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.
Indiana Lawyer’s top story of 2018 began inside an Indianapolis bar in the cool early-morning hours of Thursday, March 15. Attorney General Curtis Hill had had a few drinks. A few too many, several witnesses would later claim.
The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission addressed such questionable relationships in an advisory opinion that cautions Hoosier attorneys against “license rental” partnerships with out-of-state law firms or non-lawyer service groups. Through these partnerships, Hoosier attorneys lend their services to the out-of-state firm or non-lawyer group in exchange for a fee paid for limited client representation in Indiana.
A Merrillville lawyer who asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana to reconsider discipline imposed on him drew a harsh reply from the court, which said his conduct “lends further support to … concerns about his competence as a lawyer.” The district court denied John H. Davis' motion to reconsider his removal from the court's Roll of Attorneys last week.
A northern Indiana lawyer could be sentenced to nearly two years in jail after she pleaded guilty Tuesday to forging a judge’s name on a phony divorce decree and sending a bogus email bearing a deputy prosecutor’s name. Jill N. Holtzclaw of Decatur pleaded guilty to Level 6 felony counts of forgery and counterfeiting Tuesday in Adams Superior Court.
A northern Indiana attorney charged with felony forgery of a judge’s signature received her fifth suspension of the year for failure to cooperate with another Disciplinary Commission investigation of a grievance against her. Four of the suspensions remain active.
A lawyer who formerly worked in northern Indiana and already was ordered to repay more than $2.5 million to clients now is facing criminal charges. Federal prosecutors say 61-year-old Sven Eric Marshall, formerly of South Bend, is facing five counts of mail fraud for allegedly running an “elder abuse scam” through an investment company named Trust & Advisory Services of Indiana Inc.