Legal Malpractice LawyerThe Connecticut Attorney’s Grievance Committee has rejected a settlement based on a lawyer’s failure to document legal transactions between the law firm and their former client.
Articles Tagged with bar admission
Iowa Practice change in Legal Malpractice Claim Arising From Criminal Representation
The Iowa Supreme Court has recently made a decision permitting a criminal defendant to sue his attorney for legal malpractice, without having to prove that he was innocent of the criminal charges. The Defendant was Robert Baker, who sued his attorney after claiming the attorney advised him to enter a plea agreement on a solicitation charge, so that other charges would be dismissed.
Kelly v. Orr, No. D067735: California Appellate Court Reverses Judgment Time-Barring Legal Malpractice Claim of Successor Trustee
The Fourth District Court of Appeals of California recently reversed a decision of the trial court dismissing a legal malpractice claim based on a lapsed one-year statute of limitations. In Kelly v. Orr, a grantor created a trust agreement that named a successor trustee upon the resignation of the current trustee. However, when the current trustee resigned, the daughter of the grantor seized control of the trust and became trustee. She then retained a law firm using trust assets and followed their advice on how to manage the trust.
Commission for Lawyer Discipline v. Charles D. Septowski, No. 201400356: Texas Attorney Disbarred for Practicing while Suspended
An Evidentiary Panel of the Grievance Committee for the State Bar of Texas has disbarred a Texas Attorney for practicing law while his license was suspended. In Commission for Lawyer Discipline v. Charles D. Septowski, an attorney was serving a three month suspension under a previous disciplinary judgment.
In re Stephen Glass Opinion No. S196374: Moral Integrity Prevents Ex-Journalist from Being Admitted to California Bar
The California Supreme Court has rejected a majority recommendation of the California State Bar Court that an applicant be admitted to the California State Bar, on the basis that he had not provided sufficient evidence of a significant change in his character. The applicant was a former journalist, who fabricated several articles that he produced for various news sources from in the late 1990’s. He often contrived evidence to support the articles, in order to deceive the fact checkers that reviewed his articles before publication. He was eventually caught and fired.
While working as a journalist, he also attended evening classes at a law school. After graduating, he took and passed the New York bar exam. He disclosed his past discretions in his application for admission to the bar, but withdrew it after he was informally told that it would have been rejected as a result of his conduct.
He then moved to California and began clerking for a local law firm. While in California, he sought psychiatric treatment and assisted homeless clients with their personal and legal matters.
Several years later, he took the California bar exam, passed, and sought admission to the bar. The California Committee of Bar Examiners denied his application stating that he did not satisfy the requirements of California’s moral fitness test.