An Illinois lawyer was suspended for one year and until further order of court because he practiced law in Michigan without a license and did not tell his employer the truth. The Hearing Board summarized its findings in this fashion:
The allegations deemed admitted establish that Respondent made false statements to his employer, a Michigan law firm, about the status of his admission to the Michigan bar, by stating he had applied for admission when he had not and that his application had been delayed when he had not actually submitted an application. In addition, Respondent held him himself out to Michigan clients as authorized to practice law when he had not been admitted to practice in Michigan and had been removed from the master roll of attorneys authorized to practice law in Illinois due to his failure to complete his Illinois registration. By this conduct, Respondent engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation, in violation of Rule 8.4(c)* of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct (2010) (Counts I and II), and practiced law in a jurisdiction in violation of the regulation of the legal profession in that jurisdiction, in violation of Rule 5.5(a) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct (2010) (Count II).
The lawyer’s failure to participate in the discipline process undoubtedly made his situation much worse. This is an unfortunate story but the discipline is correct in that he was practicing without a license.
2024 PR 00043