Pennsylvania Attorney Suspended for Neglecting Clients

A Pennsylvania attorney, who violated numerous professional conduct rules including failing to act diligently on her client’s behalf, was deemed unfit to practice law and suspended for one year and one day by the state’s highest court.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday adopted that sanction, which was recommended by its disciplinary board. In December, the panel found that Tangie Marie Boston had a “troubling pattern of neglect.”

Boston represented two women on separate occasions in their divorces, the disciplinary board said. In both cases she failed to take action on their behalf and didn’t return unearned fees after her representation was terminated, it said. She also ignored multiple attempts by the women to contact her, and failed to respond to court orders, attend hearings, and communicate with her clients during her representation of an estate, according to the board’s report.

Boston stipulated to certain facts, accepted full responsibility for her conduct, and requested a “just and appropriate discipline,” the board said.

For her “multiple instances of neglect,” the board determined Boston deserved a suspension of one year and one day. The panel noted the attorney hadn’t acted dishonestly and credited her willingness to accept responsibility and whatever sanction it imposed.

“However,” it said, “these factors are not sufficiently weighty to decrease discipline to a level below that which will require petitioning for reinstatement.”

The case is Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Boston, Pa., No. 99 DB 2018, 2/12/20.