Aaron Arnson, a former contract attorney for the Town of Fountain Hills, was given a written admonishment by the State Bar of Arizona (SBA) over remarks he said about Fountain Hills Town Councilmember Gayle Earle. She filed a bar complaint against him in August, alleging that he had leaked his resignation letter to the media and made inappropriate comments about her and his representation of the Town.
Earle had conducted a billing review of how much the Town paid Arnson and his firm, finding that the firm might have been overpaid $321,154 due to a failure to conduct required annual reviews for over five years. She found that if the annual reviews had been conducted, the Town would have discovered that they were paying far more with a flat rate than if they had billed per hour, and changed the billing structure. Arnson resigned in April without addressing the alleged discrepancy. In his resignation letter to the Town, he said, “Councilmember Earle’s witch hunt has little, if anything, to do with money. Rather, it is a pretext for her to appoint one of her close contacts to serve as the Town Attorney.” He made similar accusations to The Arizona Republic.
“The State Bar is dismissing the charge but issues this educational comment to reiterate your professional obligations under Rule 42, Ariz. R. Sup. Ct.,” the SBA said in the admonishment letter. “In this case, your letter providing ‘Notice of Intent to Terminate’ and comments to a news reporter included some unnecessary language in reference to a representative of your client. While ER 1.6(d)(4) permits disclosure of confidential information to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary to establish a defense in a controversy between the lawyer and the client, the exception is limited. You are encouraged to exercise greater caution in future communications, especially when preparing documents or comments that are open to the public and relate to terminating a client relationship.”
Earle commented on the admonishment to the Fountain Hills Times Independent, “I respect the Arizona State Bar’s review and appreciate that my complaint was taken seriously and formally reviewed. While I had hoped for a stronger outcome, I value that the process was independent and that my concerns were considered. This official review also reinforces for me the importance of accuracy and professionalism in public statements by attorneys, which I believe benefits both the town and the community.”
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