Vale slides a single-page letter from his portfolio and turns it toward me. “Two matters.” His voice is even and sure.
“First, representation in connection with the Office of Professional Responsibility and any State Bar inquiry—Levin Law as lead, Chang, Durning & Vale as co-counsel.
“Second, counseling regarding potential civil claims arising from the clinic breach and the attempted vehicular assault—CDV to scope. This letter defines that we represent you, Ms. Pennino. Not Mr. Conti, not his family. No criminal exposure for you is anticipated; if that changes, we’ll revisit.”
“Understood,” I say. I skim the letter. Clean. Specific. “And joint defense?”
Levin flips her pen in her fingers, a quick click. “We will have information flowing from Mr. Conti’s side that we would like to use tactically without contaminating you. The safest way to do that is not through you. It will go through Roberto. He and I have a separate common-interest agreement. You and I have ours. If we need to cross that, we’ll do it intentionally.”
Her gaze is level. “I want to protect your license and your life. Those goals align, but they are not always identical. Clear?”
“Clear.”
Vale taps a blank signature line. “This acknowledges retention and conflicts. My firm has no adverse engagements with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in your district; we’ve run it twice since last night. Levin Law is clean. If OPR or the bar contacts you directly, you do not respond; you route to us. You do not delete, destroy, or edit anything. Full preservation. We’ll image your phone and laptop today.”
I read again to be sure. I’m still a lawyer, after all. Then I sign. Vale countersigns, files it away.
“Good,” Levin says. “Now talk. From the beginning, in your own words, with dates and times where you can. I’ll stop you to clarify, not to cross-examine. We’ll build a timeline and decide what we put on the record today. If we need to supplement later, we will.” She glances at the clock on the mantel. “I’ve already requested an intake window with OPR at 2:00. If we need to slide it, we can. Ready?”
As ready as I’ll ever be. I pull my notebook closer and open it to a clean page.
I clear my throat and start from the beginning.
By the time I get to yesterday’s meeting with Miles, there are pages and pages of notes.
While writing still, Levin asks, “What did you say in response to the termination?”
“I said nothing that matters,” I answer. “I froze. He asked if it was true. I didn’t answer. He took that as confirmation.”
“Did he ask you to turn over devices? Demand passwords? Ask where you were physically located?”
“He asked me to return the laptop as soon as possible, but no and no for the rest.” I lift a shoulder. “He revoked access. IT booted me off after the meeting.”
“Good,” Vale says. “We send the laptop back. Keep it clean. To confirm, you did not respond when he asked you if you were pregnant with Luca Conti’s child?”
“I didn’t say anything. He just moved on to the termination. But I denied having a relationship with him at the meeting the day before in his office.”
“We frame it as: you were confronted without counsel, under implicit threat. You declined to discuss medical privacy. Today, with counsel, you’re cooperating, preserving, and correcting the record as appropriate.”
Levin nods. “And we anchor to timing. When did contact with Mr. Conti become personal instead of purely professional?”
I swallow. “Weeks after he was released.” I give the date that Luca came to my room.
“Did you use office systems or discuss anything related to the case outside formal channels?”
“No. Never,” I say firmly.
Levin’s pen pauses. “Good. We’ll say that plainly.”
Vale flips to a fresh page. “Next: we will file a complaint with HHS Office for Civil Rights for a suspected HIPAA breach. We will not name you publicly; we’ll file through counsel with identifiers.”
“Will they know it’s me?”
“They’ll know they have an OCR complaint concerning a patient,” Vale says evenly. “They’ll know someone is looking at their access logs. That alone can stop a leak.”
Luca shifts beside me. “We have a suspicion of where the leak came from,” he says.
Levin lifts a palm. “Not another word, Mr. Conti. We let them do their own investigating in this matter.”
