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SOURCE: http://www.callawyer.com/2016/04/discipline-april-2016/#jeffrey-alan-dickstein
Attorney Dickstein was the attorney for the Hirmers in the internationally famous case against Pinnacle Quest International (PQI), which was started by Struckman. See:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/eight-promoters-sham-tax-elimination-scheme-convicted-tax-fraud-charges-florida
Below is Dickstein’s record:
http://members.calbar.ca.gov/fal/Member/Detail/70638
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Jeffrey Alan Dickstein
State Bar # 70638, Tulsa, Oklahoma (December 10, 2015)Dickstein, 68, was suspended for 30 days and placed on probation for two years after the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel appealed an earlier disciplinary order imposing 30 days of suspension—without a stayed suspension or probation period. It argued six months of actual suspension, one year stayed suspension, and two years of probation were more appropriate given the aggravating factors of Dickstein’s indifference to his wronging and harm he caused clients. Dickstein did not seek review, but challenged the court’s jurisdiction.
Dickstein was convicted for violating a court order after seeking to withdraw from representing two clients in a high stakes criminal case. He had agreed to represent two clients charged with a tax avoidance scheme who faced 25 years in prison and $20 million in restitution if found guilty. The federal district court cautioned Dickson early on that he was expected to represent the couple throughout the entire case—and that the court would not entertain a motion to withdraw based on the clients’ failure to pay legal fees. He represented them for 18 months, culminating in a month-long trial, at which both clients were convicted.
Before they were sentenced, Dickstein filed a motion to withdraw as their counsel. He asserted their nonpayment of fees placed him “in severe financial straits, rendering him unable to pay current expenses for rent, food, utilities and other bills”—and claimed his billable hours in the case had far exceeded the $146,000 they had paid him. The court at length appointed substitute counsel, and Dickstein was convicted of criminal contempt for violating the court’s order.
On appeal, Dickstein challenged that the State Bar Court and California Supreme Court lack subject matter jurisdiction because the hearing judge found no moral turpitude in the facts and circumstances surrounding his conviction. The State Bar Court panel, however, noted that state supreme court precedent condoned discipline not only for criminal conduct involving moral turpitude, but for “other misconduct warranting discipline.” It found his “contemptuous disregard of the district court’s order” qualified as such “other misconduct.”
The panel also found two factors in aggravation, and one in mitigation that were not contemplated in the contested discipline order. In aggravation, it found Dickstein lacked remorse and insight—flatly denying his wrongdoing and “blaming others for his misconduct.” While it found his actions harmed the administration of justice, it declined to add this as an aggravating factor, since that harm had been factored into the initial discipline determination. It allotted Dickstein “minimal mitigation credit” for practicing law for 30 years without a discipline record, noting that he had twice been disciplined by federal courts in other jurisdictions.
Dakar Diourbel
"Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches— Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God."
[Prov. 30:7-9, Bible, NKJV]
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