People v. Angela Delorme-Gaines. 21PDJ015. March 26, 2021. The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved the parties’ conditional admission of misconduct and suspended Angela Delorme-Gaines (New Mexico attorney number 24883) for ninety days with payment of $4,000.00 in restitution, with conditions. The suspension took effect March 26, 2021.
Delorme-Gaines is not licensed to practice law in Colorado. Though she is licensed to practice law in New Mexico, she was suspended in 2019 for non-compliance with continuing legal education requirements. In 2019, Delorme-Gaines agreed to help a client whose former employer refused to release his security clearance. The client also understood that she would represent him in a tort action against his former employer. She had not previously represented the client, but she did not provide him with a written fee agreement or a written scope of representation. The client paid her $4,000.00.
Delorme-Gaines discussed with her client the benefits and costs of filing the tort suit in Colorado and in Florida. She conducted legal research about her client’s matter and raised the issue of his security clearance with the office of Congressman Doug Lamborn, telling the congressman’s staff that her client’s security clearance was being illegally held by his former employer. When the congressman’s office intervened, the former employer agreed to release the security clearance. The relationship between Delorme-Gaines and her client later broke down, and she notified her client that she would not represent him in litigation.
Through this conduct, Delorme-Gaines violated Colo. RPC 1.5(b) (a lawyer shall inform a client in writing about the lawyer’s fees and expenses within a reasonable time after being retained if the lawyer has not regularly represented the client) and Colo. RPC 5.5(a)(1) (a lawyer shall not practice law without a law license or other specific authorization).
The case file is public per C.R.C.P. 251.31.