On Tuesday, October 4, 2022, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled on the disciplinary complaint filed against Highland attorney Robert W. Gray relating to his violations of the rules of professional conduct.
The case, titled In the Matter of Robert W. Gray, was brought by Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission. Case #21S-DI-44.
The charges cited Gray’s violations of the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct specifically Rule 8.1(a) for knowingly making a false statement of material fact to the Disciplinary Commission in connection with a disciplinary matter, Rule 8.4(a) for attempting to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct, knowingly assisting another to do so, or doing so through the acts of another, and Rule 8.4(c) for engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
In 2019, Respondent was suspended from law practice in Indiana for 30 days with automatic reinstatement for misconduct involving Respondent’s Indiana-based law firm and its patent work with investors. At the time he was also consensually excluded from practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) without an admission of misconduct. He wound down his Indiana law firm and relocated to Florida and created The Inventor’s Platform(TIP), under the Alias Nickolas Farbacks.
According to the filing:
“TIP’s operations closely paralleled Respondent’sprevious Indiana business arrangements and shared many of the same infirmities. Acting under his alias, Respondent contracted with and directed paralegals, attorneys, and others to provide services—including legal services—to TIP clients. TIP’s contracts with its customers generally forbade them from contacting the contract attorneys, and TIP paid those attorneys only a fraction of the attorney fees collected from the customers. Clients’ provisional patent applications were often drafted by nonlawyer TIP personnel without appropriate attorney supervision.”
The filing continues:
“While Respondent was excludedfrom practicing before the USPTO, he supervised contract attorneys’ patent work, answered any questions they had about the patent work, and discouraged them from communicating with the clients. Finally, during the course of the Commission’s investigation into Respondent’s Florida conduct, Respondent made several misrepresentations, inaccurately depicting himself as a passive instead of an active participant in TIP.”
The hearing officer found Respondent’s conduct violated the Indiana Professional Conduct Rules. The Commission recommended a suspension without automatic reinstatement.
Respondent seeks a review of the hearing officer’s findings and conclusions and urges the Court to impose a 30-to-60-day suspension with automatic reinstatement.
The Court upon considering the parties’ arguments regarding each of the charged violations found sufficient support for the hearing officer’s material findings and his ultimate conclusions.
Accordingly, the Court suspends Respondent from the practice of law in the state of Indiana for a period of not less than 90 days, without automatic reinstatement, effective immediately, effective immediately.
Mr. Robert Gray has practiced in Highland, Indiana. He has been licensed in Indiana. His info can be found on Avvo.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
