Court delays suspension of Shenandoah County Supervisor’s law license

Published: Jul. 6, 2022 at 5:53 PM EDT

WOODSTOCK, Va. (WHSV) - UPDATE 8/15/2022: The Supreme Court of Virginia has granted a motion from Brad Pollack to stay his suspension allowing him to continue to practice law while his case against the Virginia State Bar is on appeal.

A member of the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors has had his law license suspended by the Virginia State Bar.

Brad Pollack will be suspended from practicing law for six months beginning at the end of July. The suspension stems from the mishandling of payments from several clients.

WHSV spoke with Pollack about the situation on Wednesday.

“It was a set amount of money and the mistake was I was supposed to park it in my trust account before shifting it to my operating account. Instead, I deposited it directly in my operating account which is a violation of the rules of professional conduct and I immediately acknowledged that,” said Pollack.

Pollack told a bar investigator about the handling of the funds after three clients filed complaints against him that were unrelated to the money. During Pollack’s Bar hearing at the end of last week, the Bar found the complaints themselves were unfounded.

“The whole reason the people complained, there was no misconduct there. The only thing I’m being held accountable for is what I volunteered,” said Pollack.

Pollack acknowledged that he made a mistake with the funds and said he never intended to do anything nefarious.

“It was basically a boneheaded move it was just stupid. But nobody was injured, nobody was hurt and again the underlying complaints were unfounded. So it’s just kind of, it is what it is,” he said.

Pollack believes part of the reason he received a suspension is because of previous trouble he had with the Bar.

“Twenty years ago the Bar came after me for standing up for a couple of mentally disabled brothers who were swindled out of their farm in the southern end of the county. So that resulted in some discipline back then, so because that was on my record, is why I’m pretty sure I got suspension time this year,” he said.

During his suspension, Pollack said he’ll use the time to focus on his supervisor role and work on various election campaigns across the county. He said that there are 13 elected office positions up for election in Shenandoah County in 2023 including his seat on the Board of Supervisors.

“I’ve always been known to turn lemons into lemonade and I certainly expect to in this situation. And I’m here to of course help my constituents through the process,” said Pollack. “I’m here to continue to serve. I’ve been standing up for people, particularly the little guy, and I’ll continue to do that through this sabbatical.”

Pollack’s six-month suspension will take effect on July 30.

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