Attorney Mitchelson Fit to Practice Law Again, Judge Rules

A humbled Marvin Mitchelson, the once flashy divorce lawyer to the stars who introduced the word “palimony” to the legal lexicon then fell from grace for cheating on his income taxes, is fit to practice law again, a judge with the State Bar Court ruled Monday.

State Bar Court Judge Eugene E. Brott lifted Mitchelson’s four-year suspension from the legal practice, finding that “he is rehabilitated,” “has changed” and “is remorseful.”

Mitchelson could be back in court representing clients by the end of the month, a state bar spokeswoman said.

The lawyer for such celebrities as Joan Collins, Sonny Bono and Bianca Jagger had been under various bar suspensions since 1993, when he was convicted of concealing about $2 million in income from the Internal Revenue Service in 1983 and 1986. He spent two years in federal prison before being released in May 1998.

Mitchelson gained fame in 1976, when he represented Michelle Triola Marvin against actor Lee Marvin in a landmark palimony case that gave unmarried, cohabitating partners contractual rights similar to those of married couples. Earlier, in a less publicized case, he won another landmark ruling giving indigent clients access to a free lawyer for appeals.

Mitchelson conceded at a State Bar Court hearing last month that fame had gone to his head, leading to his tax dispute with the federal government and a laundry list of client complaints resulting in bar discipline.

But winning permission to once again practice law gives the snowy-haired, 72-year-old Mitchelson a measure of redemption after nearly a decade of bankruptcy, prison, health problems and exile from a profession he says he loves. He was first admitted to the bar 33 years ago.

“I’ve lived just to be a lawyer again,” a tearful Mitchelson testified at last month’s hearing. “I studied and read and worked . . . just in hopes I could come back to the profession again.”

At the hearing, Mitchelson was described by former courtroom foes as “mature, humble, contrite, low-key and remorseful--a broken man,” Brott said in a seven-page opinion lifting the suspension. “Before, he was among the most famous lawyers in the world--always on the move, bouncing off walls, always on his way somewhere, no time, arrogant, difficult to talk to.”

Gone are the 33-room mansion, fast cars, jet-set lifestyle, flashy wardrobe and glitzy clientele. In 1999, he battled heart disease and melanoma.

Since his release from prison, Mitchelson has been working as a paralegal and consultant to other lawyers.

Brott found that adversity has changed Mitchelson: He is more empathetic to others, the judge said, and has renounced pretense and publicity, instead redirecting his efforts toward helping others. Much of this change occurred while Mitchelson provided legal advice to his fellow federal prisoners and ran the law library at the federal prison in Lompoc.

Rejecting bar court prosecutors’ contentions that he had illegally practiced law behind bars, Brott said, “Quite to the contrary, under the circumstances of prison confinement, such behavior was commendable, appropriate and a definite step toward rehabilitation.”

Reached at the offices of his lawyers, Arthur and Susan Margolis, Mitchelson said Monday that he was looking forward to reestablishing his legal practice. State bar prosecutors have the opportunity to appeal the decision before Mitchelson is formally readmitted to the bar on May 31.

He said he was happy, healthy and grateful to his lawyers. As for any hard lessons gleaned, Mitchelson said: “I’ve learned that humility is the first step through the door to having a life that is free from the kind of pain and suffering that I inflicted on myself by being so out there.”