Billings Attorney Punished for Being a Bully

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A Billings attorney named Jeffrey Michael has anger issues. First, he gave what might be argued as faulty counsel to a client, and when another Billings attorney picked up the case to set things right, that’s when he got belligerent.

The Montana Supreme Court has issued “the order of discipline” against Jeffrey Michael late Tuesday, as reported by Billingsgazette.com. He is to complete a “counseling assessment with a focus on anger” at his own expense, and meanwhile will be disbarred for a year.

  

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Such discipline was recommended by the Commission on Practice, which called Michael “abusive, disruptive, and threatening,” to Elizabeth Honaker.

Well, what exactly did he all do anyway? First of all, he threatened her, and his “conduct was an obvious attempt to get Honaker to stop pursuing the legal rights of her client – Michael’s former client – to have a criminal conviction overturned and to pursue a complaint of ethical violations against Michael.”  His client, in a 2007 case, when charged with felony arson, had received a five-year suspended sentence.

When Honaker refused to balk, he said she “better watch her back, or something to that effect,” as the court records states, though Michael denies having made the statement. In a voicemail he also threatened to “wipe her out.”

Clearly unprofessional behavior, and downright creepy, the Montana Supreme Court countered the bully with a just punishment.