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Lawrence
Attorney, Anthony DiFrucia Accused of False Advertisement
Published 01/22/01
Lawrence Lawyer and Windham, New Hampshire State
Representative, Anthony R. DiFruscia, took out an ad
profiling his law firm in the Andover Townsman. The
advertisement listed the names and expertise of three
lawyers, Paula Porten, Michelle Barret, and Dolores
Campbell as his employees. Attorneys often tote the names
and experience of lawyers working for them to attract
business from potential clients who are familiar with
those attorneys and their reputations.
The problem for DiFruscia, (who is known for his frequent
misrepresentations) is that the three lawyers he
advertised to lure in business all quit his firm last
year. As of the time DiFruscia called the Andover
Townsman, Attorneys Dolores Campbell, Paula Porten, and
Michelle Barrett did not work for him. The Townsman said
that DiFruscia himself placed the call to purchase the ad
for his firm making revisions to add the names of one
lawyer who was hired after the other attorneys had left
this firm. This eliminates any excuses that the inclusion
of those names were a mistake or that they were the work
of a misguided secretary. The false claims by DiFruscia
are a clear violation of the code of ethics for attorneys
and at least one lawyer mentioned in the ad say she may
be filing a complaint.
Attorney Dolores Campbell says she has spoken with the
BBO (Board of Bar Overseers) and is contemplating a
complaint against Attorney DiFruscia. "He is
misleading the public for his own benefit because people
think that we are sitting in his office ready to do work
on these cases. That’s simply not true. He owes an
apology to the public and to the three attorneys
involved. He should have taken it upon himself to place a
retraction in the paper saying that we don’t work
for him any more and that the ad was inaccurate. The
original ad was published more than two weeks ago yet, to
date he has not done anything about it."
For the record, Attorney Dolores Campbell has her own
independent law office at 89 Main Street in North
Andover, where she is in general practice handling family
law, criminal law, collections and bankruptcy cases.
Since November of last year, Atty. Paula Porten has
worked for the Law Offices of Michael Tarshi in Lawrence,
specializing in workers compensation and personal injury
cases. Attorney Michelle Barrett is a prosecutor in the
Manchester, New Hampshire City Solicitors office where it
is mandated that she not be employed by another law firm.
All three attorneys stated that they wanted a retraction
in the Townsman which is expected to run this week.
Attorney DiFruscia could not be reached for comment.
Rumbo will be following this story carefully and update
the readers as developments occur.
Editors Note, No apology or retraction was every printed in the Townsman and DiFruscia has never apologizes for his deception.