A family law firm in the Denver Tech Center is accusing a former employee of “clandestinely” working for his own firm on company time and enlisting a paralegal in his scheme.
Mark Smith, a divorce lawyer who lives in Littleton, has been practicing law in Colorado since 1994 and has a spotless disciplinary record, according to state records.
In May 2023, he was hired by the Thomas & Ahnell law firm, which uses the trade name Divorce Matters and has three offices along the Front Range, according to the firm.
“While performing work for Divorce Matters and using Divorce Matters’ resources, Smith started a competing family law firm that offers similar services to similarly situated clients in the same geographic area” as the firm’s Tech Center office, its March 29 lawsuit alleges.
After creating Smith & Associates P.C., Smith obtained his own clients, worked on their cases and billed them separately, all while working for Divorce Matters, that firm claims.
When the firm noticed that Smith was taking calls from Unbundled Attorney, a company that generates leads for lawyers, Smith allegedly said he was obtaining leads for Divorce Matters “when in fact these calls pertained to his clandestine activities to solicit clients for his own firm,” according to Divorce Matters’ lawsuit, which was filed in a Centennial court.
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He also used paid leave from Divorce Matters to try his own cases, tried to convince a Divorce Matters attorney to join Smith & Associates, and directed a Divorce Matters paralegal to prioritize a Smith & Associates case, the lawsuit alleges. He was fired March 19.
“I don’t really want to talk much about it,” Smith said of the lawsuit soon after it was filed.
“I would love to tell you my side of the story,” he explained by phone April 2, before adding that he “probably shouldn’t talk too much about it until it’s resolved.”
Divorce Matters is represented by lawyer Leah Capritta with Holland & Knight in Denver.
This story was reported by our partner BusinessDen.