Portland attorney convicted of groping opposing attorney

[Elmore Furth]

Some guys are just too stupid to leave home without supervision.

An attorney who groped the breast and buttocks of his opposing counsel at a downtown Portland office party pleaded guilty to harassment and was ordered to write an apology letter.

A judge also sentenced Jack Levy to two years of probation, to stay away from his victim and attend a class about "gender issues" and professionalism. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Jean Maurer told the 42-year-old that his behavior was "offensive and degrading."

The victim, a construction-defect attorney, complained to the Oregon State Bar and later to Portland police about the incidents that unfolded March 4, during a 10th anniversary party for the Aldrich law office, another firm that takes on construction-defect cases. The woman said Levy, a partner at Smith Freed & Eberhard PC, started making sexually charged comments about her within earshot. She left the room, only to have Levy "firmly grab my butt" in the hallway, she wrote in a complaint. The woman told Levy she was sure her husband wouldn't appreciate that, then continued walking. A while later, the woman said Levy walked across a room toward her, suddenly hugged her. His hand "moved up to grab my breast from underneath. I was appalled and jumped."

The woman has said she believed Levy groped her as a "strategic maneuver" to unsettle her in the case. At the time of the complaint, the woman was the attorney for property owners in a case seeking $4.3 million in damages, plus attorney fees and costs, against a developer represented by Levy.

Portland attorney convicted of groping another attorney