Attorney Donald Pitman of Newburyport, MA; ethical troll

The state of Massachusetts presented Donald Lloyd Pitman with a law license in 1995 after he graduated from Suffolk University School of Law.

The Board of Bar Overseers found Donnie guilty of engaging in the following misconduct.

• Failed to inform client of scheduled hearing dates
• Failed to advise client of his receipt of checks from her ex-husband
• Failed to inform his client of the status of her contempt citation
• Misrepresented to a client that he had filed a contempt action
• Failed to create and maintain a ledger for bank fees and expenses in his IOLTA account
• Failed to prepare and retain a three-way reconciliation of his IOLTA account
• Failed to create and maintain an individual client ledger
• Failed to hold client trust funds in a designated trust account
• Disbursed funds on behalf of clients that created negative balances in those clients’ accounts
• Withdrew client retainer funds from his IOLTA account prior to earning those funds
• Failed to maintain complete records of the receipt, maintenance, and disposition of trust funds
• Negligently misused a portion of a client’s unearned retainer
• For at least nine months, failed to perform three-way reconciliations of his IOLTA account
• Failed to create or maintain a check register for his IOLTA account
• Failed to create or maintain individual client ledgers and a separate ledger of his personal funds in IOLTA account
• Withdrew retainer funds without delivering to the client in writing an itemized bill, notice of the amount and date of withdrawal and a statement of the balance of the client’s trust funds in the account after the improper withdrawal

As a direct consequence of his misconduct, the cheerleaders for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Board of Overseers punished Donnie by gifting him with a complimentary stayed 1-year suspension of his law license.

In truth, the comedians sitting on the Board of Bar Overseers didn’t mete out any meaningful punishment to Donnie.  

And lastly, as one would suspect, Donnie fails to mention the above misconduct on his self-serving website at www.pitmanlawofficesllc.com.  Apparently, he chose to conceal this relevant information from prospective clients for the purpose of not limiting his future victim pool.

As we speak (ca. June 2022), Donnie practices his so-called brand of law with the Pitman Law Offices LLC at 31A Pleasant Street in Newburyport, Massachusetts.