A well-regarded longtime California practitioner who found he bit off more than he could chew when he took on the project of turning around a troubled consumer law firm will lose his law license for a year as a result. According to a stipulation he signed Friday with the state bar, Kerry Steigerwalt, who is in his seventies, sold multiple pieces of property in order to make partial refunds totaling about $1 million to some 800 clients, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. The attorney disciplinary agreement also includes two years of probation. His Pacific Law Center was closed down in 2010. Earlier coverage: ABAJournal.com:…

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A well-regarded longtime California practitioner who found he bit off more than he could chew when he took on the project of turning around a troubled consumer law firm will lose his law license for a year as a result. According to a stipulation he signed Friday with the state bar, Kerry Steigerwalt sold multiple pieces of property in order to make partial refunds totaling about $1 million to some 800 clients, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The attorney disciplinary agreement also includes two years of probation. His Pacific Law Center was closed down in 2010. Earlier coverage: ABAJournal.com: "Attorney’s Failed Dream of Revitalizing…

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A longtime Kansas lawyer has been suspended from practice for one year, due in part to his concurrent representation of two spouses. One (the wife) was a suspect in a criminal arson investigation concerning the couple's home and had been videotaped purchasing accelerants on the day of the fire, according to an order (PDF) Friday by the Kansas Supreme Court. Meanwhile, attorney Brian R. Johnson also agreed to represent the husband in determining whether he should make a fire insurance claim, as an innocent spouse. Johnson admittedly did not obtain written, informed consent in advance to the potential conflict from the couple, who are referred to in the…

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A longtime Kansas lawyer has been suspended from practice for one year, due in part to his concurrent representation of two spouses. One (the wife) was a suspect in a criminal arson investigation concerning the couple's home and had been videotaped purchasing accelerants on the day of the fire, according to an order (PDF) Friday by the Kansas Supreme Court. Meanwhile, attorney Brian R. Johnson also agreed to represent the husband in determining whether he should make a fire insurance claim, as an innocent spouse. Johnson admittedly did not obtain written, informed consent in advance to the potential conflict from the couple, who are referred to in the…

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she…

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she…

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Developing: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she was not resigning from…

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Developing: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Orie has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, report the Pittsburgh Tribune. An earlier story in the the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she was not resigning…

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she was not resigning from the…

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Developing: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has relieved Justice Joan Orie Melvin of all judicial and administrative responsibilities, ordered her records secured and directed the court administrator to “ensure that the premises are vacated.” The action, announced in a press advisory, follows news today that Melvin has been charged with nine counts, including four felonies, based on accusations she used state-paid staff for campaign work, the Pittsburgh Tribune reports. An earlier story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette had news of the impending charges. Before the court action, Melvin had announced she was voluntarily recusing herself from judicial duties, but she was not resigning from…

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Steve Wolfson was a busy defense attorney before he was appointed in January to serve as district attorney for Clark County, Nev. That has presented a problem for his new colleagues, who have been dealing with efforts to disqualify the entire DA's office from prosecuting at least seven cases due to Wolfson's claimed prior involvement as legal counsel for the defendant, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In March, the DA sent an internal memo listing 83 former cases from which he was to be walled off by others in his office, the article recounts. Not on the list, however, were two that have been in the…

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Already fired and prosecuted over his role in illegally intercepting worker emails directed to the state inspector general, the former chief counsel for the Ohio Department of Public Safety was slapped with a heavier-than-expected legal ethics sanction by the state's top court. The Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline had recommended a public reprimand for Joshua A. Engel, who reportedly agreed to the penalty. But going beyond even the six-month stayed law license suspension originally sought by disciplinary counsel, a majority of the state's top court on Thursday imposed the six-month law license suspension without a stay, reports the Columbus Dispatch. Engel, who…

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Already fired and prosecuted over his role in illegally intercepting worker emails directed to the state inspector general, the former chief counsel for the Ohio Department of Public Safety was slapped with a heavier-than-expected legal ethics sanction by the state's top court. The Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline had recommended a public reprimand for Joshua A. Engel, who reportedly agreed to the penalty. But going beyond even the six-month stayed law license suspension originally sought by disciplinary counsel, a majority of the state's top court on Thursday imposed the six-month law license suspension without a stay, the Columbus Dispatch reports. Engel, who…

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A sole practitioner who worked as in-house counsel for companies controlled by a New York real estate developer has lost his law license for four years, because he failed to detect and stop mortgage-origination fraud by the developer that cost lenders $98 million. There is no evidence that Thomas Cusack knew of criminal activity and he didn't make any money from the scam, Reuters reports. However, "the evidence of his malfeasance is overwhelming" concerning his failure to perform standard lender's attorney functions, wrote the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division, Second Department, in a Tuesday opinion sustaining 10 professional misconduct charges against Cusack. Cusack's lawyer said he was…

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In the latest salvo in an onoing dispute over the estate of civil rights icon Rosa Parks, an attorney for a foundation that was to benefit from her will has sued a Michigan probate judge and two court-appointed attorneys, contending that they conspired to loot her estate. The unusual filing alleges that Judge Freddie Burton Jr. and attorneys John Chase Jr. and Melvin Jefferson Jr. racked up over $500,000 in largely unnecessary legal fees in the Wayne County case, leaving Parks' estate in debt $88,000, reports the Detroit Free Press. Attorney Stephen G. Cohen, who represents the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute, is seeking the judge's…

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A motion for sanctions accuses a former Cozen O’Connor partner in Dallas of calling opposing counsel an “ignorant slut” and “pansy” in a string of emails over the scheduling of depositions. Above the Law published the alleged emails. “We’ve seen some heated deposition transcripts in the past,” the blog says, “but we didn’t know that simply scheduling a deposition could get so nasty. Clearly, we’ve never practiced in Texas.” The ex-partner is Martin Sweeney. His emails complained that opposing lawyer Chad Arnette of Kelly Hart & Hallman demanded artificial deposition deadlines and “whined about traveling on a Sunday.” At one point, according to the allegations published…

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A motion for sanctions accuses a former Cozen O’Connor partner in Dallas of calling opposing counsel an “ignorant slut” and “pansy” in a string of emails over the scheduling of depositions. Above the Law published the alleged emails. “We’ve seen some heated deposition transcripts in the past,” the blog says, “but we didn’t know that simply scheduling a deposition could get so nasty. Clearly, we’ve never practiced in Texas.” The ex-partner is Martin Sweeney. His emails complained that opposing lawyer Chad Arnette of Kelly Hart & Hallman demanded artificial deposition deadlines and “whined about traveling on a Sunday.” At one point, according to the allegations published…

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Judge Gustin Reichbach of Brooklyn has survived three and a half years after his diagnosis of Stage 3 pancreatic cancer, and he credits medical marijuana for aiding him in the battle. Though the substance is banned for medical use in New York, Reichbach says in a New York Times op-ed that he used it anyway. “Nausea and pain are constant companions,” he wrote. “One struggles to eat enough to stave off the dramatic weight loss that is part of this disease. Eating, one of the great pleasures of life, has now become a daily battle, with each forkful a small victory. Every drug prescribed to treat…

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Greenberg Traurig and its former bank client are fighting a request for sanctions alleging discovery misconduct in a suit filed by investors who lost money in convicted ex-lawyer Scott Rothstein’s Ponzi scheme. The client, Toronto-Dominion Bank, was found liable for $67 million in January based on a finding that bank officials were aware of Rothstein’s false representations and “provided substantial assistance.” The contempt hearing today in Miami federal court focuses on whether the bank and Greenberg Traurig failed to turn over key documents, the Miami Herald reports. A lawyer for the investors, David Mandel, also claims the bank “doctored” a document, blacking out…

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The California Supreme Court is considering whether to grant a law license to an illegal immigrant, a paralegal who came to the United States as a young child. The immigrant, Sergio Garcia, came to the United States from Mexico with his parents when he was 17 months old, the Los Angeles Times reports, citing information from the Daily Journal (sub. req.). He has applied for legal status. The supreme court asked the State Bar of California to show cause why Garcia should be admitted to practice after the bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners revealed his immigration status in a routine request for license…

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