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Victor H. Morgan, Jr. was disbarred from the practice of law on November 18, 2015.  Prior to disbarment, Morgan’s license was suspended for three years effective June 15, 2013.  Morgan represented numerous clients before his suspension.  During his suspension, Morgan failed to return files to former clients, as well as unused attorney’s fees and undisbursed court costs.  In one known instance, Morgan also failed to file a personal injury lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of [...]

Jimmy A. Pettus was disbarred on November 11, 2015. The State Bar found that between November 2010 and December 2011, Pettus, as managing partner, misappropriated entrusted funds for his own benefit or for the benefit of Vick & Associates.  By misappropriating entrusted funds, Pettus committed criminal acts that reflect adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects in violation of Rule 8.4(b), and engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit [...]

H. Russell Vick and Jimmy A. Pettus, partners in Vick & Associates, were disciplined for not timely depositing their employee’s IRA withholdings into the participating employees’ simple IRA accounts. Rather, they commingled the withholdings with other funds used for the benefits of Vick & Associates. The balance of withholdings due to the IRS currently exceeds $350,000. Vick & Associates failed to respond to notices from the IRS informing them of this tax liability.  The State [...]

Robert Tucker was suspended from the practice of law on November 3, 2015.   During the course of his law practice, Tucker mishandled several trust accounts by failing to properly keep records and disbursing more funds than were deposited.  Tucker also failed to record deeds of trust for several clients and failed to collect funds.  The Disciplinary Hearing Panel concluded that Tucker’s actions violated several subsections of Rule 1.15 of the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct. [...]

The complaint filed against Gretchen M. Engel alleging that she had engaged in intentional misconduct, willfulness, or bad faith, was dismissed on November 2, 2015.  Engel was employed as the Director of Post-Conviction Litigation for the Center for Death Penalty Litigation (CDPL) in Durham.  During her employment there, she was responsible for reviewing information for comparative jury analysis, since there had been complaints of race being a factor in seeking or imposing the death penalty. [...]

On October 23, 2015, William Sage was disbarred from the practice of law.  Sage misappropriated entrusted client funds in the amount of 43,500, in violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.  He resigned his practice of law to the NC State Bar and tendered his license.  As a result of his misappropriation of funds, and resigning his license, he was disbarred from the practice of law. Trouble viewing? Click here to download the order (PDF, [...]

On October 23, 2015, Adrian Garcia was disbarred from the practice of law.  Garcia misappropriated entrusted client funds in the amount of $4,000, and abandoned his legal practice in violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.  He resigned his license to practice law to the NC State Bar and tendered his license.  As a result of his actions, and resigning his license, he was disbarred from the practice of law. Trouble viewing? Click here to download the order (PDF, [...]

L.J. Blackwood, II, was disbarred from the practice of law on October 20, 2015, when he was found to have misappropriated at least $87,938.38 of entrusted client funds.  Blackwood has been ordered to reimburse all misappropriated funds in the full amounts and to the recipients determined by the Disciplinary Hearing Commission before he is considered for reinstatement.  Further, Blackwood has been ordered to return all client files upon their request, and to provide the State Bar with contact [...]

Garey M. Ballance was disbarred from the practice of law on October 8, 2015.  The North Carolina State Bar filed a complaint against Ballance on March 30, 2015, alleging that he had appropriated funds entrusted to him by his clients for his own use.  Ballance failed to maintain trust account records, failed to keep up with whose balance in the account was whose, moved funds around, made cash withdrawals from the trust account without indicating from which client, and failed to reconcile [...]

On September 28, 2015, Jason Gold was reinstated to practice law, and his suspension stayed.  He was suspended on September 26, 2013 for five years for making false or misleading statements to investigative officers.  He complied with the disciplinary order and his suspension was stayed, and he was reinstated. Trouble viewing? Click here to download the order (PDF, [...]

On September 28, 2015, Jeffrey Berman was reinstated to practice law.  He was suspended on May 1, 2013 for improperly handling a client’s case and failing to disclose certain documents and information.  He complied with the disciplinary order and was reinstated. Trouble viewing? Click here to download the order (PDF, [...]

On September 25, 2015, Franklin Huggins was disbarred from the practice of law.  Huggins misappropriate d entrusted client funds, used client entrusted funds for his personal benefit and/or the benefit of others not entitled to those funds, engaged in criminal activity and conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, and an inability to be fit for the practice of law.  He resigned his license to practice law and tendered his license.  As a result of his inappropriate actions, and his [...]

On September 16, 2015, Jeffrey Smith was suspended from the practice of law for two years.  Smith was found to have failed to conduct monthly and quarterly reconciliations of his trust account, failed to disburse proper funds for clients based on those in the trust account, disbursed funds in excess of what was in the account, and made checks payable to “cash” form his trust account and improperly withdrew an item on his trust account.  Based on his improper handling of client funds and [...]

On September 10, 2015, Warren Ballentine was suspended for a period of time to conclude the proceedings in Illinois showing professional unfitness.  Ballentine was found guilty of one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution, one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution, two counts of bank fraud, and two counts of making false statements to financial institutions.  The State Bar found that his crimes were serious such that they showed professional unfitness, he was [...]

On August 27, 2015, Steve Combs was suspended from the practice of law for three years.  Combs was found to have failed to timely complete title insurance applications and premium information, and failed to inform his client of his failure to complete the title opinion and disburse the title insurance premium.  Combs did not preserve title insurance premiums entrusted to him by clients, and disbursed more funds for clients than he had in his trust account.  He failed to keep adequate client [...]