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Ex-public defender is disbarred: Bob Brown Jr. of Durham admits sexual harassment
[February 10, 2009]

Ex-public defender is disbarred: Bob Brown Jr. of Durham admits sexual harassment


(News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 10--In a case that once again impugns the integrity of the Durham justice system, Bob Brown Jr., the county's first public defender, admitted to the N.C. State Bar that he sexually harassed three women while they worked for him.



In a consent order, signed Friday and posted Monday on the Bar's disciplinary notice site, Brown agreed to surrender his law license for five years.

The order portrays Brown as a public defender who repeatedly made sexual advances toward women who worked for him, wrapping an arm around them, massaging their shoulders and stroking one's stomach. He questioned them about their sexual preferences, the order states, commented on their figures and asked their bra sizes.


The disciplinary action, effective March 8, comes nearly a year and a half after the Bar stripped former District Attorney Mike Nifong of his law license for prosecutorial misconduct during the Duke lacrosse case.

Brown served in the public defender's office from 1990 until Jan. 31, 2006, when he agreed to step down under pressure from Judge Orlando Hudson.

Danielle Bruno, an assistant public defender whom Brown admitted in the order to harassing, had sought to have her boss removed from office.

Brown continued in private law practice after that.

In 2007, Bruno, former paralegal Janice Ingram and former legal assistant Rachel Allen filed a sexual harassment suit against Brown in civil court.

The Bar's detailed 10-page disciplinary order portrays Brown as a boss who repeatedly put the women in compromising positions and interfered with their ability to do their jobs.

"Trust me," he repeatedly told the women, and offered to do personal and professional favors for them if they did, the Bar order states.

In 2005, when a permanent job that Bruno was interested in became available, Brown told her "she had three days to be his friend" if she wanted the position, according to the order.

Brown's conduct, the order states, "caused harm and significant potential harm to the public defender's office, to the legal profession" and "to the administration of justice."

The Bar's disciplinary hearing committee considered censure and reprimand as penalties but decided such disciplinary action "would not sufficiently protect the public because of the gravity of the harm" caused by Brown and "the risk that similar conduct would occur in the future."

This was not the first time the Bar had heard such complaints against Brown.

In 1996, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge. In that case, Brown was accused of grabbing a female client's buttocks. The State Bar reprimanded Brown and fined him.

Under the disciplinary order filed this week, Brown could apply to get his license back in three years if he undergoes psychiatric evaluations and follows any treatment plans, pays all costs assessed by the Bar in connection with the disciplinary hearing and violates no state or federal laws.

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