Lovett brothers admit to practicing law in R.I. without a license

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — For close to 20 years, Samuel and Carl J.S. "C.J." Lovett operated their law firm, Lovett & Lovett, out of a two-story Victorian on Broadway.

On Friday, the brothers admitted they had practiced law in Rhode Island for years without a license. 

The Lovetts pleaded no contest to five counts each: practicing law in Rhode Island without a license; receiving compensation for unlawful legal services; providing legal advice in Rhode Island under the name Lovett & Lovett; illegally advertising those services; and illegally holding themselves out as attorneys from 2013 to 2015. 

Superior Court Magistrate Patrick Burke gave Samuel, 54, and Carl, 52, a filing on the misdemeanor charges, each of which carried a maximum penalty of up to a year in prison. A filing means that the cases will be dismissed in a year if the brothers stay out of trouble.  Burke said that he was taking the Lovetts' clean records into account. 

Assistant Attorney General Paul Carnes had sought a $1,000 fine on each count and one year probation. Carnes objected to the sentence. 

In addition, the Lovetts entered a consent order with the state attorney general's office that bars them from practicing law in Rhode Island or receiving payment for such services. The order states that the Lovetts will not maintain offices in Rhode Island and must clearly indicate in advertisements that their firm is Massachusetts-based. The Lovetts must clearly show that they are licensed only to practice in Massachusetts. Any advertisements, too, must identify which attorneys on staff practice Rhode Island law and in what areas. 

Superior Court Presiding Justice Alice B. Gibney warned the Lovetts that they will be held in contempt if they are found in violation of the order. The order will now be forwarded to the Board of Bar Overseers in Massachusetts, where the brothers are licensed to practice law.

Mark Dana, representing the Lovetts, said his clients planned to continue with their robust practice in Massachusetts, where their offices are located just over the state line in Seekonk. 

"They accepted responsibility, and they know what they did was wrong. They just look to move forward and put this behind them," he said.

The Lovett brothers came to the attention of Rhode Island’s Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee most recently in October 2013, when lawyer David A. Cooper forwarded a complaint against the firm on behalf of his client, Jose Amaral. C.J. and Samuel Lovett represented Amaral after he fell through a wooden deck in September 2006 while delivering bunk beds in Quincy, Mass.

Samuel Lovett handled his workers’ compensation claim in Massachusetts without complaint, but the firm failed to file a personal injury lawsuit against the homeowners within the statute of limitations in Massachusetts.

Amaral went to Cooper for advice. Cooper soon discovered that the Lovetts weren't licensed to practice law in Rhode Island, despite the firm’s advertisements on RIPTA buses and in the Yellow Pages touting their legal experience. Cooper filed a complaint. 

The committee investigated and found that the Lovetts had, in fact, been practicing law in Rhode Island without a license. The Supreme Court in 2015, too, concluded that the Lovetts had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law over the course of 18-plus years. 

Court records indicate that Samuel Lovett has taken the Rhode Island Bar exam eight times without success. C.J. Lovett applied to take the Rhode Island exam once in 2002, but never sat for it, court records show. 

In 1999, the Lovetts fell under investigation for the same allegations. The committee determined C.J. and Samuel had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law, but those findings went nowhere “for reasons unknown,” according to the committee’s report.

Dana on Friday stressed that the Lovetts sought guidance about those complaints, but didn't get a response. 

The Lovett brothers, sons of the flamboyant late King of Workers’ Comp, Raul Lovett, belong to a storied Rhode Island legal family. The self described “Mickey Mouse lawyer,” Raul Lovett was known for the trademark neon cartoon favorite on display at his longtime offices on Thomas Street. It’s there, at the firm their father founded, that the brothers got their start working as file clerks and paralegals.