Should This Man Be a Judge?
Stuart C. DuBose (pictured at left) has been nominated to be a circuit court judge in Alabama, but is involved in an estate situation that doesn't cast him in the best light. Let's play spot the ethical problems!
According to this article, Mr. DuBose prepared a Will for a man named Joseph L. Sullivan without ever meeting Mr. Sullivan (Problem #1 - communication, diligence). The Will named one of Mr. DuBose's other clients, a woman named Weaver, as the executor and sole beneficiary; even worse, Weaver was the one who asked Mr. DuBose to prepare the Will in the first place (Problem #2 - conflict of interest among clients). Mr. DuBose was named as successor executor (Problem #3 - conflict of interest, self-dealing).
There was some litigation over the Will (filed by Mr. Sullivan's sister after his death), and Mr. DuBose then entered into an agreement with Weaver by which Weaver agreed to pay Mr. DuBose "33 percent of any estate settlement if there was no lawsuit filed concerning it, 40 percent if a lawsuit was successfully defended and 50 percent if it moved to an appellant court level." (Problem #4 - conflict of interest, potentially unreasonable contingent fee)
Evidently two disputes erupted over Mr. Sullivan's estate -- the one filed by his sister, and a dispute between Weaver and Mr. Dubose over whether he was entitled to 40% of the estate settlement. The former was settled some time ago; the latter was just settled, with Mr. DuBose receiving attorney's fees of almost $1 million. That's almost $250,000 per ethical problem if you are keeping track.
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