I retained the services of attorney Cynthia Gayle Smith of Fairfax, Virginia for a civil matter that I had filed in Court several months earlier Pro se. Attorney Smith advertised herself as a Christian-oriented attorney, which was a primary reason I chose to retain her services. Regrettably, attorney Smiths behavior turned out to be anything but Christian. A true Christian is honest and trustworthy.
Immediately after accepting my retainer attorney Smith disappeared for more than a week without notice and would not respond to my telephone calls or emails. Attorney Smith refused to file an appearance as counsel with the Court even though I repeatedly requested she do so in order to stop the Court and opposing counsel from sending correspondence to me as counsel of record.
Attorney Smith also failed to respond to motions from opposing counsel or appear in Court to set the trial date. After six weeks of the utter breach of contract by attorney Smith failing to provide any services, I terminated our contract. Two weeks later, I filed a complaint with the Virginia State Bar, Docket Number 09-051-077878. The amount of evidence I provided the Bar would have been prima facie proof of legal malpractice or malfeasance in any Court in the country. But, the Virginia State Bar (VSB) dragged its feet for more than two years hoping I would go away and then issued a simple Private Admonition (With Terms).
This admonition was not for the malpractice, malfeasance, and unethical conduct that I alleged attorney Smith committed.instead, she was admonished for admitting that she never deposited my retainer into an escrow account and for having never deposited the retainer of any of her clients into such an account during the entire time she had been in practice.in other words, as soon as she received retainers from clients, attorney Smith deposited the funds into her personal bank account and spent it like a lottery windfall instead of as advances for services she had performed or for costs that she had occurred as required by VSB rules.
The punishment, or so-called terms, imposed on attorney Smith by the VSB was a joke. It simply
required that she read Rule of Professional Conduct 1.15 in its entiretyand read Lawyers and Other Peoples Money in its entirety. This was another classic example of lawyers protecting other lawyers no matter how deplorable or despicable their conduct.
Moreover, I am also convinced that the VSB failed to adequately punish attorney Smith because she is African American and most of her clients were African American, Latino American or other minorities. Since the American judicial system has historically and continues to be inherently racist and does not believe minorities deserve the same level of competent legal representation as does whites in this country the VSB view attorney Smith as carrying out their agenda and thus should be rewarded not punished.
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