’s unused fees.
• Allowing his trust account to drop about $4,000 below $37,617, the amount that he should have held in trust for the client.
• Commingling personal funds with client funds in his trust account.
Rubin had argued that he didn’t violate the sanctions order because there was no deadline for payment, the order wasn’t binding because it wasn’t properly served, and he thought he had no duty to report the sanctions order. He also said he never made direct threats that he would report the immigration violations.
He also said his trust account dropped below $37,617 because of careless bookkeeping.
The review department rejected Rubin’s arguments.
The review department said Rubin was put on notice during his second discipline about the need to handle attorney trust account funds with care, yet he failed to follow the rules in the instant case.
“His indifference and failure to acknowledge the wrongfulness of his misconduct are troubling,” the review department said. “He continues to make excuses for ‘technical’ violations rather than accept responsibility for his misconduct. Given the nature and chronology of Rubin’s violations, we find no reason to depart from the presumptive discipline of disbarment.”
Character witnesses for Rubin included former clients and three attorneys, who said he was trustworthy, competent, honest and ethical. The review court said the testimony was entitled to limited weight as mitigation evidence, partly because many witnesses had not known Rubin for a significant length of time.
Rubin did not immediately respond to an ABA Journal email seeking comment.
