The Tennessee Supreme Court has unanimously affirmed a Board of Professional Responsibility hearing panel’s imposition of sanctions against Williamson County attorney Connie Reguli and the trial court’s requirement that Ms. Reguli pay restitution to a former client.
In 2011, the Board of Professional Responsibility filed a petition for discipline against Ms. Reguli based on three complaints of misconduct. The petition alleged, among other things, that Ms. Reguli failed to return client communications, refund unearned fees, provide an accounting of fees to a former client and the board, and that Ms. Reguli’s website contained false statements.
A hearing panel found that Ms. Reguli violated multiple Rules of Professional Conduct and imposed an 11-month, 29-day suspension, to be served on probation subject to certain conditions. Ms. Reguli and the board appealed the panel’s judgment to the Williamson County Circuit Court, which modified the panel’s sanction by reducing the length of suspension, altering and eliminating various conditions of probation, and ordering Ms. Reguli to pay restitution to a former client. Ms. Reguli and the board appealed to the Supreme Court. Ms. Reguli alleged a number of procedural, jurisdictional, and constitutional objections, while the board challenged the trial court’s modification of the panel’s probationary period and requirements.
The Supreme Court reinstated the hearing panel’s original sanction and imposed the trial court’s additional requirement of restitution. In an opinion authored by Chief Justice Sharon G. Lee, the Court addressed Ms. Reguli’s claims, finding each to be without merit. The Court held that the fee agreement between Ms. Reguli and a former client did not adequately explain the nature of the fee and that Ms. Reguli failed to provide an accounting to her client and the Board. The Court also held that attorneys are ethically accountable for prohibited representations on their websites, even if third-party website operators are primarily responsible for the representations.
Based on Ms. Reguli’s prior disciplinary record, her bad-faith failure to respond to requests for information from the board, her dishonest and selfish motives, her refusal to acknowledge her misconduct, and her substantial experience as a licensed attorney, the Court found that an 11-month, 29-day probated suspension from the practice of law was appropriate. As conditions of her probation, Ms. Reguli must pay restitution to her former client, submit to a probation monitor, and undergo an evaluation by the Tennessee Lawyer’s Assistance Program and submit to any monitoring requirement that TLAP deems necessary.
Read the opinion in Board of Professional Responsibility v. Connie Reguli, authored by Chief Justice Lee.