People v. Abrahamson Pirzadeh.
No. 21PDJ066. 5/20/2022. Stipulation to Discipline.
June 2, 2022
The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ stipulation to discipline and suspended Jean A. Abrahamson Pirzadeh (attorney registration number 50522) for one year and one day, all to be stayed upon her successful completion of an 18-month probationary period with conditions. The probation, which took effect on May 20, 2022, runs concurrent to her period of probation in case number 20PDJ044.
In October 2019, Abrahamson Pirzadeh helped a personal representative of an estate settle a lawsuit. Under the settlement agreement, she was to deposit the settlement proceeds into her trust account and disburse the funds to the estate beneficiaries. She distributed the settlement money from her trust account but retained $473.85 that should have been disbursed. Around the same time, she provided her client a waiver indemnifying her and her employer from potential claims brought by the estate’s beneficiaries. Her client signed the waiver even though it had not been reviewed by independent counsel.
In a separate matter, Abrahamson Pirzadeh overdrew one of her law firm’s two trust accounts by almost $23,000 after she wrote a settlement check for a client against the wrong account. The next day, she replenished the overdrawn account with funds from the second trust account. The bank that held the trust account notified disciplinary authorities that the account had been overdrawn; when they inquired about the matter, she could not produce the trust account records that she was required to maintain.
Through this conduct, Abrahamson Pirzadeh violated Colo. RPC 1.8(h)(1) (a lawyer must not make an agreement prospectively limiting the lawyer’s liability to a client for malpractice unless the client is independently represented in making the agreement); Colo. RPC 1.15A(a) (a lawyer must hold client property separate from the lawyer’s own property); Colo. RPC 1.15A(b) (on receiving funds or other property of a client or third person, a lawyer must promptly deliver to the client or third person any funds or property that person is entitled to receive); and Colo. RPC 1.15D (a lawyer must maintain trust account records).