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NEW FILINGS,
HEARING SCHEDULES AND CLERK'S OFFICE Recent Disciplinary Decisions from Supreme Court | Recently Filed Complaints and Reports | Announcements | Schedule of Hearings | Clerk’s Office Services ANNOUNCEMENT OF DISCIPLINARY DECISIONS Friday, May 23, 2003 10:00 A.M. The Supreme Court of
Illinois on Thursday May 22, 2003 announced the filing of
disciplinary orders involving a number of licensed lawyers.
Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in
professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.
Discipline ranged from probation to disbarment. One
lawyer was ordered to be the subject of a Hearing Board
reprimand.
The name of each disciplined lawyer, the address at which the lawyer last practiced, and a brief summary of the misconduct that led to the sanction, can be found in the attached material. The announcement of the orders may be reviewed at the Supreme Court website: www.state.il.us/court. The Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), an Illinois Supreme Court agency, investigates alleged wrongdoing by Illinois attorneys, holds hearings on specific charges, and recommends discipline where warranted. The Supreme Court is, however, the only authority that can discipline lawyers for misconduct. The Supreme Court generally announces lawyer sanction orders during each formal term of Court. The Court convenes in term every January, March, May, September and November. There are approximately 78,000 attorneys in Illinois. A yearly fee of $229 is imposed on Illinois lawyers and helps to fund the ARDC. There are no tax dollars used to support the disciplinary system. The ARDC is composed of seven members, three of whom are non-lawyers. Attorney Benedict Schwarz II is the Commission Chairman. The ARDC Administrator is Mary Robinson. For additional information concerning these disciplinary orders contact:
James J. Grogan, Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission,
Chicago. 312-565-2600 or 1-800-826-8625 In
re JOSEPH JAMES BITTER, Attorney Number 215945 File
Information: M.R. 18741, 03 RC 1504
Mr. Bitter was licensed in
both Iowa and Illinois in 1964. He was publicly reprimanded in
Iowa for aiding a non-lawyer employee in the unauthorized
practice of law by allowing his legal assistant to meet with an
elderly estate-planning client, draft the client’s will, and
preside over its execution. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed
reciprocal discipline and reprimanded him.
In
re JOHN JOSEPH CAREY, Attorney Number 6197408 File
Information: M.R. 18575, 99 SH 67
and
In
re JOSEPH PETER DANIS, Attorney Number 6222099 File
Information: M.R. 18575, 99 SH 68
Mr.
Carey, who was licensed in 1988, and Mr. Danis, who was licensed
in 1994, were both suspended for six months. They engaged in a
conflict of interest when they represented a plaintiff in a
class action against Chrysler Corporation, having formerly
represented Chrysler in a substantially related matter. In
addition, during the course of federal litigation where Chrysler
had sued them for breaching their fiduciary duties, they
submitted false discovery responses.
In
re STEPHEN THOMAS CARMICK File Information: M.R. 18694, 03 RC 1502 Mr.
Carmick was licensed in Illinois in 1972 and in Washington in
1980. He was suspended for sixty days in Washington for
communicating directly with a party known to be represented by
counsel in an effort to settle a child support matter,
presenting an ex parte
settlement order to the family court without notice to opposing
counsel, and wrongly representing to that court that opposing
counsel had approved of the settlement order and had approved
his direct contact with opposing counsel's client. Illinois
imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for sixty days. In re ROBERT BRYAN COCHONOUR,
Attorney Number 466522 File
Information M. R. 18724, 03 SH 13 Mr. Cochonour, who was licensed in 1971,
was disbarred on consent. He pleaded guilty to a charge of
felony theft over $100,000 and was sentenced to seven years of
imprisonment. He
stole funds from a decedent's estate in which he served as
executor.
In
re RICHARD BRUCE GIRDLER File
Information: M.R. 18728; 03 RC 1503
Mr. Girdler was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1971 and in New Jersey the following year. New Jersey suspended him for three months and until further order of Court for neglect, failing to communicate with a client, making misrepresentations to a client, making false statements to a court, and failing to cooperate with disciplinary authorities. Illinois suspended him for three months and until he is reinstated in New Jersey as reciprocal discipline. In
re DAVID VINCENT GRIGSBY, Attorney Number 6193358 File
Information: M.R. 18695, 00 SH 58
Mr. Grigsby was licensed to practice in
1986. His disciplinary case was remanded to the Hearing Board
for a reprimand. He failed to provide competent representation
to a defendant sentenced to death in a post-conviction petition
and in the appeal of the dismissal of the petition.
In
re REGINALD CLINTON GRIFFIN File
Information: M.R. 18716, 02 CH 41
Mr. Griffin, who
was licensed in 1994, was suspended for two years and until
further order of Court. He solicited prospective clients in
traffic court matters, engaged in verbal abuse and assault of
others, repeatedly failed to appear in court to represent his
clients or respond to his own criminal charges, resulting in
arrest warrants being issued against him, and converted $215 of
client funds.
In
re H. DEAN HAMRA, Attorney Number 6188672 File
Information: M.R. 18697, 03 DC 1003 Mr.
Hamra, who was licensed in 1984, was disbarred on consent. He
misappropriated funds, failed to return unearned fees, and
closed his practice without communicating with clients. In
re MARTIN E. LITWIN, Attorney Number 1677411
File
Information: M.R. 18722, 01 CH 123 Mr. Litwin, who was licensed in 1963, was disbarred on consent. He was
convicted by a federal jury of one count of conspiracy to commit
tax fraud, two counts of assisting in the preparation of false
tax returns and one count of aiding and abetting perjury. He was
sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay fines and
costs of $50,400. Mr. Litwin
was suspended on an interim basis on February
20, 2002. In
re RICHARD F. MORTON File
Information: M.R. 18743, 01 CH 48
Mr. Morton, who was licensed in 1989, was
suspended for one year and until he successfully completes an
alcohol dependency program, pays $17,000 plus interest in
restitution as ordered in a prior disciplinary matter, and
complies with Illinois Supreme Court Rule 764. He engaged in the
unauthorized practice of law while suspended for unrelated
professional misconduct and neglected a divorce matter.
In
re JAMES L. NEPPL, Attorney Number 2036126 File
Information: M.R. 18687, 03 RC 1501 Mr.
Neppl was licensed in both Illinois and in Iowa in 1967. He was
reprimanded in Iowa for failing to adequately prepare a divorce
client for trial, making profane and offensive remarks to that
client, and refusing to permit the client to accept a settlement
offer that was agreeable to the client. Illinois imposed
reciprocal discipline and reprimanded him. In
re FRANK MATTHEW PICL File
Information: M.R. 18700, 02 SH 66
Mr. Picl, who was licensed in 1977, was
censured. He neglected to file a post-conviction appellate brief
on behalf of a client who had been convicted of first-degree
murder.
In
re CURT PATRICK REHBERG File Information: M.R. 18696, 02 CH 24 Mr. Rehberg, who was licensed in 1989, was
censured. He neglected a client’s zoning matter, falsely told
the client that he had filed a civil case on his behalf, and
misrepresented the status of the matter to the client on several
occasions. In re BRENDA A.
ROSSINI, Attorney Number 6184529 File
Information: M.R. 18699, 02 CH 11 Ms. Rossini, who was licensed in 1983, was disbarred. She misappropriated securities from an estate, created false documents, misappropriated funds, and deceived a bank into releasing $40,000 to a divorce client when she knew that a court had ordered that the funds be held in escrow. She also assisted her husband, a non-attorney, in the unauthorized practice of law, when she allowed him to appear in court in a matter in which she was a defendant and when she permitted him to represent a client as an attorney in a matter in which she had received the fee. In re
DAVID I. ROTH File
Information: M.R. 18686, 00 CH 96 Mr. Roth, who was licensed in 1983, was disbarred on
consent. He pled guilty to
participating in a scheme to defraud limited partner investors
and a financial institution in connection with the sale of
commercial real property. He was sentenced to a nineteen-month
prison term and, along with a co-defendant, was ordered to pay
$522,000 in restitution. He was suspended on an interim basis on
February 7, 2001. In re PHILIP E. SCHICKEDANZ File
Information: M.R. 18725, 01 SH 108 Mr.
Schickedanz, who was licensed in 1972, was suspended for six
months and until further order of Court, with all but the first
ninety days of the suspension stayed by a four-year term of
probation. He was
convicted of DUI and missed two court appearances in a client’s
DUI matter. He was previously disciplined. In re DAVID KITE STALKER, Attorney
Number 2700417 File
Information: M.R. 18710, 02 SH 7
Mr. Stalker, who was licensed in 1971,
was suspended for two years and until further order of Court. He
neglected four different tort claims on behalf of clients. In
addition, he made material misrepresentations to a court during
a citation to discover asset proceeding arising from a legal
malpractice judgment entered against him in favor of a former
client.
In
re JIMMY RAY STURGEON File
Information: M.R. 18711, 01 CH 44
Mr. Sturgeon, who was licensed in 1990, was suspended for 2½ years and until he pays $8,000 in restitution to a former client. He failed to return unearned fees to the former client, communicated with a party whom he knew to be represented by another lawyer without obtaining prior consent, and engaged in the unauthorized practice of law while suspended.
File
Information: M.R. 18727, 01 CH 126
Mr. Zenner, who was licensed in 1978, was suspended for two years. Between June 1995 and October 1996, he paid a non-lawyer approximately $68,000 for referrals of personal injury cases. Further, he commingled personal funds with client funds in his client trust account.
In re CHARLES J. SCHNEIDER File
Information: M.R. 18603, 03 DC 1001 (Order
entered April 1, 2003) Mr. Schneider, who was licensed in 1979, was disbarred on
consent. He was convicted of racketeering, mail fraud, wire
fraud and conspiracy for his role in a scheme to defraud and
obtain money from the Town of Cicero by means of false and
fraudulent pretenses. In
re PAUL M. STORMENT Jr. File
Information: No. 92832,
98 SH 112 (Opinion
filed November 21, 2002; Mandate issued April 10, 2003) Mr.
Storment, who was licensed in 1963, was suspended for two years.
He failed to memorialize a referral fee agreement in writing. He
was previously disciplined. THE
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