When it comes to lawyers behaving badly, particularly toward their own colleagues, one Illinois lawyer has set a new standard of low, and somehow has walked away with only a six-month suspension from the practice of law.

After successfully referring a candidate to his firm’s hiring manager, he began secretly recording that same candidate as he changed clothes in the office. Like many other firms, changing clothes is a common practice at that firm, as it has a casual dress code, but attorneys keep court-ready attire on hand for appearances and client meetings, and change clothing in their own offices when needed.

Disturbing Details

The attorney, Michael Thomas Herbst, used a small USB-stick video camera, which he would hide in the victim’s office when he knew that he would be changing. This occurred often enough that the targeted attorney started getting suspicious as to why Herbst was always hanging around his office, and he eventually discovered the hidden camera in his inbox.

After he reviewed the contents of the many videos on the camera, which showed him in various stages of undressing, he reported it to the firm’s manager. When the firm manager confronted Herbst, he resigned from the firm. However, that wasn’t enough to stop criminal charges from being filed, as well as a bar complaint.

Crime and Punishment?

Somehow for Herbst, he was able to get the criminal charges reduced to a misdemeanor, rather than the few felonies he was facing. In the end, he was sentenced to two years of probation.

In the bar complaint, which specifically alleges that the videos were made for his own sexual gratification, he agreed to accept a two-year suspension. However, it would be stayed after six-months, and followed by two years of probation. 

Related Resources:

  • Attorney Puffs, Client Records, Bar Suspends (FindLaw’s Strategist)
  • Know When to Shut Up in Discipline Cases (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates)
  • Lawyer Says Fleas, Rats at City Hall Gave Her Typhus Fever (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates)

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