An Aurora attorney who cursed at and insulted school district employees during a special education meeting violated professional conduct rules and can be publicly censured, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday.
Igor Raykin was in a virtual meeting with a Mesa County Valley School District 51 student, their parents and district staff in May 2022 when he “directed several inappropriate expletive-laden outbursts” at district employees, according to court records.
Raykin, a lawyer with the firm Kishinevsky & Raykin, is known for representing Colorado students in lawsuits against school districts and other educational institutions, including a $5 million class-action suit against the University of Colorado system over student fees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the District 51 meeting, Raykin repeatedly cursed at district staff and told them to shut up. When a staff member tried to mute him, he responded by unmuting himself and said, “Every time I unmute myself, I’m going to say (expletive) again. That’s how I am going to start every sentence,” court records show.
He later told a district employee she should work in the gutter where she belonged and brought up her past romantic relationships.
Raykin’s actions were reported to an independent office within the state Supreme Court that regulates attorneys, and that office filed a complaint with the state’s disciplinary office for attorneys.
After a hearing, state officials found Raykin violated the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct with actions “that have no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, delay or burden a third person.”
The hearing board ordered Raykin to be publicly censured and pay for a medical evaluation of his mental health.
Raykin initially stood by his actions, telling state officials that “if (school district staff) want to bully my clients by smiling in their faces while preparing to screw them over, then I’m going to bully them back.”
But he later admitted his actions were unprofessional, and, in February 2024, wrote an apology letter to school district employees who were at the meeting, admitting to being “a bully, an immature person who couldn’t control himself, a hypocrite, a person who was setting a terrible example for the kid he was representing,” according to court records.
Raykin fought the public censure because he initially worked out an agreement with state officials that he would be admonished privately, he told The Denver Post on Monday. The presiding judge did not accept that agreement.
Raykin laid out several mitigating factors during his hearing that made a private admonition the right choice, like ongoing mental health issues and no disciplinary record, he said.
“I’m a fighter by nature, and that’s what I did,” he said of the appeal.
Raykin said he now sees he was unnecessarily hostile in the May 2022 meeting and is disturbed by how his actions impacted others, but still prides himself on being an assertive, aggressive lawyer, he told The Post.
“I take this work very much to heart. Every fight I have on behalf of a special needs kid is my own fight, and that attempt to get justice, fairness and better services for these kids is what motivates me,” he said.
School District 51 officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
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