Wrong Way To Collect A Fee Or BEST Way To Get Disbarred?

Sometimes, clients just aren’t able to pay on time. Your clients need you working diligently for them, but you’ve also got bills to pay. It can get frustrating and there aren’t a lot of simple solutions. I once had to get a privately owned Boeing jetliner impounded by Texas Rangers to get a client to pay up, which was a more frustrating bureaucratic nightmare than it sounds. On the other hand… cool conversation piece.

What I didn’t do was any of the stuff this lawyer allegedly pulled. The Illinois Administrator of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission lodged a complaint against Michael Jerome Moore with some startling allegations of verbal abuse, as profiled in Legal Profession Blog.

First up, after asking for an additional $500 on top of a $3500 flat fee to represent a man’s son in a criminal matter, Moore allegedly got testy when he wasn’t getting paid, leaving voicemails with the following statements:

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a. “You are a piece of garbage. All black people are alike. You’re slovenly, ignorant.”
b. “You better give me my money or your son’s case is going to be delayed.”
c. “I’m sick of you, you piece of shit.”
d. “I don’t know who’s the biggest bitch. You or [family]. I’m going to lock you up.”
e. “Low class n—–s. I’m going to have you all locked up.”
f. “You call me with stupid shit. Wait until next court date.”
g. “You have until 5:00 on Thursday. $300, no $500 check… Or on Friday I’ll withdraw. I already told the State’s Attorney to writ your son over.”
h. “You are such a pussy. They are going to writ him over. I tried to tell your stupid ass. Other lawyers would charge $10,000 for this case. Start planning for another lawyer.”
i. “You’re ugly, low class, ignorant. I’ll finish with you when he gets off. You’re demeaning your son.”
j. “Help your son. Pay. Stop delaying case.”

The complaint claims Moore didn’t limit his ire to delinquent clients. Another alleged voicemail, has Moore calling the administrator of a nursing home that housed Moore’s client:

You know, I tried to be academic, intellectual, and community-minded and everything else with you. What you’re supposed to do as a nursing home, you piece of [shoe or Jew] garbage. You put my girl out in the street and didn’t give a fuck, and didn’t let her come back, and know that she is mentally challenged. Are you mentally challenged, you piece of shit? Let me tell you something. There is a tort–with your stupid ass, you don’t know what that is—called violation of fiduciary capacity. And that’s what you’ve done in this, with your stupid Jew ass. Mother-fuck you, how you fucked my girl. Okay, I’m going to sue you, a federal law– I’ll sue you, sue the fuck out of you. You should’ve knew better. Fiduciary capacity carries with it a responsibility of the particular concerns of the person involved. She’s schizophrenic, hyper-paranoid schizophrenic, you piece of shit.

Given the context, I’m pretty sure he didn’t say “shoe.”