The briefing battle between Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill and the Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission has continued this week, with Hill arguing in new court filings that the commission’s attempts to convince the Supreme Court to proceed with the case consist of bootstrapping, red herrings and fatal flaws.
The disciplinary complaint against Hill raises new questions about the disciplinary process itself, including who can preside over the proceedings and what would happen if the state’s chief legal officer loses his law license, even temporarily. But those questions aside, ethics attorneys say Hill’s status as a prominent elected official shouldn’t have any bearing on the nuts and bolts of the discipline process.
The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission has accused Attorney General Curtis Hill of seeking special treatment in the disciplinary proceedings brought against him, arguing in court filings that Hill’s case must go before a hearing panel to protect the public interest.
A suspended Fort Wayne attorney will serve six months in jail and has been ordered to pay nearly $240,000 in restitution after he pleaded guilty to embezzlement and tax fraud charges stemming from personal and client bankruptcy proceedings.
The Indiana Supreme Court has suspended a South Bend attorney from the practice of law after previously ordering her to show cause as to why she should not be immediately suspended for noncooperation with a disciplinary investigation against her.
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is hitting back at the lawyer ethics charges filed against him this week, arguing the judicial branch is wading into political waters by possibly disciplining him for allegations of groping four women — claims he says were “unrelated to the practice of law.”
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is facing formal ethics charges from the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission, which filed a complaint against Hill on Tuesday over accusations of sexual misconduct made by four women. The attorney misconduct charges could impact Hill’s legal ability to continue serving as AG.
Looking down at a page filled with words he couldn’t comprehend, Paul Mason was urged to sign on the dotted line. He had no idea he was signing away life as he knew it.
After declaring her trust in the statements submitted by defendants in prisoner litigation cases “shattered,” a federal judge imposed sanctions — some as as severe as default judgment — on a former prison nurse and her attorney accused of misconduct as serious as perjury.
The Indiana Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded a Terre Haute attorney who failed to realize he had agreed to separately represent two co-defendants, leading to his representation of both defendants in a matter in which one defendant wanted to testify against the other.
A Warsaw attorney with nearly 50 years’ experience has resigned from the Indiana bar after facing an investigation by the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.
A Decatur lawyer sentenced to nearly nine months for forgery and counterfeiting convictions and disciplined five separate times last year has again been indefinitely suspended from the practice of law in Indiana for noncooperation. The Indiana Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Jill N. Holtzclaw on Thursday, effective immediately.
See who has been disbarred or suspended during the most recent reporting period.
A Plainfield attorney has been suspended for at least 180 days with two years of probation monitored by the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program after he accepted retainers from several clients but failed to adequately communicate with or appropriately advance their cases.
An Indiana attorney wanted on several charges of mail fraud against elderly victims he allegedly exploited as part of an investment scheme has been arrested after federal authorities found him in Florida, according to the FBI.
An Indianapolis attorney charged with intimidation against a Marion County court and other offenses has been suspended from the practice of law after the Indiana Supreme Court granted a petition for his emergency suspension.
A suspended northern Indiana lawyer was sentenced Friday to nearly nine months in jail for forging a judge’s signature on a phony divorce order and sending a client a bogus email that she represented as coming from a deputy prosecutor. Jill Holtzclaw of Decatur was sentenced to serve 270 days behind bars followed by a year of probation for her convictions of Level 6 felony counts of forgery and counterfeiting.
An Indianapolis attorney found guilty of converting client funds, falsifying attorney registration and lying to a court can no longer practice law in Indiana after the Indiana Supreme Court unanimously voted to disbar her.
The rare subset of attorney discipline cases brought by the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission are the result of criminal charges against lawyers that could result in jail time. In that regard, the Hoosier State had plenty, even as total attorney discipline orders declined in 2018.
Read who has resigned and who has been reprimanded during the most recent reporting period.