In re Estate of Brown

In my opinion, the result the majority reaches today is unfair to Smith. I cannot join my colleagues in upholding the trial court’s finding that she violated Rule 1.8(a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct when Glover’s siblings, who had the burden of proof in this proceeding before Judge Lopez, presented no pertinent evidence other than the fact of a business transaction between lawyer/real estate broker Smith and her client Glover; when neither the Probate Division’s procedural rules nor the court’s instructions required Smith to make an affirmative showing with respect to matters as to…