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The State Bar filed separate complaints against Cassandra Stubbs and Gretchen Engel alleging violations of Rule 1.3 and 8.4(d).  The hearing panel entered summary judgment in favor of the State Bar against Stubbs and dismissed the complaint against Engel.  Subsequently, Stubbs filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the summary judgment decision in her case, which was granted.  The Disciplinary Hearing Commission then vacated its summary judgment in favor of the State Bar and found that Stubbs [...]

Joseph Lee Levinson was suspended from the practice of law on January 29, 2016. Levinson was charged with two felonies. He pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain money in the custody of a bank by false pretenses. The State Bar found that the offense for which Levinson pled guilty was a serious crime showing professional unfitness to practice law and therefore, suspended his license to practice law in North Carolina until the conclusion of all disciplinary matters related to his guilty [...]

On January 21, 2016 Kevin Byrnes was suspended from the practice of law.  In connection with his law practice, Byrnes maintained multiple trust accounts.  While holding these trusts, Byrnes failed to perform quarterly reconciliations, failed to distribute funds to those entitled, failed to keep accurate ledgers, failed to deposit funds into the trusts, and made several checks out to “cash” from several trust accounts.  All of these actions were in violation of the rules of professional [...]

Dan Merrell of Dare County, North Carolina, was suspended from the practice of law on January 11, 2016, effective thirty days from that date.  While working as the attorney for the Town of Kill Devil Hills, he was involved in a scandal surrounding a local judge and police department.  Once he was removed from his position as the town’s attorney, he provided confidential information in an affidavit, without the consent to the Town of Kill Devil Hills.  This reveal of confidential [...]

Sir Ashley James Harrison was suspended from the practice of law on December 8, 2015.  Several clients filed complaints against Harrison.  The disciplinary committee found that Harrison failed to notify clients of court appearances, failed to refund money when he offered no legal services, and failed to respond to a lawful demand for information from a disciplinary authority.  When coming up with punishment the committee did take into account Harrison’s mental health at the time of these [...]

Karla Simon was temporarily suspended from the practice of law, pending further investigation, on November 30, 2015.  Simon pled guilty in Massachusetts in November 2014 of felony stalking.  She was also found guilty of 29 counts of violating a harassment prevention order and 9 counts of intimidation.  The North Carolina State Bar will investigate further and come up with the proper disciplinary action. Trouble viewing? Click here to download the order (PDF, 63KB). [...]

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. [...]