"Young, Inexperienced" NJ Attorney Who Was Snookered Into 'Lending' His Name To Out-Of-State Law Firm Gets Three Month License Suspension; While Lawyer Was Away On Active Military Duty, Outfit Engaged In Real Estate, Foreclosure Defense, Loan Modification Matters; Misappropriated $10K Sale Deposit By Pilfering Paralegal Triggers Probe

In Trenton, New Jersey, the New Jersey Law Journal reports:

• In another case that illustrates the perils of "lending" one's name, a lawyer and U.S. airman who was merely a nominal partner in a New Jersey firm will spend some time without his law license.
  
  After the Disciplinary Review Board (DRB) was divided on what level of punishment to dole out, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a three-month suspension to Mark Edelstein, a U.S. Air Force veteran who was on active duty at the time the firm bearing his name was formed.
  
  Edelstein's "willing participation in an agreement to allow a non-New Jersey licensed attorney to practice law in New Jersey is an egregious violation of the rules and undermines the public's trust in the profession as a whole," the DRB previously said.
  
  According to the DRB's opinion, Todd, Ferentz and Edelstein was formed in December 2011 by Edelstein and Frederick Todd, an attorney based in California.
  
  Edelstein was an Air Force captain and chaplain who was deployed in Afghanistan and Qatar, and stationed at air bases in the U.S. before being honorably discharged in 2013. Todd served as Edelstein's religious sponsor to the U.S. Department of Defense through a rabbinical program, the opinion said.
  
  The DRB said Edelstein never practiced with or received compensation from Todd Ferentz, but was the firm's lone partner with a New Jersey license and allowed his signature to be stamped on documents prepared by per diem attorneys in connection with real estate and mortgage modification matters.
  
  Edelstein admitted to the Office of Attorney Ethics [OAE] that "his partnership with [the firm] was a legal fiction created in order to allow Todd to open and operate a law firm in New Jersey," according to the DRB. He acquiesced to the arrangement "apparently out of fear that Todd would withdraw his sponsorship with the Air Force, threatening respondent's ability to remain a chaplain," the board said.
  
  It was a Todd Ferentz client, Sebastian Pacholec, who ultimately filed an ethics grievance against Edelstein after the firm represented him in a foreclosure case in connection with a Lakewood property, the opinion said, noting that the firm's retainer agreement identified Edelstein as the lawyer on the case, though it actually was Todd who handled it.
  
  More problematically, the firm also represented Pacholec in a real estate sale in which a firm paralegal ended up misappropriating a $10,000 deposit, according to the opinion.
  
  Edelstein was charged with and admitted to violating ethics rules on record-keeping, supervision of nonlawyer staff, assisting in the unauthorized practice of law and making false or misleading communications about legal services, the DRB said.
  
  "Further, the name of the firm violated RPC 7.1(a)(1) and RPC 7.5(d) because it contained respondent's name, despite the fact that he had no role in any of the firm's business," the board said.
  
  Counted as an aggravating factor by the board was the fact that Pacholec suffered harm; counted as mitigating factors were Edelstein's clean disciplinary record since being admitted in 2007 and his military service.
  
  The panel also noted that "at the time these violations occurred, he was a relatively young and inexperienced attorney who was likely easily controlled[.]"

For more, see 'Lending' Name and Signature Gets Lawyer Suspended in NJ (may require subscription; if no subscription, go here, then click appropriate link for the story).

For the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling, see In re Mark Edelstein.