Legal Ethics, Marijuana

Lawyer Gets Paid In Weed, Keeps His Law License

You may be able to adhere to Snoop Dogg’s edict and smoke weed every day (if you don’t get caught), but you should never get involved in a drug trade.

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Some lawyers recognize that not all of their clients are capable of paying for legal services in cash. That’s where the bartering system comes in. Say, for example, your house has some faulty wiring and a potential client would like to trade his electrical services for your representation in his divorce. Of course you’re going to take that deal in lieu of money.

But what happens when you’re a criminal defense attorney and one of your clients would like to pay for your legal assistance with marijuana? Unfortunately, you don’t live in a state where marijuana has been legalized for recreational use. You live in the Deep South, and your state only recently legalized the use of medical marijuana within its borders. It’ll still be years until patients will be able to access it for prescription use. What should you do?

James Mecca, an attorney in Louisiana, was faced with this situation in 2013. He’d apparently accepted marijuana previously as payment for legal services, but this time around, his weed-bartering client narc’d him out to the police. Law360 has the scoop:

Mecca was arrested in 2013 and charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana…. He subsequently admitted to receiving the drug in exchange for legal services.

The arrest was the result of a sting operation by the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office in which a confidential informant posed as a potential client seeking criminal representation for his son, the board said.

According to court documents, the informant told the sheriff’s office that he had paid for legal representation in marijuana before and that in those previous instances Mecca told him that if he needed help in the future they could work out the “same old, same old” payment method.

Mecca’s client reportedly told him he had a “backpack full of marijuana,” and the pair met to make the exchange. Thereafter, Mecca was pulled over and later had to put his criminal defense skills to the test in his own case. The best defense here, of course, was to admit in court that while he did barter his legal expertise for weed, he had no intent to distribute his newfound stash to anyone else — no, he planned to use it all himself.

Luckily, Mecca had another card up his sleeve in that he testified that he’d been using the drug to cope with his father’s death two years prior. His charges were reduced to a mere possession misdemeanor, and he was sentenced to six months in jail and a year of probation. The jail sentence was later suspended, but Mecca still had to deal with issues related to his license to practice law, lest he allow his career to go up in smoke.

It’s a good thing Mecca immediately sought drug and alcohol treatment after his arrest, because the ethics panel assigned to his case was very sympathetic to him:

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In the immediate disciplinary case Mecca was charged with violating the Rules of Professional Conduct which prohibit a criminal act, especially one that reflects adversely on a lawyer’s fitness. The [Louisiana Disciplinary Board] found Mecca violated the rule and recommended the state supreme court impose a [one-year] deferred suspension, considering his remorse and progress in treatment.

The ethics lesson all lawyers should take from Mecca’s case is that while marijuana may be legal in some states, even if you practice in one of those supposed safe havens, it would be against your interests to barter pot for legal services because of those pesky Rules of Professional Conduct. You may be able to adhere to Snoop Dogg’s edict and smoke weed every day (if you don’t get caught), but you should never get involved in a drug trade.

Attorney Who Was Paid In Weed Can Keep Practicing, Panel Says [Law 360 (sub. req.)]

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