Lawyer is suspended after using ex-client's information in complaint about 'angry feminist cabal'
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A Pennsylvania lawyer who claimed in a lawsuit that his client had been victimized by “vigilante justice from student activists” had used information provided by one of the activists in a previous representation, according to a joint petition for discipline.
Lawyer Raul Jauregui was suspended for one year based partly on the conflict of interest, report the Legal Intelligencer and the Legal Profession Blog. A joint petition for discipline said Jauregui had “engaged in a textbook conflict of interest.” The suspension was imposed June 11.
According to the joint petition for discipline, Jauregui had helped a student activist at Swarthmore College prepare a class complaint with the Department of Education about the school’s handling of sexual assault complaints. The Education Department complaint cited the case of a woman who was sexually assaulted by a man referred to in the disciplinary petition as “Juan Doe.”
About two years after the student activist fired Jauregui, the lawyer represented Juan Doe in a civil suit claiming there was no sexual assault and Doe was unfairly targeted by “an “angry feminist cabal.” Doe’s suit against Swarthmore claimed that Jauregui’s former client was a common link between “tragic sham-complaints” against Doe and another student.
A federal judge disqualified Jauregui from Doe’s case in February 2017.
Jauregui had wrongly told disciplinary authorities that the federal judge had found no conflict of interest, according to the joint petition for discipline. At the time, the judge had not ruled on the matter.
The petition also said Jauregui had filed frivolous lawsuits and had failed to comply with discovery.
Jauregui had practiced law for 13 years without any previous record of discipline. His lawyer declined to comment when contacted by the Legal Intelligencer.
