The Florida Bar said in a release: The disbarment of Jessica Kathleen Miller, a lawyer in Holiday, followed an arrest in August 2007 for contempt of court for violating an order to appear.She already had violated prior orders to appear on behalf of clients in a guardianship proceeding.Miller also failed to account for and deliver client trust funds and after being hired to represent several client
Last week, the gaming community’s sworn enemy, Jack Thompson, was officially disbarred and forbidden from practicing law in the state of Florida.
In this week’s Sessler’s Soapbox, Adam talks about how Jack failed to add the discussion on games and also the media’s role (even his own) in creating the villain known as Jack Thompson.
Sessler’s Soapbox: [...]
This past Thursday Jack Thompson was disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court for inappropriate conduct, effective October 25, 2008. Florida Judge Dava Tunis said Jack Thompson had “abused the legal system by submitting numerous, frivolous and inappropriate filings”.
To be disbarred is considered a great embarrassment and shame, even if one no longer wishes to pursue [...]
Records from the Ohio Supreme Court (2008-396) show that on September 25, 2008 attorney Donald M. Powers Jr. was disbarred for his participation in a criminal real estate
“flipping” scheme (click here for the information about the case) in which a title company that he partly owned
defrauded various financial institutions, resulting in losses of
approximately $3.5 million. Powers’ law licens
The Supreme Court of Ohio has disbarred Judge Jeffrey Hoskins for engaging in a pattern of professional misconduct “incompatible with his duties as a judge and a lawyer.”In the decision, the Court unanimously affirmed the disciplinary board’s findings that Hoskins violated multiple provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct while serving on the bench...With regard to the offenses alleged dur
In Massachusetts, you can't even work as a courthouse janitor if you're a disbarred attorney, as it should be. This one stole from his own cousin, who asked him for help when her husband died in a car accident.Disbarred lawyer’s request denied - Quincy, MA - The Patriot Ledger: "BOSTON — A former Quincy lawyer who was disbarred for stealing from clients, including $172,513 in life insurance b
"Scooter" Libby (who had already been suspended from the practice of law) has been disbarred from practicing law in the nation's capital after being convicted of lying to a grand jury and investigators last year (Case No. 07-BG-170). The three-judge District of Columbia Court of Appeals wrote in its one-and-a-half page opinion, "When a member of the Bar is convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, disbarment is mandatory." The judges (John R. Fisher, Anna Blackburne-Rigsby and Annice Wagner) were appointees of Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Of course, a portion of Libby's sentence was commuted by President Bush last July. According to the Washington Post:Libby's disbarment is effective as of June 12, 2007, when he first filed a declaration saying he woul
In the following press release Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that two attorneys have been charged separately with looting their respective escrow accounts and failing to return money they had been holding for clients.District Attorney Brown said, “According to the charges, the defendants not only violated the trust that their clients placed in them but they let down the entire legal system which counts on members of the bar to conduct themselves in an ethical matter. Each of the attorneys has been disbarred, and each now faces serious criminal charges.”District Attorney Brown identified the defendants as Arelia Taveras, 46, presently of Bloomington , Minnesota , and another person in a non Mortgage/Real Estate related matter. Taveras, who is accused of stealing a total of $99,142 from four clients, is charged with three counts of third-degree grand larceny, second-degree forgery, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and scheme to d
Ray Gibson reports for the Chicago Tribune that Phillip Radmer, a disbarred Berwyn attorney who created phony corporations and invented board members to steal the properties of poor churches, nonprofit groups and businesses, was sentenced on November 20th 2007 to 12 years in prison. “Mr. Radmer has ruined a lot of people’s lives in this case,” Cook County Circuit Judge Stanley Sacks is reported to have said in imposing the sentence for theft and forgery. Representatives of six churches told the judge that the scheme forced them to spend scarce resources to untangle the mess left behind by Radmer over who rightfully owned the properties. In a series of fraudulent real estate deals, Radmer created dozens of phony corporations and individuals in a plot to steal more than 60 vacant lots, a Tribune investigation found last year. He netted at least $655,000 from the sale of four properties owned by the First Presbyterian Church on the city’s South Side. Assistant
In the following press release the Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced today that Joseph Levine, a 59-year-old recently disbarred attorney from Hewlett, has been arrested and charged with stealing more than $300,000 from two clients he was hired to represent in legal matters during the past year. Mr. Levine is facing felony counts of Grand Larceny in the Second and Third Degrees, and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree. “Lawyers are hired into positions of trust, often during a difficult time of someone’s life,” said Rice. “The betrayal of that trust is something my administration takes very seriously and will continue to investigate and prosecute aggressively.” Rice said that in December of 2006, the defendant counseled a Rockville Centre woman to settle a personal injury lawsuit that awarded his client $300,000. On December 27, 2006, Mr. Levine traveled to the Pennsylvania office of the i
How much do you supposed that Hillary and Bill Clinton paid Sandy Berger to carry out this theft and destruction of historical national security documents? I dont know which shocks me more that he did in fact do this or that a bigger deal isnt be made of it. It would be like the Sheriff of a town caught shoplifting. And of course I have to ask the litmus test question for such incidents: Would the media and Democrat reaction have been any different if it had been a conservative doing the same thing? We all know the answer and yes, it would have been like sharks in a feeding frenzy. But getting back to the original issue what do you suppose was in the documents that worried the Clintons so much and why isnt the media asking that question? ~RJH Fox News article link Report: Clinton National Security Adviser Berger Disbarred Over Archives TheftWASHINGTON Sandy Berger, who served as national security adviser during the Clinton administration, has given up his license to practice
Manuel Arveso, closing attorney, consented to his Disbarment for commingling funds and failing to satisfy liens in a property sale transaction. According to the Report of the Referee, admitted the following: Arveso served as the attorney for the buyer and Florida Title and Escrow Fund, which was the closing agent in a real estate transaction involving Buyer, Sidonia View Holdings, LLC and Seller, Michael A. Aliberti. The Settlement Statement …Read More...
Disturbingly enough, in some states, disciplined lawyers can still work as paralegals or clerks.There are states that absolutely ban disciplined attorneys from even coming near legal work, such as Massachusetts. Here, suspended or disbarred attorneys cannot be employed in any capacity in any capacity, even as a janitor, by another member of the bar.California and Colorado, however, allow suspended attorneys to work as paralegals, as long as the supervising attorney notifies clients about the disciplinary action. Yet it is still difficult to employ a disciplined attorney:In a recent Colorado case, a disbarred attorney was hired by his former firm—ostensibly operated by his former associates. The reality was that the disbarred attorney was still running the firm, according to Nancy L. Cohen, president of the National Organization of Bar Counsel. “It is going to be hard for you to supervise that person and tell them what to do,” she says.
Nicholas J. Ellis thought that even though he had been disbarred, he would be able to work as a paralegal. Not so fast, said Justice Robert J. Cordy of the Worcester, Mass. Supreme Judicial Court, as he prevented a potential ethical black hole from entering the paralegal profession.Ellis was asked to resign from practicing law after pleading guilty to two counts of motor vehicle insurance fraud in 2002. That guilty plea resulted in a sentence from the Worcester Superior Court to serve six months of a two-and-one-half-year sentence in the House of Correction. As an attorney, Ellis made fraudulent claims to John Hancock regarding his client's alleged disability. Ellis knew his client was not disabled, but proceeded to make the claims anyway.What would stop him from committing egregious ethics violations as a paralegal? Ellis would not have a license to practice to lose. No, someone else's license would be on the line, and he could freely pass the buck to his employer.As paralegals
