Note to Lawyers: Don’t Accept Sex As Payment

Legal fees can be expensive — but allowing clients to pay with sex, it turns out, is a no-no for lawyers.

A Florida lawyer named James Harvey Tipler has been disbarred by the state for providing legal services in exchange for, well, other “services.” Tipler evidently let an 18-year-old woman “work off her legal fees” by working it, so to speak, according to recently published reports.

How much is sex worth in the law world, you might be wondering? The woman’s bill, for an assault-related case, was said to be $2,300. Tipler, local media outlets report, credited off $200 each time she had sex with him — and $400 each time she arranged for another woman to have sex with him. That’s rather insulting to her, isn’t it?

Tipler pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution. It didn’t stop there, though: An investigating board apparently found he also charged excessive (non-sexual) fees, altered evidence, arranged false testimonies, and actually stole money from clients.