Chester County lawyer, a former prosecutor, disbarred for sexually coercing client

A Chester County lawyer who once served as an assistant district attorney was disbarred this week for “flagrant misconduct” that included a sexual relationship with a destitute client and unauthorized business and financial transactions with her.

Jonathan F. Altman, 70, admitted to repeated instances of sexual contact with a woman who had hired him to represent her in a child custody and property tax dispute. The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania issued a disbarment order Wednesday. Altman served as assistant district attorney in Chester County in the 1980s.

Citing Altman’s “lack of remorse and misuse of his position,” the Hearing Committee wrote that “the overwhelming evidence establishes that [Altman] is unfit to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and no amount of suspension or rehabilitation will make him fit for practice.”

Altman’s lawyer Samuel C. Stretton said that he was disappointed in the decision.

“I think they have changed the standards for the imposition of professional discipline," Stretton said. "They have given little weight now to a man with 44 years of good services as a lawyer.”

Prior to hearings in 2018, Altman admitted to violating professional rules of conduct. In a statement to the hearing board, Altman confessed to having a consensual affair.

But Altman added that he had been “in a weakened state.” Though he "should have known better,” he said, "what I’ve learned is that I can’t put myself in a position where I’m alone with a female.”

The Hearing Committee cited Altman’s words as evidence of lack of sufficient remorse: “Altman’s statement that he should not be alone with a female reflects a tendency to make excuses for his conduct (i.e. that he sees himself as weak) rather than an admission of an ethical failing on his part.”

The woman, a divorced single mother, initially contacted Altman at his office in West Chester in December 2012 because of a lien on her East Fallowfield house that threatened to make her and her four children homeless.

Altman, a trial lawyer, took her on as a client. Altman had sex with the woman five times, according to court papers, and threatened to quit representing her if she didn’t continue to provide sexual favors.

Altman also gave the woman money to make home repairs “in an attempt to keep her from telling his wife about their affair,” court documents show. When the woman couldn’t pay him back, Altman took her to court and demanded $30,000 for house repairs and an additional $10,000 for legal fees. He allegedly “misused the legal system by filing collection actions based on inaccurate representations.”

During a 2017 hearing, Altman stipulated to having a relationship with the woman for 18 months and being aware of her dire financial straits. He knew she would do anything to regain and retain custody of her children, but wouldn’t be able to do so without his assistance. He also stipulated that he threatened to withdraw as her lawyer if she did not comply with all his requests for sexual favors to his satisfaction.

The hearing committee lambasted Altman in its ruling, filed in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

“[Altman] is a risk to current and potential clients and he denigrates the integrity of the profession,” the committee said.