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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 Monday, December 1, 2002 10:00 A.M. The Supreme Court of Illinois on Tuesday, November 26, 2002, 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. 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. For a copy of any of these disciplinary orders contact the Clerk's Office in Chicago at 312-565-2600 or 1-800-826-8625. In
re RICHARD KEVIN BELT, Attorney Number 6206555 File
Information: M.R. 18338, 01 CH 122
Mr.
Belt, who was licensed in 1991, was disbarred for neglecting client
cases, making misrepresentations to clients and failing to return
unearned fees. He did not
cooperate in the disciplinary process, and he failed to appear at his
hearing.
In
re WILLIAM EARL BROOKS, Attorney
Number 308080 File
information: M.R. 18325, 00 CH 89
Mr. Brooks, who was licensed in
1977, was suspended for twenty-four months, with the last twenty-two
months stayed by probation with conditions. He neglected a paternity
case and mismanaged client settlement funds in two different personal
injury matters.
In
re REX GORDON BURKE, Attorney Number 344591 File
Information: M.R. 18317, 00 SH 61
Mr. Burke, who was licensed in
1975, was suspended for thirty days. He neglected two client matters,
was incompetent in his representation of those two clients, and failed
to communicate with them.
In re WILLIAM THOMAS
FREEMAN, Jr., File information: M.R. 18354, 01 CH 114 Mr. Freeman, who was licensed in 1975, was disbarred. He neglected five different client matters, did not refund unearned fees, and wrote a check on an account that had insufficient funds. He also failed to cooperate in the disciplinary proceedings. In
re JOHN GERGETS, Attorney Number 6230933 File
Information: M.R. 18324, 99 CH 104
Mr. Gergets, who was licensed in
1996, was suspended for eighteen months, the suspension was stayed
after the first twelve months and probation with conditions was
imposed for an additional twelve months. He misappropriated
approximately $4,000 from a client's arbitration settlement.
In
re MARVIN IRA GERSTEIN, Attorney Number 942162 File
Information: M.R. 18377, 99 SH 1
Mr. Gerstein, who was licensed in 1964, was suspended for
thirty days for writing a series of inappropriate and abusive letters
in connection with his representation of four different clients.
He has been disciplined on two prior occasions for similar
misconduct.
In
re KRISTIN J. GOEKEN, Attorney Number 6237177 File
Information: M.R. 18335, 02 CH 6
Ms. Goeken, who was licensed in
1996, was suspended for twenty-four months, with the suspension stayed
after the first six months by probation. She pled guilty to obtaining
controlled substances with forged prescriptions.
In re SHELDON NORMAN
GOLDBERG, File
information: M.R. 18397, 00 CH 75
Mr. Goldberg, who was licensed in 1953, was suspended for two years. He neglected a minor client's personal injury case over a twenty-four year period and made misrepresentations concerning the status of the claim In
re STEVEN M. KRAMER, Attorney Number 1523910 File
Information: M.R. 18385, 02 RC 1516
Mr. Kramer was
licensed in Illinois in 1975 and in New Jersey in 1983. He was
disbarred in New Jersey for initiating an illegal private
investigation of a federal judge after the judge vacated a $238
million judgment that had been entered in favor of a client,
practicing law while suspended, and failing to cooperate with the New
Jersey disciplinary authorities. Illinois imposed reciprocal
discipline and disbarred him.
In
re PATRICIA MALLICK-KING, Attorney Number 3126242 File
information: M.R. 18443, 00 CH 27
Ms. Mallick-King, who was licensed in 1980, was
disbarred on consent. She was convicted in federal court of
harboring a fugitive and as accessory after the fact. She assisted her
husband in avoiding apprehension on an arrest warrant that issued
because of his failure to comply with child support obligations.
In
re MILAN G. OKLEPEK, Attorney Number 2098482 File
Information: M.R. 18353, 00 CH 02
Mr. Oklepek, who was licensed in 1972, was
suspended for six months. On behalf of an elderly client, he prepared
a will and living trusts that bequeathed increasingly large amounts of
the client’s estate to Mr. Oklepek and his wife.
In
re JOHN ALLEN PIPER, Attorney Number 2213222 File
Information: M.R. 18413, 01 SH 104
Mr. Piper, who was licensed in
1974, was censured. He failed to timely file employer’s tax returns
or remit withholding taxes that he deducted from his secretary’s
paychecks for the years 1994 through 1998.
In
re LAWRENCE C. REDMOND, JR., Attorney Number 6192358 File
Information: M.R. 18387, 01 CH 43
Mr. Redmond, who was licensed in 1986, was censured for
failing to provide competent representation to a criminal client while
working on an appeal from a denial of a post-conviction petition in a
capital case.
In re JON MICHELLE GIBBS
RICHARDSON, File
information: M.R. 18412, 02 CH 25
Ms.
Richardson, who was licensed in 1983, was suspended for ninety
days and until she makes restitution to a former client. She borrowed $4500 from that client without making the proper
representations and disclosures.
In
re MICHAEL GARLAND ROBERTS, Attorney Number 6187798 File
Information: M.R. 18334, 02 DC 1006
Mr.
Roberts, who was licensed in 1984, was disbarred upon consent. Between
September 2000 and May 2002, he engaged in a scheme to obtain
fees in bankruptcy cases by preparing fraudulent wage garnishment
orders containing the forged signatures of various bankruptcy judges
and submitting them to his clients’ employers.
In
re MICHAEL E. TABOR, Attorney Number 6182923 File
Information: M.R. 18318, 01 CH 8
Mr. Tabor, who was
licensed in 1982, was suspended for three months and until he provides
proof that he paid a legal malpractice judgment entered against him.
He neglected a client's workers' compensation matter and failed to
communicate the status of the claim to his client.
In
re ERIC KEITH VICKERS, Attorney Number 6184852 File
Information: M.R. 18384, 00 SH 77
Mr. Vickers, who was licensed in
1983, and who was previously suspended in 1990, was suspended for two
years and until further order of Court. He neglected client matters,
provided incompetent representation, failed to return unearned fees,
and made misrepresentations to his clients to conceal his misconduct.
In
re LACOULTON WALLS, Attorney
Number 6197052 File
Information: M.R. 18406, 01 CH 92
Mr. Walls, who was licensed in
1987, was suspended for one year. He mismanaged $8,755.21 in real
estate closing funds belonging to his clients. He also made false
representations during the course of the disciplinary investigation
into his misconduct.
In
re JAMES ROBERT WYER, Attorney Number 6188557 File
Information: M.R. 18337, 00 CH 10
Mr. Wyer, who was licensed to
practice law in 1984, and who was disciplined on two prior occasions,
was disbarred. He engaged in a prohibited conflict of interest when he
represented both the borrower and the lender in a loan transaction. He
subsequently misappropriated approximately $29,000 of the loan
proceeds. He also neglected a divorce matter and converted $25,000 in
funds entrusted to him by his client in that matter.
THE
FOLLOWING DISCIPLINARY ORDERS WERE ENTERED BY THE COURT BEFORE THE
NOVEMBER TERM BUT WERE NOT INCLUDED IN ANY PREVIOUS INFORMATION
RELEASE:
In
re RICHARD ANTHONY JULIANO, Attorney Number 6256162 File Information: M.R. 18423, 02 CH 93 Order
entered Nov. 4, 2002
Mr. Juliano, who was licensed in 1998, was suspended on an interim basis
and until further order of Court. He
pled guilty to a federal charge of mail fraud. He admitted that,
between 1997 and 1998, he participated in a scheme to defraud the
State of Illinois and its citizens by diverting personnel, services,
salary and other compensation and material resources of a public
agency to a partisan political campaign fund.
In
re PHILLIP H. PALMER, Attorney Number 6191783 File
Information: M.R. 17881, 00 SH 13 Order
entered October 7, 2002
Mr. Palmer was licensed in 1985. On January 29, 2002, he was suspended for
three years and until further order of Court, retroactive to May 7,
2001, with all but the first twelve months stayed by probation subject
to conditions after he was convicted of multiple DUI offenses as well
as felony driving with a revoked license. Because he did not comply
with the conditions of his probation, his probation was revoked, the
stay of the suspension was vacated, and he was suspended for three
years and until further order of the Court, effective May 7, 2001.
In
re DERRICK B. REESE, Attorney Number 6244296 File
Information: M.R. 18296, 01 CH 51 Order
entered Oct. 9, 2002
Mr. Reese, who was licensed in 1998, was suspended on an interim basis and
until further order of Court. He was charged with failing to
refund an unearned fee, appearing intoxicated before a tribunal,
neglect, and other misconduct. Subsequently, the Hearing Board
recommended that he be suspended for two years and until further order
of Court.
In
re VANESSA SMITH, Attorney Number 6244200 File
Information: M.R. 18217, 00 CH 35 Order
entered Nov. 8, 2002
Ms. Smith, who was licensed in 1997, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of Court. She has been charged with making false statements and omitting material information on her Illinois bar application, which resulted in her admission to the practice of law in this State on a foreign license when, in fact, she was ineligible for such admission. Further, she has beencharged with a lack of candor when she applied for a Securities Industry Registration and Transfer, because she failed to reveal that she had committed the criminal acts of failing to maintain records of firearms transfers, failing to register firearms in the City of Chicago, and theft from a former employer. |
