The Illinois Supreme Court has 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. More information on each case is available at the ARDC website.

DISBARRED

• Robert Bruce Becker, Peoria

Mr. Becker, who was licensed in 1993, was disbarred on consent. He was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and criminal sexual assault. He was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court on November 27, 2007.

• Susan Grace Castagnoli, Zion

Ms. Castagnoli, who was licensed in 1979, was disbarred. She exerted undue influence over clients, charged excessive fees without authorization from the bankruptcy court and, in some cases, without her clients’ knowledge or consent, and engaged in dishonest conduct. She was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court on April 27, 2010.

• Charles August Conner, Jr., Chicago

Mr. Conner, who was licensed in 1987, was disbarred. He misappropriated more than $137,000 in funds relating to 37 different clients and/or their creditors. Further, on multiple occasions, he submitted false bank records to the ARDC in order to conceal those conversions. He was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court on December 22, 2010.

• Kenneth Glen Mason, Wilmette

Mr. Mason, who was licensed in 1976, was disbarred on consent. He was convicted in a federal court of aiding and abetting securities fraud in connection with his participation in an investment fraud scheme.

• Erwin Mayer, Winnetka

Mr. Mayer, who was licensed in Illinois in 1987, was disbarred on consent. He pled guilty in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States. His conduct involved the marketing and use of fraudulent income tax shelters.

• Mahendra R. Mehta, Chicago

Mr. Mehta, who was admitted in 1970, was disbarred. He misappropriated over $100,000 in real estate escrow funds and used most of those funds to pay sanctions entered against him by a bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas. He later falsely testified in court proceedings that he had been authorized by the parties to the real estate transaction to take the escrow funds, and that his client told him to take the funds as payment for attorney’s fees. He was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court on December 29, 2010.

• George Angelo Palivos, Chicago

Mr. Palivos, who was licensed in 1987, was disbarred. He participated in a scheme to defraud the United States Small Business Administration. He was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court on August 29, 2005.

• L. Tod Schlosser, Chicago

Mr. Schlosser, who was licensed in 1993, was disbarred. He neglected eight different immigration matters, did not respond to client requests for information, and failed to return unearned fees totaling $31,025. He did not participate in his own disciplinary proceeding.

• Peter Raymond Vogel, Sugar Grove

Mr. Vogel, who was licensed in 1972, was disbarred. He misappropriated approximately $3,850 in funds belonging to a client and engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in Wisconsin. He failed to appear at his disciplinary hearing.

• Adalbert Paul Wojewnik, Chicago

Mr. Wojewnik, who was licensed in 1992, was disbarred. He misappropriated approximately $5,000 in escrow funds that he had agreed to hold in connection with a client’s real estate transaction and failed to comply with a subpoena from the ARDC. He also failed to appear at his disciplinary hearing.

SUSPENDED

• Julia Cesar Argueta, Fox Lake

Mr. Argueta, who was licensed in 2000, was suspended for two years and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a two-year period of probation with conditions. He was convicted of three felony counts of aggravated driving while under the influence of alcohol.  While driving intoxicated, he was involved in an accident involving serious injuries to the other driver and the other driver’s passengers.

• James William Berry, Medinah

Mr. Berry, who was licensed in 1975, was suspended for one year and until he makes certain restitution. He assisted a client in diverting settlement proceeds away from a judgment creditor, and personally received $40,000 from the client after learning that the client had been served with a citation to discover assets. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2011.

• David Joshua Corbett, Arlington Heights

Mr. Corbett, who was licensed in 1989, was suspended for 30 days. He mismanaged approximately $1,700 that he was to have remitted to a lienholder on his client’s personal injury claim. The suspension is effective on August 1, 2011.

• Leonard Samuel DeFranco, Oakbrook Terrace

Mr. DeFranco, who was licensed in 1978, was suspended for 30 days. He collected unreasonable legal fees while representing the executor in two different decedent’s estates. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2011.

• Michael Joseph Fiandaca, Chicago

Mr. Fiandaca, who was licensed in Illinois in 1991, was suspended for thirty days and required to complete the ARDC Professionalism Seminar. He notarized the signature of a client’s wife on an affidavit that he later filed in court, despite never having met or spoken with the woman, and without taking any steps to verify the authenticity of her purported signature.  The suspension is effective on June 8, 2011.

• Amy Tsung-Mien Ho, Arlington Heights

Ms. Ho, who was licensed in 2005, was suspended for five months. During a divorce proceeding, she caused a client to present documents to the client’s wife for the wife’s signature, knowing the wife was represented in the divorce by another attorney. She also provided false information to the ARDC about her conduct in order to impede inquiry into her misconduct. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2011.

• Arnim Johnson, Jr., Chicago

Mr. Johnson, who was licensed in 1980, was suspended for one year. He continued to practice law in two different matters after he was suspended for professional misconduct. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2011.

• Peter Chris Kalagis, Park Ridge

Mr. Kalagis, who was licensed in 1995, was suspended for one year, with all but the first sixty days stayed by probation, subject to conditions. He failed to properly preserve the identity of $13,185.44 in funds due clients or third persons. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2011.

• Craig Justin Katz, Buffalo Grove

Mr. Katz, who was licensed in 1981, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court. He neglected a client’s criminal matter and failed to return unearned fees to the client. He also failed to file a notice of appeal for another client, did not respond to communications and orders of the Illinois Appellate Court, and was eventually held in contempt of court.

• John Joseph Robinson, Dundee

Mr. Robinson, who was licensed in 1984, was suspended for three years and until further order of the Court. He was convicted of mail fraud in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. While serving as the Undersheriff of Cook County, he paid cash kickbacks to the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections from fees that he had received from a client of his lobbying business who sought business opportunities with the Department. Mr. Robinson was suspended on an interim basis on November 4, 2008.

CENSURED

• Norbert E. Duckstein, Chicago

Mr. Duckstein, who was licensed in 1974, was censured. He failed to appear for trial in a client’s workers’ compensation matter, causing the matter to be dismissed. Thereafter, he never took any action to reinstate the matter or inform the client of the dismissal. He was previously disciplined for conduct involving neglect.

• Nick Kulagin, Niles

Mr. Kulagin, who was licensed in 1999, was censured and required to complete the ARDC Professionalism Seminar. Without his client’s consent, he asked a court to dismiss the client’s breach of contract claim. He refiled the claim more than two years later, but he took no further action to pursue the client’s interests. He also failed to communicate adequately with the client.

• Kyra Shelle-Granberry Payne, Chicago

Ms. Payne, who was licensed to practice law in Illinois in 1993, was censured and required to complete the ARDC Professionalism Seminar. In connection with her representation of the guardian of a disabled person’s estate, she failed to advise her client on how to redirect estate assets to a successor guardian. As a result, the client liquidated an annuity, causing a substantial financial penalty to be assessed to the estate.