Illinois Supreme Court disbars 2, suspends 17 in latest disciplinary filing

The Supreme Court of Illinois announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on Thursday, November 13, 2014, during the November Term of Court. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.

DISBARRED

Robert Scott Forbes, Alston

Mr. Forbes, who was licensed in 1980, was disbarred on consent. He forged the signature of a deceased client on six workers compensation benefits checks totaling $9,324.66 that the State had mistakenly sent to him for his client. He misappropriated the proceeds. Mr. Forbes was aware that his client had died when he obtained the checks. When the Attorney General’s office sought to recover the funds, Mr. Forbes falsely claimed that the client’s sister, who served as the executor of the client’s estate, had forged the signatures and received the proceeds. Mr. Forbes also repeated his false story to the Illinois Appellate Court and made material misrepresentations to the ARDC to impede the disciplinary investigation.

Michael Samuel Froman, Skokie

Mr. Froman, who was licensed in 1976, was disbarred on consent. He misappropriated approximately $90,000 in settlement funds belonging to three clients.

SUSPENDED

David Andre Bertha, Chicago

Mr. Bertha, who was licensed in 2002, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court for violating the terms of his disciplinary probation. In June, 2014, he was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed after four months by an eight-month period of probation subject to conditions. Discipline was originally imposed because he converted $1,000 in earnest money that he was supposed to hold in relation to a real estate matter.

Richard Dudley Borah, Fairfield

Mr. Borah, who was licensed in 2002, was suspended for two years and until he makes certain restitution and until he completes the ARDC Professionalism Seminar. While serving as attorney and executor for the estate of his mother, he took for himself $145,989.23 in estate funds that were owed to his four siblings under the terms of their mother’s will. Mr. Borah also filed a false accounting in which he claimed that he held $65,820 of estates funds in a trust account. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

John Charles Clavio, Frankfort

Mr. Clavio, who was licensed in 1997, was suspended for 60 days. He drafted a will for a client. At the time the client signed the will, although other individuals were present, no witnesses signed the will attesting to their presence at its signing by the client. He later directed his employees to falsely attest that they had been present and had witnessed the client sign the will. He also notarized the testator and witnesses’ signatures, falsely stating that they signed the will on the same day, when in actuality they signed on different days. The client’s will was later declared invalid, based in part on the misconduct. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Ayla Nicole Ellison, Chicago

Ms. Ellison, who was licensed in 2012, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed after 90 days subject to a two-year period of conditional probation. Without authority, she improperly used her law firm employer’s credit card and checking account information to pay personal expenses in an amount totaling $7,639.66. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Richard Cuyler Folk, Oregon

Mr. Folk, who was licensed in 2007, was suspended for two years and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed after 90 days by a two-year period of conditional probation. While in California, he purchased 7.25 pounds of marijuana. During his return trip to Illinois, he was stopped by a police officer in Nevada, falsely denied that he had any controlled substances in his car, and refused to allow a search of his vehicle. He was later found guilty of misdemeanor possession of marijuana, was sentenced to time served for the 19 days he spent in jail, forfeited his automobile, and paid a $250 fine.

James J. Kemp, Jr., Oak Brook

Mr. Kemp, who was licensed in 1972, was suspended for 60 days. While representing a client in various personal and corporate matters, he requested and accepted at least $137,000 in personal loans from the client and failed to timely repay the loans when they were due. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Lori Jo Kieffer, Davenport, Iowa

Ms. Kieffer was licensed in Illinois in 2001 and in Iowa in 2002. She was suspended for a minimum of six months by the Supreme Court of Iowa for failing to comply with deadlines imposed in criminal cases that she was handling in the Iowa appellate court, resulting in more than twenty notices of default and the imposition of monetary penalties against her. In a separate matter, she failed to timely file an application for a client and falsely represented to her client and to the clerk of court that she had done so. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended her for six months and until she is reinstated in Iowa. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

John Edgar Longwell, Effingham

Mr. Longwell, who was licensed in 1985, was suspended for three years and until further order of the Court. He neglected four different bankruptcy cases, failed to adequately communicate with clients or to reply to their reasonable requests for information, failed to return unearned fees, dishonestly represented to clients that their bankruptcy petitions had been filed when, in fact, they had not, and caused unnecessary proceedings in the bankruptcy court cases.

Corinda Luchetta, Lombard

Ms. Luchetta was licensed in Illinois in 1990 and in Florida in 1999. She was suspended by the Supreme Court of Florida for 91 days for failing to cooperate with a Florida Bar investigation. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended her for 91 days and until she is reinstated in Florida. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Warren G. McElwain, Streamwood

Mr. McElwain, who was licensed in 1983, was suspended for 30 days. Without authority, he signed his wife’s name to a home equity line of credit and then instructed his secretary to notarize the signature without witnessing or verifying it. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Jeffrey Kenneth McGinnes, Iowa City, Iowa

Mr. McGinness was licensed in Illinois in 2001 and in Iowa in 2007. He was suspended for a minimum of six months by the Iowa Supreme Court for fabricating certificates of service in an attempt to create the impression that he had previously served opposing counsel with discovery requests. He also made false statements to the trial court after his conduct became the subject of a court hearing. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for six months and until he is reinstated in Iowa. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Michael Naphtali Miller, Homewood

Mr. Miller, who was licensed in 1983, was suspended for five months. He collected an excessive fee from an elderly client and importuned the same client to give him a $50,000 loan. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Brian Keith Sides, Urbana

Mr. Sides, who was licensed in 2002, was suspended for five months, with the suspension stayed after 60 days by a two-year period of conditional probation. He made false and reckless statements about the integrity of judges in his judicial circuit and about another attorney. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Charles Harley Stegmeyer, Belleville

Mr. Stegmeyer, who was licensed in 1966, was suspended for 60 days for failing to timely repay a post-settlement funding company and making false statements to that company’s agents regarding whether he was holding the assigned funds in his trust account. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Abigail A. Williams, Washington, D.C.

Ms. Williams was licensed in Illinois in 2000 and in the District of Columbia in 2007. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals suspended her for six months, with the suspension stayed after 60 days by a one-year period of conditional probation. She was appointed to represent an inmate in an appellate matter and thereafter ignored the client’s multiple efforts to contact her over approximately 15 months. She mailed a draft of the appellate brief to her client, but sent it to the wrong address. After she was removed from the case, she refused to turn over the draft brief and other file materials to successor counsel. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended her for by suspending her six months, with the suspension stayed after 60 days by a one-year period of conditional probation. The suspension is effective on December 4, 2014.

Sharon E. Williams, Chicago

Ms. Williams, who was licensed in 1995, was suspended until further order of the Court for violating the terms of her disciplinary probation. In early 2014, she was suspended for four months, followed by a one-year term of probation with conditions designed to improve her office management practices and insure that she made restitution to her clients. Discipline was originally imposed because she charged her clients an excessive fee in an estate matter and provided them with an inaccurate accounting after she was discharged.

CENSURED

Vivien Jo Cockburn, Washington, D.C.

Ms. Cockburn was licensed in Illinois in 1997, in Virginia in 1996 and in the District of Columbia in 1998. She was the subject of admonishments by the Supreme Court of Virginia and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. While working as a federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, she failed to disclose to the defense that a witness who had appeared before the grand jury had provided testimony that was inconsistent with the trial testimony offered by the government’s primary witness. After the accused was convicted, Ms. Cockburn’s conduct became the subject of additional court proceedings, and the trial judge determined that her failure to disclose the witness’ grand jury testimony had been improper. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and censured her.

Monica E. Ribbeck, Chicago

Ms. Ribbeck, who was licensed in Illinois in 1994, was censured. She filed a personal injury lawsuit in Chicago on behalf of a Turkish air crash victim despite the fact that her client had fired her a year earlier.

REPRIMANDED

Walter Thomas Keane, Salt Lake City, Utah

Mr. Keane was licensed in Illinois in 1999 and in Utah in 2004. The Supreme Court of Utah reprimanded him for neglecting a debt collection/foreclosure case and stipulating to an amount of damages against his clients without their authority. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and reprimanded him.

John Walter Reed, Jr., San Francisco, Calif.

Mr. Reed was licensed in Illinois in 1996 and in California in 1995. The Supreme Court of California publicly reproved him and required him to comply with various conditions after concluding that he had practiced law in California after being placed on inactive status for failing to comply with minimum continuing legal education requirements. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline, reprimanded him, and ordered him to complete the same conditions as were imposed in California.

The following lawyers were transferred to permanent retirement status: