Court Suspends Lawyer Who Ignored Discovery, Cited Billable Pressures

The Georgia Supreme Court has reprimanded and imposed a one-month suspension on a lawyer who said he ignored discovery requests in a 2006 case in part because he was dealing with stress caused by billable hour pressures.

The court gave the limited suspension to Stephen Lee Stincer, citing mitigating factors in his case. The Legal Profession Blog posted the opinion (PDF).

Stincer had been an associate for only three years when he was assigned to conduct discovery for a federal product liability case, even though he had little experience in the area, the opinion states. He did not respond to discovery requests or forward them to the client and made misrepresentations to the court, according to the opinion.

At the time, Stincer had personal problems and was feeling stress at work because of pressure to add billable hours and study for the South Carolina bar exam while continuing to practice. The anxiety caused insomnia and panic attacks.

Stincer eventually resigned from the firm, which wasn’t named in the opinion, and sought treatment for the stress. The petition was before the court on a petition for voluntary discipline filed by Stincer. He did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.