Wife of Birmingham attorney James F. Henry admits he's on Ashley Madison list, and attorney David M. Deutsch is not licensed in Alabama -- so double Oops!

James F. Henry

Birmingham attorney James F. Henry claimed our Ashley Madison post about him was false, apparently not realizing his own wife had left a comment on the post, admitting that his name was among the paying customers at the extramarital-affairs Web site. Oops!

Henry communicated his concerns via an e-mail from a lawyer named David M. Deutsch, whose name appears nowhere at the Alabama State Bar. Oops, again!

I did make one mistake on the post in question. I reported that Henry -- who is with the firm Cabaniss Johnston Gardner Dumas and O'Neal -- was married to Kelly Jo Henry. In fact, they had been divorced for several years, and Linda Henry -- the new Mrs. Henry -- corrected me on that matter via a comment on the post. Linda Henry had a number of interesting things to say in her comment, which her husband and his lawyer apparently had not read:

Linda Henry said...

Hi there! :)

When I heard you'd written an article about Jim, I came right on over to your little blog to see for myself! All in all, it's not bad! You know what they say about there being no such thing as bad press! ;)

I really am appalled to see that you've listed Jim's wife as Kelly, when I'm Jim's ACTUAL wife, Linda! Jim and Kelly divorced nine years ago. We've been married for almost 7 wonderful years! Call it silly, but these things matter to a girl!

I think it's nice that you included some info from his bio, and that you referenced a case of his. Heaven knows he's the hardest working man I know. He has definitely stepped away from many a family meal or outing to meet the needs of his clients! We understand, of course, we're just so blessed that he gets to do what he loves every day! :)

I suppose the purpose of the article was sort of "exposing" the Ashley Madison thing, but everyone's had access to the list for ages, so it's hardly news! I'd seen something on Ashley Madison on TV, was showing Jim, and so I'm the one who actually registered! Fortunately, Jim has a sense of humor about it! I'm a lucky girl! :)

Warmest regards,

Mrs. Linda Henry

March 23, 2016 at 10:11 PM

Mrs. Henry sounds like an awfully good sport, with a delightful sense of humor. I'd probably get a kick out of interviewing her for a Legal Schnauzer post. What would be the subject? I don't know, but it sounds like Mrs. Henry would be a hoot, regardless.

It turns out that Mr. Henry's lawyer should have visited with Mrs. Henry before dashing off an e-mail to me. That way, he would have known that Mr. Henry's name is, in fact, on the Ashley Madison list.

As for David M. Deutsch, I saw that he was not a member of the Alabama State Bar, so that prompted further research. I found a lawyer by that name at The Deutsch Law firm, with offices in New York City and Boca Raton, Florida -- with admissions in New York and Florida, and no other states.

Upon learning this information, I got back to Mr. Deutsch via e-mail:

Mr. Deutsch:

Is this you at the following link?

https://www.deutschpc.com/people

If so, your bio indicates you have bar admittance in New York and Florida, but not in Alabama. Why then, have you sent correspondence to me, indicating you represent James Henry, an Alabama resident? Are you practicing law without a license in Alabama?

That apparently caused some throat-clearing on Mr. Deutsch's end, because I received this response:

Mr. Shuler,

Thank you for your note.

I passed along the contents of your previous email to Mr. Henry.

Should Mr. Henry wish to pursue this matter further within the Court system, I have advised him to retain an attorney that is a member of the Alabama bar.

Best,

David

Did I let it rest at that? No, I did not. After all, they call me Legal Schnauzer for a reason. If someone encroaches on my territory, with bad or thoughtless intentions, I bark and I dig -- or maybe both. If the encroachment is serious enough, I might respond with a, "Get the hell off my lawn!" So, I fired back at Deutsch, thusly:

My question:

By sending correspondence to me, claiming to represent Mr. Henry, were you practicing law without a license in Alabama? You claimed to represent him and took action on his behalf, even though you are not licensed to practice law in Alabama. That sounds like a problem to me.

Did that draw a reply from Deutsch? Nope. Did he actually practice law without a license? Well, he claimed to represent Mr. Henry, an Alabama resident. And he took action on Mr. Henry's behalf by sending a law-related e-mail to me. Does that constitute practicing a law without a license? The answer is, "I don't know." That's a fairly murky area of the law, and my research has not led me to any solid conclusions.

But I'm going to keep digging -- and we plan to provide an update in a follow-up post.