Aspen attorney placed on probation, law license suspended

An Aspen attorney has been suspended from practicing law in the aftermath of a series of transgressions he committed.

Colorado’s presiding disciplinary judge for attorney discipline, Judge William R. Lucero, entered an order March 17 that suspends David Bovino’s license to practice law for six months, starting April 21. Another six months and one day of the suspension will be stayed on the condition that Bovino successfully completes a three-year probation, according to Lucero’s order approving conditional admission of misconduct and imposing sanctions.

“In 2015 and 2016, and again from 2018 through 2020, Bovino failed to make all of his child support payments,” said a summary of the case, which is public record. “In 2016 and 2019, he misrepresented that he was in compliance with support orders on his attorney registration form. On Bovino’s attorney registration forms for 2018 and 2020, he misrepresented that he was not under any child support obligation.”

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A criminal case against Bovino also factored into the order.

“In October 2020, Bovino pleaded guilty to harassment, a class-three misdemeanor, for sending three obscene and harassing text messages to his wife’s friend, with the intent to annoy the friend and to prompt her to leave his home,” the summary said. “Bovino received a deferred judgment with twelve months of unsupervised probation, twenty hours of community service, and court costs. The criminal case has since been dismissed.”

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Bovino’s conduct violated three rules of professional conduct for attorneys set by the Colorado Supreme Court, according to the summary:

• A lawyer shall not knowingly disobey an obligation under the rules of a tribunal;

• A lawyer shall not commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects;

• A lawyer shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.

Reached Tuesday, Bovino said he agreed to the disposition in order to move on from a personal, domestic matter.

“This is a very minor sanction originating from highly personal issues which have nothing to do with my law practice,” he said in a statement. “I’d like to thank all of my family, friends and clients in Aspen and abroad who have supported me through this process. Despite misgivings regarding the allegations, in order to protect my family’s privacy, I agreed to this deal. I am looking forward to resuming my law practice in a couple of months.”

Bovino was admitted to the Colorado Bar on Jan. 26, 2009, and was admitted to practice California law in 2008, according to the Martindale-Hubbell attorney directory. He graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law in 2007.

He founded The Law Offices of Bovino & Associates in 2010 and merged it into Kasowitz Benson Torres in 2018, later suing the firm “alleging he was underpaid and wrongfully ejected from the partnership in 2019 after he disclosed he was suffering from PTSD,” law.com reported in June 2020. Bovino and his then-wife were the victims of a home-invasion attack while they were vacationing in South Africa in 2006. Bovino suffered gunshot wounds to his chest and leg.

Bovino also has been involved in some high-profile civil cases, including his work as plaintiff’s counsel for a California woman who was awarded $22 million in a malpractice suit in 2012. He has represented the Centennial Homeowners Association in its suit against Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority over building mold and faulty structure, and litigated on behalf of Juliana Pfister in her wrongful death lawsuit against Nancy Masson-Styler, the widow of William Styler III, who was convicted of murdering Pfister’s mother, Nancy, in February 2014.

rcarroll@aspentimes.com

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