BigLaw Tax Lawyer Is Suspended After Trying To 'Power Through' Depression

Michael S. Frisch (Georgetown), BigLaw Pressures:

An attorney who had neglected a tax appeal, failed to communicate with the client, made misrepresentations to cover up the neglect and filed two false affidavits has been suspended for a year and a day by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The attorney's misconduct occurred while employed at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. ...

The matter involved a tax assessment appeal to the Department of Revenue Board of Appeals. The firm conducted an internal investigations after the client raised concerns.

ABA Journal, Former BigLaw Lawyer Who Wrongly Thought He Could 'Power Through' Depression Gets Suspension:

[Daniel Michael] Dixon said he couldn’t get over the anxiety of potentially losing his job, so he tried to fix his mistake and then made things worse by being dishonest.

He told the committee that he had suffered from depression and anxiety after a breakup with his wife in 2013. He said he was “in no way prepared” to handle the position at Morgan Lewis when he accepted the job in 2016.

Dixon “testified that he ‘oversold’ his ability to be a practice group leader in the state and local tax area and was not prepared to come into the firm and build a team,” according to the disciplinary board report.

In hindsight, Dixon thought that he should have taken more time off to address his mental health issues before accepting the position at Morgan Lewis.

“At the time,” the report said, Dixon “thought that his mental health issues were a weakness he could ‘power through.’ He recognizes now that his issues were not a problem he could handle on his own.”

Law.com, Ex-Morgan Lewis Attorney Suspended After Neglecting Client Matter for Over a Year