Former K&L Gates partner Willie Dennis was sentenced to two years in prison Friday after a Manhattan federal jury found him guilty of cyberstalking three of his former law partners through messages that threatened their careers and their families.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York said he felt “anguish” about sentencing a man who lived an “admirable” life, graduating from top schools and pursuing a successful legal career, before he began sending thousands of alarming messages to the victims in the case.