Philly lawyer for sexual abuse victims suspended for inappropriate relationship with client
Brian Kent, a former sex crimes prosecutor in Montgomery County, will not be able to practice law for one year. His attorney said he has accepted responsibility for the misconduct.
A once-prominent Philadelphia lawyer who represented victims in high-profile sexual abuse cases has been suspended for engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a client who was allegedly sexually abused while in the Church of Scientology.
Brian Kent, a former sex crimes prosecutor in Montgomery County and cofounder of the since-renamed Center City law firm Laffey, Bucci & Kent, has agreed to a three-year suspension, according to the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Kent will not be able to practice law for one year, starting on June 22, but will be permitted to do so for the following two years while on probation. He must undergo counseling and refrain from any additional violations of the state Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers, under the terms of the disciplinary agreement.
Kent, whose previous clients included people abused by Jerry Sandusky and the Southern Baptist Church, admitted to engaging in an improper relationship with a woman in 2019 as he investigated her claims against the Church of Scientology.
» READ MORE: A Philly lawyer for sexual abuse victims left his firm after an ex-client’s complaint was leaked
The relationship included several instances of consensual touching that was “sexual in nature” but did not include intercourse, according to the disciplinary board.
“[T]he nature of [Kent’s] practice, as an advocate for victims of abuse, placed him in a position of trust with particularly vulnerable clients,” the agreement states. “By virtue of his reputation and position, he gained the trust of a vulnerable client, and then abused that trust.”
Kent’s lawyer, Ellen Brotman, said in a statement that Kent “accepts responsibility for the misconduct” and is “deeply remorseful for the harm he caused to his client, his family, and to the legal profession.”
“For the past several years, he has committed to becoming a better person, parent, spouse and lawyer,” Brotman said. “He is grateful for the support he has received from family, friends, and colleagues. He will continue this healing process and abide by all the conditions of his probation.”
Since last summer, Kent has been working at Ardú Medical Partners, a medical practice consultancy for out-of-network healthcare providers, according to his LinkedIn page.
The allegations against Kent — who has said that as a child he was sexually abused by a priest — surfaced on YouTube in April 2024 after a leak of the woman’s November 2022 complaint to the state disciplinary board.
The leak prompted Kent to leave the law firm he cofounded, as well as the board of Child USA, a think tank that combats child abuse.
At the time, Marci Hamilton, the founder and CEO of Child USA, told The Inquirer more people had come forward with similar complaints against Kent.
“There are others out there who have the same story,” Hamilton, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said in April 2024. “We just didn’t want to let anybody think this should be ignored now.”
Brotman said then that those “allegations are outrageous and completely false.”
Over the past year, Hamilton and Child USA have not provided any additional information about those allegations, and no former clients of Kent’s have publicly come forward.