By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Public Defender Kevin Wigenton was censured by the New Jersey Supreme Court Monday, ending a decade-old disciplinary case that might have resulted in his disbarment as a lawyer.
The court ruled 5-1 that shoddy bookkeeping by Wigenton in his solo practice hadn’t harmed any clients or third parties, rejecting a call by the Office of Attorney Ethics that he be disbarred.
One justice, Judge Dorothea Wefing, who is on temporary assignment to the court from the appellate division, dissented. She wrote that “a short period of suspension” was required “in order to preserve public confidence in the bar.”
Wigenton, who lives in the borough, is the husband of federal District Court Judge Susan Wigenton. The case was unrelated to Wigenton’s work as public defender.
The case centered on allegations arising from an audit that Wigenton himself commissioned, which found a $42,000 shortfall in realty escrow accounts. Wigenton immediately made up the deficit, but an ensuing review by a special master recommended that Wigenton be suspended for four months.
Last year, a disciplinary review board earlier this year ruled that Wigenton should be censured. Both found the misappropriation negligent, not knowing.”
But the Office of Attorney Ethics, the courts lawyer-oversight arm, argued before the state’s highest court last November that Wigenton should lose his license to practice law.
This case represents more than recordkeeping violations and shortcomings, said OAE attorney Maureen Bauman. Wigenton, she claimed, took great liberties with funds that should have remained inviolate in his trust account.
The Supreme Court, though, found Wigenton had engaged in negligent, rather than knowing misappropriation of funds, a lapse that he quickly corrected.
The court also cited Wigenton’s behavior over the course of the disciplinary reviews:
Respondent was cooperative during the investigation, contrite, and did not attempt to conceal his errant recordkeeping practices. Rather, respondent underwent educational programs and correction of his business and accounting practices such that no errors have been found since.
Wigenton could not be reached for immediate comment.
Here’s the full text of the decision: Wigenton 040312
