I don’t know whether or not Robert Allan Wright Jr. is a good lawyer, but considering that he fell for a Nigerian scam brought to him by a client to the extent that he was borrowing money from other clients to help pay the fees to secure a supposed inheritance, my suspicion is no.
But he won’t have to worry about being good at the lawyerin’ stuff for a while, since his license has been suspended for at least a year.
This unfortunate situation resulted in a slew of disciplinary charges against Robert Allan Wright Jr., including incompetence, failure to disclose or secure client consent to conflicts of interest, and assisting a client in dishonesty or fraud. But Wright got off on that last charge (emphasis added):
The [Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary] Board’s posthearing brief withdrew the allegation that Wright violated rule 32:1.2(d) by assisting a client in conduct Wright knew to be illegal or fraudulent. The Board made this withdrawal based on its view that “Wright clearly believed in the legitimacy of Madison’s inheritance . . . .” Noting “Wright appears to have honestly believed — and continues to believe — that one day a trunk full of . . . one hundred dollar bills is going to appear upon his office doorstep,” the Board asserted before the commission that Wright’s conduct might aptly be described as delusional, but not fraudulent.
If anyone needs me, I’ll be hitting the dictionary to see if delusional and stupid mean the same thing.
