Two-Sided Business Card, Potential Client Confusion Cited in Lawyer’s Suspension
A Seattle lawyer has been suspended, in part for mixing his law practice with his duties as president of the local chapter of a civil rights organization.
Lawyer Alfoster Garrett Jr. was suspended for 2½ years, the Seattle Times reports. A disciplinary report by the Washington State Bar Association suggests that inexperience may have contributed to his problems.
The bar said Garrett’s actions may have led his clients to believe they were being represented by the group he headed in Seattle, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the story says. Garrett’s law office was housed in NAACP offices, and his business cards listed his law practice on one side, and his NAACP role on the other, according to bar documents cited by the newspaper.
Garrett was president of the local NAACP in 2005, but he was forced out of office after being late for court hearings and appointments, the story says.
The bar also cited Garrett for commingling client funds with his own money, revealing the name of a juvenile client on a radio program, and failing to promptly forward money to clients, the story says. However, the bar found no intent to take client funds.
According to the Washington State Bar website, suspensions are automatically appealed.
