NC State Bar orders Sanford lawyer to surrender license

The North Carolina State Bar Association has ordered Sanford attorney Jonathan Silverman to surrender his license to practice law after it was revealed that he was having a sexual relationship with a client.

As of Friday, Silverman is disbarred from practicing law in the state.

“I acknowledge that the material facts upon which the allegations of the investigations is predicated are true,” Silverman’s affidavit for the disbarment proceedings said.

The state bar’s action prevents Silverman from practicing law in North Carolina. The disbarment is permanent “unless the lawyer petitions to have his or her license restored, which he or she may do after five years. To be reinstated, the lawyer must prove to the Disciplinary Hearing Commission that he has reformed,” according to the Bar Association’s website.

Silverman was admitted to the bar in 1985, according to official documents, and began his private practice in Sanford in 1990. He practiced law and was, at one time, an assistant district attorney for the 11th Judicial District, which includes Lee, Harnett and Johnston counties.

This is not the first action the State Bar Association has taken against Silverman.

In 2016, it suspended Silverman’s license for three years after an investigation found that he had a physically intimate relationship with a client he was representing.

In August 2009, a woman identified as S.G. retained Silverman to represent her in a separation agreement and property settlement dispute, according to the documents.

Silverman was still representing the woman in October 2013 when they began having a “personal and physically intimate relationship,” according to Bar Association records.

The woman later asked for Silverman’s help in finding a lawyer to work on the ongoing case. Silverman agreed to have his law firm represent her. The case was assigned to another attorney in the practice. Although Silverman no longer represented the woman, he continued “to participate in the representation of S.G.,” the documents say.

He was also admonished by the Bar Association in 1993 while he was an assistant district attorney. Silverman was accused of agreeing to dismiss charges against a female client in return for a co-defendant’s guilty plea. However, he failed to notify the court of the agreement.

The woman was reindicted several months later.

Silverman, a former member of the Lee County Board of Elections, could not be reached for comment.