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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 Thursday November 29, 2001 10:00 A.M. The Supreme Court of Illinois on Wednesday November 28, 2001 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 censure to disbarment. 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 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 more than 76,000 registered attorneys in Illinois. A yearly fee of $180 that all lawyers must pay to practice in Illinois funds ARDC. There are no tax dollars used to fund 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 MARTIN H. ALPERT, Attorney
Number 6189442 File Information: M.R. 17749, 01 CH 13
Mr. Alpert, who was licensed in 1985, was suspended for one
year. While a partner
at a large Chicago law firm, Mr. Alpert misappropriated
approximately $35,000 from the firm over a two-year period by
submitting false expense vouchers.
In addition, he made false statements about the nature of
some of those purported expenses when questioned by another partner.
In
re DOROTHY E. BARTLETT-SVEHLA, File
information: M.R. 17701, 01 CH 27
Ms. Bartlett-Svehla, who was licensed in 1988, was
censured and ordered to complete the Illinois Professional
Responsibility Institute program. While employed as an associate in
a small firm, she made misrepresentations to her clients about the
settlement of a probate claim.
About the same time, she neglected an unrelated real estate
transaction and made misrepresentations to her client about the
closing date.
In
re STUART JOSEPH BOBROW, Attorney Number 3126854 File
Information, M.R. 17750, 00 CH 25
Mr.
Bobrow, who was licensed in 1980, was suspended for three years and
until further order of Court. He settled a medical malpractice case
without authority, converted funds in two matters, provided false
settlement statements to one client, and made misrepresentations
during the course of the disciplinary investigation.
In
re LAWRENCE LLOYD BRUCKNER, Attorney Number 323756 File
Information, M.R. 17722, 00 CH 12 Mr. Bruckner, who
was licensed in 1974, was suspended
for five and one-half months and until he successfully completes a
professionalism seminar approved by the Administrator. On behalf of
a client, he drafted a will and charitable testamentary trust
that allowed him as trustee to improvidently invest the trust funds.
This amounted to a conflict of interest that was not adequately
disclosed to his client. He also pled guilty to the unlawful sale of
a threatened species, freshwater clams or mussels, and he later
tried to obstruct the disciplinary investigation into the conviction
by submitting a guilty plea form that he had altered to reflect that
he had pled “no contest.”
In
re JOHN JOSEPH BUDIN, Attorney Number 6190387 File
information: M.R. 17678, 01 CH 26
Mr. Budin, who was licensed in 1985, was
censured for neglecting a workers’ compensation matter,
misrepresenting the status of the matter to his client, and
attempting to settle the client’s claim against him without
properly advising the client to obtain independent representation.
In re RUTH M. DEGNAN, Attorney
Number 6215955 File
Information: M.R. 17663, 99 CH 51
Ms. Degnan, who was licensed in 1993, was suspended for sixty days. She neglected the medical malpractice case of a couple whose 17-month-old daughter died after receiving medical treatment. Because of her neglect, the matter became time-barred. In re JAMES C. ECONOMY, Attorney Number
6189169 File
Information: M.R. 17665, 97 CH 25
Mr.
Economy, who was licensed in 1985, was suspended for five years and
until further order of Court, with the suspension effective February
11, 1998, the date of his interim suspension. The remainder of the
suspension was stayed by a three-year period of probation subject to
several conditions. He was convicted of battery, criminal damage to property, and
unlawful possession of a controlled substance. He had previously
been suspended after a controlled substance conviction.
In
re IRWIN LEE FRAZIN, Attorney Number 866709 File
Information: M.R. 17773, 00 CH 36
Mr. Frazin, who was licensed in 1964, was suspended for 30 days.
He neglected a client’s criminal appeal, resulting in the
court’s dismissing the appeal for want of prosecution.
Thereafter, he agreed to represent the client in
post-conviction proceedings. He
did not commence post-conviction proceedings or respond to the
client’s requests for information about the status of proceedings.
In re CHARLES KENT FREDERICK, Attorney
Number 6197277 File
information: M.R. 17735, 00 CH 79
Mr. Frederick, who was licensed in 1988, was suspended for six months and until further order of Court. While employed as an associate in a small firm, he neglected a retaliatory discharge case by permitting a $1.2 million-dollar judgment to be entered against his client. He failed to appear at his own disciplinary proceeding. In
re SCOTT NEAL JAFFE, Attorney Number 6211225 File
information: M.R. 17654, 00 CH 17 Mr. Jaffe, who was licensed in 1992, was
suspended for 18 months and until further order of the Court.
He neglected two client matters, failed to refund an
unearned $750 fee advance, and did not cooperate with the
disciplinary investigation. He also publicly made a racially and
sexually degrading statement to a Department of Corrections employee
while attempting to bond out a client. In
re JO CURIE JOFFE, Attorney Number 3122346 File
information: M.R. 17640, 01 CH 6
Ms. Joffe, who was
licensed in 1978, was censured. Between 1989 and 1999, she failed to
establish a guardianship estate so that settlement monies from a
personal injury matter could be paid to her disabled, minor client.
She further failed to communicate effectively with the child’s
mother.
In
re DANIEL L. KOEHL, Attorney Number 3121871 File Information: M.R. 17677, 99 CH 98
Mr.
Koehl, who was licensed to practice law in 1978, was suspended from
the practice of law for five months, with all but the first two
months stayed, provided that he complete courses in law office
management and professional ethics. He neglected a client matter for
more than three years and misrepresented the status of the matter to
the client during that time. He
ultimately created a fictitious settlement of the matter, paid the
client from his personal funds, and misled the client as to the
source of those funds.
In
re SORRELL HAROLD LAPINS, Attorney Number 1578847 File
information: M.R. 17653, 00 CH 86
Mr. Lapins, who was licensed in 1960, was
suspended for five months after he submitted false financial
statements to a bank in order to obtain credit for his truck repair
business.
In
re JOHN E. LAW, Attorney Number 6232109 File information: M.R. 17664, 00 CH 53
Mr. Law, who was licensed in 1977, was
suspended for one year and until further order of Court. He was the
subject of multiple criminal convictions including reckless
driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, improper lane
usage, driving while his license was revoked, obtaining lodging
without payment, and resisting a peace officer.
In re STEPHEN MAYER MASTERS,
Sr., Attorney Number 1790609 File
Information: M.R. 17674, 98 CH 60
Mr.
Masters, who was licensed in 1970, was suspended for one year. He
assisted his client in fraud and offered false evidence in
connection with a personal injury claim.
He also litigated his client’s claims of harassment by
agents of the defendant despite substantial evidence that the claims
were groundless and had been fabricated by the client.
In
re THOMAS McGRATH, Attorney Number 6192705 File
Information: M.R. 17736, 98 CH 35
Mr. McGrath, who was licensed in 1986, was suspended for three years. For
over a three-year period, he improperly shared at least
$550,000 in legal fees with Office Management, a company that was
not owned, operated, staffed or managed by a licensed attorney. He
also assisted in the unauthorized practice of law by non-attorney
agents of Office Management and was involved in at least ten cases
where clients were improperly solicited to retain him in personal
injury matters.
In re HARVEY PAUL MUSLIN,
Attorney Number 2004984 File
Information: M.R. 17691, 01 RC 1518
Mr. Muslin was
licensed in Illinois in 1971 and in Florida in 1980. He was
reprimanded in Florida and placed on probation for failing to
provide competent representation in a bankruptcy matter.
As reciprocal discipline, the Illinois Supreme Court censured
him and placed him on supervised probation for not less than 24
months subject to the terms and conditions of his Florida probation.
In
re JOEL WILLIAM OSTRANDER, Attorney Number 2123878 File information: M.R. 17690, 01 CH 01
Mr. Ostrander, who was licensed in 1975, was suspended for three
months. He converted $5,048.40 that he had agreed to hold for the
purpose of settling a medical lien on behalf of a client in a
personal injury matter.
In re WILLIAM ROBERT PEARCY,
Attorney Number 2160870 File
Information: M.R. 17629, 98 SH 129
Mr.
Pearcy, who was licensed in 1974, was suspended for six months. He
affiliated himself with companies that used a non-lawyer sales staff
to sell living trust ‘packages’ to elderly persons.
He was found to have assisted non-lawyers in the unauthorized
practice of law and to have divided legal fees with non-lawyers
In
re RENITA REYNOLDS, Attorney Number 6193803 File
information: M.R. 17762, 01 CH 11 Ms. Reynolds, who was licensed in 1986, was disbarred. She neglected three separate client matters, converted costs belonging to one client, failed to return unearned fees paid to her by two clients, practiced law while not registered, and failed to cooperate with the disciplinary investigation.
In
re FRANK DAVID RIBACK, Attorney Number 2325268 File
information: M.R. 17689, 00 CH 85
Mr. Riback, who was licensed in 1968, was suspended for three years.
He converted $43,218 that he had agreed to hold for the benefit of
the two minor children of a woman whom he had represented in a
workers’ compensation matter arising from the death of her
husband. After taking
the money, he made false statements to his client about the status
of the funds. He used
the money to fund a van conversion company that later failed.
In re ANDREW DENNIS SANDRONI,
Attorney Number 6203464 File Information: M.R. 17721, 01 RC 1519
Mr. Sandroni
was licensed in Missouri in 1985 and in Illinois in 1990. The
Supreme Court of Missouri reprimanded him after he neglected a
client's employment discrimination case that resulted in an adverse
judgment against the client. The Illinois Supreme Court reprimanded
him as reciprocal discipline. In re SPENCER WILLIAM SCHWARTZ, File information: M.R. 17696, 98 CH 92 Mr. Schwartz, who was licensed in 1961, was suspended for twelve months. He breached his fiduciary duty to client when he billed her for the time that his son spent reviewing medical records in the case. At that time, the son was not a licensed attorney, although he was subsequently admitted to the bar. In addition, in a deposition in a wrongful death case, he aided his son in the unauthorized practice of law, when, although the son was not then licensed, he asked the majority of the questions and made objections at the deposition. Mr. Schwartz never advised opposing counsel or the deponent of the son’s status. Finally, Mr. Schwartz engaged in overreaching and collected an unreasonable fee by charging a client a fee in excess of that allowed by law for settling a case in the Court of Claims. Friday
November 30, 2001 10:00 A.M. The Supreme Court of Illinois yesterday announced the filing of two more disciplinary orders involving licensed lawyers. These orders supplement the Court’s disciplinary orders of November 29, 2001. The name of both disciplined lawyers, the address at which they last practiced, and a brief summary of the misconduct that led to the sanction, can be found in the attached material. 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
SCOTT DOUGLAS CLARK, Attorney Number 6206767 File Information: M.R. 17713, 97 CH 111
Mr.
Clark, who was licensed in 1991, was suspended for two years and until
further order of Court. He bound with rope a secretary who worked in
his law office, following a law firm social event.
Later, he tied and bound two women who interviewed for a job
with the law firm for which he worked.
In re RICHARD A.
HENDERSHOT, Attorney No. 6223618 File information: M.R. 17860, 01 CH 101 Mr. Hendershot, who was licensed in 1994, was disbarred on consent. He was found guilty of three counts of mail fraud in federal court and was sentenced to a forty-eight month prison term, three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $233,720.00 in restitution. |
