Misconduct Troubles Don't Always Result in Ethics Sanctions for General Counsel
General counsel who lost their jobs based on misconduct allegations don’t necessarily run into trouble with state disciplinary authorities.
That’s the conclusion of Corporate Counsel, which examined the cases of three former top corporate lawyers. They include:
• Howard Udell, former general counsel of Purdue Pharma, who was barred from health care work for 12 years after he pleaded guilty to a criminal misdemeanor based on the company’s marketing of Oxycontin. He is appealing a federal court ruling upholding the debarment by the Department of Health and Human Services. He is currently a solo practitioner; there is no public record of discipline with the state bar in Connecticut.
• Scott Storms, the former chief legal officer of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, who was fired based on allegations he made rulings benefiting a utility at the same time he was applying for a job with the company. He is appealing an ethics ruling against him by the Indiana State Ethics Commission. The state bar in Indiana has no record of public discipline.
Bar officials told the publication there is a lot of discretion in discipline unless a lawyer has been convicted of a serious crime or has stolen client money.
