Jackson Jambalaya

As part of JJ's half-baked commitment to public service, here is yet another installment in our publication of lawyer disciplinary actions that are published in the Mississippi Lawyer, the Mississippi Bar's quarterly mouthpiece. There are from the November/December 2008 issue:

Dickie Scruggs, Zach Scruggs, Sidney Backstrom: Disbarred for life. Do I need to explain these disbarments?

James G. McIntyre of Jackson: Disbarment. Bounced checks on Lawyer Trust account and used it to pay off personal obligations for over four years. The sanction mentions McIntyre's "extensive disciplinary history": one private reprimand, four informal admonitions, and one one-year suspension.

Neal H. Labovitz of Southaven: Public Reprimand. Allowed a Tennessee lawyer to "participate" on his behalf in a Desoto County case despite never being admitted to "practice pro hac vice". The bar called it an "unauthorized practice of law".

The Attorney with No Name: Private Reprimand. Client paid shyster $2,000 to review his file post-conviction. Shyster agreed to refund money if there was "little or no chance of success". Attorney blew off client after he got money and didn't speak to him. The attorney claimed that his files were destroyed in a fire and that he meant to refund the unearned fees. Of course he did. The shyster also blew off the Bar and didn't respond to the complaint.

The Attorney with No Name: Private Reprimand. Client paid shyster $5,000 to reverse a "wrongful foreclosure" and seek damages against the lender. Shyster reversed the foreclosure but didn't contact client afterwards about the lawsuit against the lender. Shyster was suspended from the Bar. Shyster gave case to another lawyer but didn't tell client and didn't get his consent to do so. Shyster also failed to tell client about settlement offer.

The Attorney with No Name: Private Reprimand. Client hired lawyer for an uncontested divorce. Shyster didn't do anything for two months. Attorney wasn't prepared for case when it appeared in court and didn't have file with her at the hearing. Attorney said she "had a difficult time with obtaining and retaining secretarial personnel" and get this, she "inadvertently" scheduled the case on the same day she had a hearing in a contested divorce matter and that her focus on the contested case was the cause for her not having the case file for the Client's case. Um, isn't this the sort of thing that should be public?

The Attorney with No Name: Private Reprimand. Client paid shyster $700 to resolve an "outstanding misdemeanor charge. Charge was dismissed by court a year before but judge needed to sign dismissal order. Lawyer then blew off client. Misdemeanor charge still unresolved. Shyster blew off the Bar and didn't respond to the Bar Complaint. Shyster didn't attend the hearing either. Why should he if he was going to get only a private reprimand. Another example of why the Bar should suspend a lawyer for sixty days automatically for not answering bar complaints or skipping hearings.