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When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last week agreed to suspend a man's law license for three years after he was caught sexting with his client's minor daughter, some in the legal community questioned whether the sentence was too lenient. However, according to several ethics attorneys, the punishment may be harsher than it seems, and could signal that the state Disciplinary Board is taking matters involving sexual misconduct more seriously than before.

On May 9, the justices agreed to suspend Scranton attorney Jeffrey Toman's law license for three years after he pleaded no contest to conduct including sending the 14-year-old victim a picture of his penis. The victim, according to court documents, was not only the daughter of a client, but she was also the subject of the custody battle that the attorney had been hired to handle.

The three-year suspension allows Toman to petition to have his license reinstated, which has left some questioning whether the severity of the conduct and the fact that it was so directly connected to a case merited harsher punishment. But several ethics attorneys said the disciplinary sentence, which will require Toman to undergo a lot of litigation if he wants to have his license reinstated, shows that the Disciplinary Board is taking these matters seriously.

“In only a few years the thinking about these issues has changed,” white-collar and ethics attorney Ellen Brotman said, citing the growing national conversation about sexual harassment, commonly called the #MeToo movement, as well as the relatively recent scandals that led two state Supreme Court justices to resign over explicit emails.

In particular, Brotman noted a 2014 decision where an attorney was suspended for only six months after he was convicted of covertly filming up the skirts of two women—one of whom was a minor—at a public shopping center. The length of the suspension is significant, as any sentence greater than a year and a day requires an attorney to petition the court to have his or her license reinstated, and, according to several attorneys familiar with the disciplinary process, there is no guarantee that an attorney's license will be reinstated.

“I think it shows that the board understands the seriousness of the offense, and the particular harm it causes to the victims,” Brotman said.

Toman's case, according to court records, involved the 14-year-old daughter of a client whose phone number he allegedly obtained as a way to “better represent her and her mother in the legal battle.” However, instead of discussing the case, Toman began asking the minor sex-related questions and requesting pictures of her in her bra and panties, or in a bikini, the report said. According to the police report, Toman also sent the minor a picture of his penis. On one occasion Toman also sent her a video-chat request, and when she answered it he was masturbating, the report said.

Although Toman was initially charged with three third-degree felonies and a first-degree misdemeanor, he eventually pleaded no contest to only the misdemeanor charge of corruption of minors, for which he served some prison time.

In late March, Toman and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel agreed to a joint petition recommending the three-year suspension. As part of that agreement, the ODC noted that Toman had “manipulated his attorney-client relationship,” but also noted that he had been cooperative with the criminal and disciplinary processes, he had served prison time for the offense and he did not hold public office.

Two similar cases the petition cited where attorneys received harsher disciplinary sentences involved public figures. Those attorneys either had their licenses suspended for five years, or they were disbarred, which still allows for attorneys to petition to have their licenses reinstated after five years.

Ethics attorney Jennifer Ellis said that, given the offenses, ”I can see why people want to see the book thrown at the person.” However, she said the punishment didn't seem unreasonable given how the court has previously handled misdemeanor convictions involving the corruption of minors.

A finding that Toman had actual physical contact with the minor, Ellis said, could have significantly elevated the punishment.

She also noted that a disciplinary sentence not only aims to protect the public from that attorney for the amount of time the board deems necessary, but the length of time also serves as a bit of an informal warning to the board regarding how seriously it should scrutinize the attorney's petition seeking reinstatement.

“They're saying you're more than halfway to disbarment, buddy, and we want the future board to keep that fact in mind,” Ellis said. “You're going to have to work all the more hard to prove to us that you should be able to return to the practice.”

Pittsburgh ethics attorney Craig Simpson also noted that, although the order only calls for the license to be suspended, attorneys often lose much more than that.

“If you've been out of practice for three years, you've lost your practice, you've lost your clientele, you've lost your standing in the community, you've lost your reputation,” Simpson said. “There's a whole lot more that's involved than just losing your license.”

Getting a law license reinstated is arduous, attorneys agreed. The process begins with a lengthy questionnaire, before heading through a hearing committee, a hearing before the Disciplinary Board, and then finally coming to the Supreme Court. At each level there can be significant briefing and argument, and attorneys agreed that there is no guarantee anyone will regain their license once they've lost it.

Ethics attorney Stuart Haimowitz said there is a very good chance Toman will never be able to practice law in Pennsylvania again.

“No one has a right to practice law. No one has a right to be reinstated,” he said. “Following a suspension, you have the burden to show that the person who was suspended has gone through a period of rehabilitation and that the conduct that caused the suspension is not likely to recur.”

Haimowitz said the sentence seemed a little lenient in his estimation, but “within the ballpark” of punishments he had seen for similar conduct.

Although Toman's case may move out of the public eye soon and the attorney may seek reinstatement after a few years, the significance of the case may live on indefinitely because, so far, there is little disciplinary case law dealing directly with emerging forms of communication, like sexting, or messaging people through any form of social media.

“It could just as easily have been an email, Facebook, or WhatsApp, or any technology where you're not engaging in physical contact,” Ellis said. “It will be cited to whenever we're talking about improper sexual communication with a minor.”