Durham investigators say man posed as lawyer

DURHAM -- Jeffrey Robson is not a licensed lawyer, but investigators say he has been masquerading as one in the Triangle and Ohio.

Now the 36-year-old with a University of Cincinnati College of Law degree is in legal trouble for drawing up wills and helping with estate planning, business he was not licensed to do.

On May 9, Robson, who also is known as Jeffrey Roush, was charged with one count of obtaining property by false pretenses.

Sgt. Jeremiah Davis, the Durham County sheriff's detective leading the investigation, said this week that more charges could be lodged.

"I've had maybe a dozen complaints," Davis said. "My understanding is a lot of these people attend his church."

Robson's case was scheduled for Durham County court Tuesday, but it was continued to a later date.

The criminal case began here in April after Davis received a complaint from a local man who had paid Robson $300 to prepare a will and later found out the suspect was not licensed to practice law.

Robson also had misrepresented himself as a licensed lawyer in Ohio, according to court documents, and in December the state Supreme Court of Ohio issued a disciplinary ruling against him.

Robson, according to the court documents, was hired in December 2005 by Vidmar and Hardesty, a law practice near Columbus, Ohio, that focuses on bankruptcy, business, collections, domestic relations and real-estate.

At the time of his hiring, the court documents say, Robson provided fictitious attorney law license registration numbers for Ohio and North Carolina and told the firm falsely that he had malpractice insurance.

While working for the Ohio firm, court documents show, the suspect counseled one prospective client about a corporate business structure and another on estate-planning strategies.

Vidmar and Hardesty fired Robson in February 2006. On Dec. 13, 2007, the Ohio Supreme Court imposed a $1,000 fine and banned Robson from ever applying for admission to the Ohio bar. Robson returned to the Triangle and settled in the Durham area, said Davis, the Durham investigator.

Before Robson moved to Ohio, he lived in Chapel Hill, according to Davis. Several people who say they paid Robson hundreds and even thousands of dollars for help with wills and estate planning turned over stationery with a letterhead with a description of his phony law practice and a Chapel Hill address.

Efforts to reach Robson this week were unsuccessful.

In January, the North Carolina State Bar Authorized Practice Committee posted a note of caution about Robson.

The 1999 graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law "holds himself out as a licensed attorney and prepares wills and other legal documents for friends and parishioners at his church," the bar's note said.

Davis encourages people who've had legal work done by the suspect to contact the Durham County Sheriff's Department and to contact a licensed lawyer to find out whether the documents would hold up in court.