Legal Ethics

Lawyer Uses Fake Bar Associations As A Business Venture

Let's watch the lawyer fight unravel!

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(Read: not actually a good idea)

Spoiler alert: the “Shelby County Bar Association” isn’t actually a bar association. It isn’t even in Shelby County. The “Oldham County Bar Association,” the “Bullitt County Bar Association,” and the “Jefferson County Bar Association” are also empty shells. They’re all assumed names of a business venture by Kentucky personal injury lawyer Richard Breen.

Breen operates an attorney referral service, which not coincidentally, gets the “Shelby County Bar Association” seal of approval. According to a report from the Louisville Courier Journal, Breen claims to have the real Kentucky Bar Association’s approval:

In an email, Breen said his Shelby County Bar Association was “created to address the public’s inadequate access to legal services” and both the concept and his website were approved by the Kentucky Bar Association’s attorneys’ advertising commission.

The commission on Aug. 14 did approve Breen’s referral service as “organized and sponsored” by the “Shelby County Bar Association.”

But according to the chair of the KBA’s commission, Kerry Smith, the approval was “contingent upon the information furnished not being false, deceptive, or misleading.” Smith said he intends to ask the KBA to “look into the matter.”

As you might imagine, the lawyers at the real bar associations are pissed:

“Whether or not it is unethical, it looks bad and it smells bad,” said Nathan Riggs, president of the 53rd Judicial Circuit Bar Association, which serves Shelby and two other counties.

Added Scott Wantland, president of the real Bullitt County bar group:  “Lawyers, fairly or not, are often labeled as tricky, dishonest and deceptive. The lawyer responsible for this wears those labels apparently without shame.”

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The lawyers are just piling on Breen now:

The 12th Circuit Bar Association, which includes lawyers in Oldham and two other counties, in December adopted a resolution opposing the concept.

Its president, Matt Hudson, said in an interview that Breen’s scheme misleadingly suggests to clients that a group of local lawyers is endorsing an attorney, which the circuit bar group has never done.

Wantland, president of the existing Bullitt bar association, said: “The use of the name ‘bar association’ implies to a layperson that the group is formed by lawyers in some sort of mutual professional endeavor that exists to regulate and/or enhance the profession. “This ‘organization’ does nothing of the sort.”

There’s nothing quite as fun to watch as a good old fashioned lawyer fight.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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