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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 Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:00 A.M. LAWYER DISCIPLINARY ORDERS INFORMATION RELEASE The Supreme Court of Illinois on Monday, March 17, 2008, 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. The attached list contains 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. The announcement of the orders may be reviewed at the Supreme Court of Illinois website: www.state.il.us/court. Unless otherwise noted, the mandate of discipline issued immediately. 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 85,000 attorneys in Illinois. Yearly fees are imposed on most Illinois lawyers 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 Jerome Larkin. For additional information concerning these disciplinary orders contact: James J. Grogan, Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Chicago. 312.565.2600 or 800.826.8625 The ARDC Website is: www.iardc.org
In re HALL ADAMS, III, Attorney Number 6194886 File Information: M.R. 22150, 05 CH 30 Mr. Adams, who was licensed in 1987, was suspended for five and one-half months. He submitted fraudulent billings to clients over several years. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008.
In re ALGIRDAS PAULIUS AMBUTAS, Attorney Number
6185002 File information: M.R. 22239, 07 CH 58 Mr. Ambutas, who was licensed in 1983, was censured and required to attend the Professionalism Seminar of the Illinois Institute of Professional Responsibility. He engaged in the unauthorized practice of law after he failed to register as an attorney. File information: M.R. 22127, 04 CH 73 Mr. Brown, who was licensed to practice in 1985, was suspended for six months. He neglected a criminal matter and a property damage claim. He was previously disciplined for similar misconduct. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008.
In re NATHAN DEMILLE COOPER,
Attorney
Number 6273505 File Number: M.R 22241, 08 DC 1004 Mr. Cooper, who was licensed in 2000, was disbarred on consent. He attempted to obtain a temporary work visa for a worker at a trucking company he represented by submitting an application that contained several false statements. Later, he made false representations to the United States Department of Labor concerning the immigration status of 110 alien workers at the company. He was convicted in federal court of misusing visas and making false statements to federal officials and was sentenced to a fifteen-month prison term.
In re ALBIN
J. CZARNIK, Attorney Number 6274768 File Number: M.R. 22203, 07 CH 15Mr. Czarnik, who was licensed in Illinois in 2001, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court. He was convicted in state court of retail theft. At the time of the conduct, he was suffering from untreated bipolar disorder.
In re GEORGE WILLIAM DAVIS, Attorney Number
589179 File Information: M.R. 22138, 06 CH 33 Mr. Davis, who was licensed in 1974, was suspended for thirty months and until further order of the Court. He was convicted in state court of possessing child pornography, a felony. On three or four occasions, he visited internet websites that featured pornographic images of children and downloaded those images onto a computer he used at work. He was sentenced to one year of probation, fined $7,000, ordered to complete an evaluation for sex offenders, and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.
In re RACHEL KATHLEEN DONEGAN, Attorney Number
6269654 File Information: M.R. 22223, 08 DC 1002 Ms. Donegan, who was licensed in 1999, was disbarred on consent. She participated with others to obtain mortgages by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises. In an effort to obtain these mortgages, she prepared and submitted applications grossly overstating income and providing false employment information for two applicants. She later pled guilty in federal court to wire fraud.
In re JAMES
FITZGERALD DONOVAN, Attorney Number 6188272 File Information: M.R. 22220, 07 CH 62Mr. Donovan, who was licensed in 1984, was suspended for two years and until further order of Court, with the suspension stayed in its entirety, pending completion of a two-year period of probation. His entered a guilty plea for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2005, was convicted for driving under the influence of alcohol in 2006, and was arrested for driving on a revoked license in 2006.
In re STEVEN J. FINK, Attorney Number 3124310 File Information: M.R. 22183, 05 CH 104 Mr. Fink, who was licensed in 1979, was censured. He failed to communicate with three clients while representing them in obtaining surplus funds from the foreclosure sales of their homes in accordance with their contract with a third party. He then gave their surplus funds to the third party, who failed to distribute the funds to them. Mr. Fink later paid all of the clients the amounts due to them. In
re JACQUELYN MARIE FOSTER, Attorney Number
6208275 File Information: M.R. 22142, 05 CH 5 Ms. Foster, who was licensed in 1991, was suspended for six months, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a two-year period of probation. She neglected four client matters and failed to refund unearned fees.
In re KEVIN GERARD
KATSIS, Attorney Number 3125301 File Information: M.R. 22143, 07 CH 47 Mr. Katsis, who was licensed in 1979, was suspended for three years and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed after eighteen months pending completion of a two-year period of probation with conditions. He converted $24,351.15 in escrow funds, and neglected a client’s breach of contract claim. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008.
In re PAUL MATIK,
Jr., Attorney Number 3125682 File Information: M.R. 22210, 08 DC 1003 Mr. Matik, who was licensed in 1979, was disbarred on consent. While serving as an accountant and the chief financial officer of a company, he converted over $200,000 in corporate funds to his own personal use by using a computer to accomplish the thefts. He pled guilty in state court to computer fraud, a class 3 felony, and was sentenced to a twenty-four-month term of probation.
In re CARL RICHARD MATTES, Attorney Number
6186729 File Information: M.R. 22231, 07 CH 70 Mr. Mattes, who was licensed in 1984, was disbarred on consent. He engaged in the unauthorized practice of law when he represented clients in probate court matters and in numerous real estate transactions while he was suspended for earlier misconduct He also neglected two client matters and failed to cooperate with the ARDC investigation. In
re PHILIP ROBERT NATHE, Attorney Number 6197326 File Information: M.R. 22128, 07 CH 34 Mr. Nathe, who was licensed in 1988, was censured. He engaged in a conflict of interest when he represented a criminal defendant in a battery case after he had established an attorney-client relationship with the victim of the crime, who had consulted with him about the battery.
In re THOMAS
ANDREW O’DONNELL Jr., File Information: M.R. 22181, 04 CH 115 Mr. O’Donnell, who was licensed in 1990, was suspended for sixty days. He represented both parties in a real estate transaction and thereafter attempted to help one party sue the other. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008.
In re TINA MARIE
OLTON, Attorney Number 6181212 File Information: M.R. 22167, 08 DC 1001 Ms. Olton, who was licensed in 1981, was disbarred on consent. She misappropriated at least $238,352.16 from a client while acting as his agent under a power of attorney.
In re ROBERT R. RUUD,
Attorney Number 2428652 File Information: M.R. 22204, 07 SH 82 Mr. Ruud, who was licensed in 1976, was disbarred on consent. He misappropriated $160,463 in funds that he received for an estate, converted $22,127 in settlement proceeds from a personal injury case, forged a client’s name on a check to pay legal fees, and forged his law partner’s name on an assignment of accounts receivable for the law partnership as collateral for a personal loan.
In re THOMAS FREDERICK SAX, Attorney Number
6190402 File Information: M.R. 22139, 03 CH 99 Mr. Sax, who was licensed in 1985, was suspended for six months. He engaged in a conflict of interest when he chose one client’s interests over another client’s interests in a restaurant development transaction after their respective interests became adverse. He also engaged in an improper business transaction with his clients after he obtained an equity interest in the restaurant development. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008.
In re LINDA M. SERRANO, Attorney Number 6204359 File Information: M.R. 22151, 08 RC 1501 Ms. Serrano was licensed in Illinois in 1990 and admitted in New Jersey in 1992. She was suspended for eighteen months and until further order of the Court in New Jersey after she made false statements to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in order to obtain federally-insured mortgages for unqualified borrowers. Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended her for eighteen months and until she is reinstated in New Jersey. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008. In re LARRY E. SMITH,
Attorney Number
6220901 File Information: M.R. 21877, 04 CH 78 Mr. Smith, who was licensed in 1994, was suspended for two years with the suspension stayed after one year by probation with conditions. He neglected seven different client matters, failed to keep clients informed of the status of their matters, and failed to cooperate with the disciplinary investigation. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008.
In re MARK JACOB THOMAS, Attorney Number 3129214 File Information: M.R. 22208, 07 CH 22 Mr. Thomas, who was licensed in 1981, was suspended for three months. He provided testimony in a matter that was adverse to a client without her knowledge or consent. In addition, he signed his client’s name to a document without the client’s consent and filed it with the court, and he subsequently denied signing the client’s name to the document. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008.
In re FRANK ANTHONY TEDESSO, Attorney Number
6216937 File Information: M.R. 22193, 07 CH 55 Mr. Tedesso, who was licensed in 1993, was censured. He neglected a client's civil rights claim, allowing it to become time-barred, and then made misrepresentations to the client regarding his work on the case.
In re GARY STEVEN
TUCKER,
Attorney Number
2863413 File information: M.R. 22031, 04 CH 89 Mr. Tucker, who was licensed in Illinois in 1971, was suspended for three years and until further order of the Court. He made false allegations in a lawsuit against another attorney and, later, to the ARDC in order to impede the disciplinary investigation. In
re EARL LOUIS WASHINGTON,
Attorney Number
2946149 File Information: M.R. 22218, 06 CH 34 Mr. Washington, who was licensed in 1958, was suspended for eighteen months and until further order of the Court. He failed to refund unearned fees to a number of clients and made misrepresentations to a judge. He also obtained a prohibited loan from a client.
In re JOHN RAYMOND WIESER,
Attorney Number 6210413 File Information: M.R. 22141, 06 CH 96 Mr. Wieser, who was licensed in 1992, was suspended for thirty days, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a two-year period of probation subject to conditions. He neglected a client’s dissolution of marriage matter. In
re A. LEO WIGGINS, Jr.,
Attorney Number
3128584 File Information: M.R. 22015, 04 CH 33 Mr. Wiggins, who was licensed in 1980, was suspended for one year. He allowed a disbarred lawyer to maintain a presence in his law office for approximately ten years. In addition, he settled a claim without a client’s consent, acted dishonestly with regard to signatures on a release he sent to the Chicago Transit Authority, and did not promptly pay a client her share of a $5,000 settlement in an underinsured motorist claim. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008.
In re KEVIN L. WILLIS,
Attorney Number 6203417 File Information: M.R. 22170, 07 CH 17 Mr. Willis, who was licensed in 1990, was suspended for ninety days. He represented a client in a forcible detainer action at a time when she had filed for bankruptcy, but he failed to notify the trustee or the bankruptcy court of the lawsuit. He also accepted title to the client’s real estate in exchange for his assumption of her mortgage and payment of back taxes, but he failed to give the client appropriate disclosures regarding the conflict of interest or notify the trustee or the bankruptcy court of the change of title. The suspension is effective on April 7, 2008.
The Following Orders Were Entered By The Court in Disciplinary Cases Before The March 2008 Term But Were Not Included In Any Previous Information Release
In
re MARK JOEL HELFAND, Attorney Number 1179543 File Information: M.R. 22125, 07 CH 131 (Order entered March 7, 2008) Mr. Helfand, who was licensed in 1971, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court. He participated in a real property “flipping” scheme, in which he provided money for the purchase of a run-down piece of property and would then conduct the closing for the resale of the same property in a short period of time for an amount two to three times its actual value. He was convicted in federal court of bank fraud and was sentenced to five months in prison and five months home confinement. In
re ROLAND MAURICE STEWART, Attorney Number
2733978 File Information: M.R. 22028, 05 CH 120 (Order entered February 29, 2008) Mr. Stewart, who was licensed in 1957, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court. An ARDC hearing panel earlier found that he had misappropriated over $223,000 in escrow funds.
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