The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania kicked off a hearing into alleged misconduct by Wilkes-Barre attorney William E. Vinsko Jr. on Tuesday morning with a state attorney arguing the well-known lawyer violated professional standards by engaging in chronic poor communication and information sharing with two clients.
Vinsko, of the firm Vinsko & Associates, is accused of repeatedly failing to respond to the clients in a timely manner and of failing to provide requested information and to file court documents as agreed.
During opening statements, attorney Jessica Chapman, with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, argued that Vinsko failed to adhere to “simple rules” of professional conduct for lawyers.
“All I ask is that you focus on the facts and ignore the excuses,” Chapman told the board. “It is not OK to violate a rule of professional conduct. The rules are there to keep attorneys responsible, and that is what I ask of you to keep respondent accountable.”
According to the petition for discipline the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed against Vinsko, two clients raised issues about his professional conduct related to their cases.
One of the cases related to a property dispute in Harveys Lake by resident Mary Secor, who retained Vinsko in November 2021.
The petition alleges Vinsko repeatedly failed to respond to inquiries by Secor about the status of the case and that he failed to file a writ of summons to initiate legal action as he indicated he would.
By June 2023, Vinsko told Secor the document would be filed, but Secor subsequently learned he failed to filed the paperwork and pay the fees for it to be served by Luzerne County deputy sheriffs, she said.
Vinsko did not file a complaint until December 2023, and even then he failed to provide Secor with an invoice or statement of her client funds, according to the petition.
Testifying on Tuesday, Secor described her experience with Vinsko as “frustrating.”
“We were so lost in this case. We were so out of it. We didn’t know what was going on,” Secor said. “We didn’t feel like we were important at all.”
The other case related to the 2017 death of Edward P. Roche, whose son James retained Vinsko to handle the estate for which he was named the administrator.
According to the petition, Vinsko failed to respond to numerous attempts for communication by James Roche’s sister-in-law, Alice Roche, and failed to provide requested information, even when ordered to do so by a county judge.
In response, Vinsko countered that he did not fail to respond to his client because he never represented Alice Roche.
“Alice Roche never was a client,” said Vinsko’s attorney James C. Schwartzman, with the King of Prussia firm Stevens & Lee.
During his opening statement, Schwartzman urged the board to pay close attention to the testimony to come during the two-day hearing.
“In the Roche case I’m going to ask that you just dismiss it, because there was no violation,” Schwartzman said. “In the Secor case, you may find that things didn’t go as they should, but Mrs. Secor wasn’t harmed. The complaint was filed and I’m going to ask if any penalty is imposed in that case that it be minor, at most.”
Testimony in the case is expected to continue Wednesday, with the board then making a recommendation about potential disciplinary action to the state Supreme Court. The high court will then decide whether Vinsko is guilty of misconduct and what, if any, the penalty should be.
Vinsko has received public reprimands on several previous instances. In March 2022, the court censured Vinsko for making delayed filings and failing to respond to numerous communication attempts by his client, the Castle Auditorium Community Arts Center in Hazleton.
In January 2019 Vinsko was also reprimanded for making “reckless aspersions” against U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani during a real estate matter while representing Swinka Realty Investments, LLC.
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![The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania kicked off a hearing into alleged misconduct by Wilkes-Barre attorney William E. Vinsko Jr. on Tuesday morning with a state attorney arguing the well-known lawyer violated professional standards by engaging in chronic poor communication and information sharing with two clients. Vinsko, of the firm Vinsko & Associates, is accused of repeatedly failing to respond to the clients in a timely manner and of failing to provide requested information and to file court documents as agreed. During opening statements, attorney Jessica Chapman, with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, argued that […]](https://www.citizensvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/CVC-L-BILLVINSKO-0115-01-1.jpg?w=620 "The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania kicked off a hearing into alleged misconduct by Wilkes-Barre attorney William E. Vinsko Jr. on Tuesday morning with a state attorney arguing the well-known lawyer violated professional standards by engaging in chronic poor communication and information sharing with two clients. Vinsko, of the firm Vinsko & Associates, is accused of repeatedly failing to respond to the clients in a timely manner and of failing to provide requested information and to file court documents as agreed. During opening statements, attorney Jessica Chapman, with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, argued that […]")
