[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 

Mahoning Cty. Bar Assn. v. Mickens, Slip Opinion No. 2018-Ohio-2630.] 

NOTICE 

This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an 

advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports. Readers are requested to 

promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65 

South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other 

formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be made before 

the opinion is published. 

SLIP OPINION NO. 2018-OHIO-2630

MAHONING COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION v. MICKENS.

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 

may be cited as Mahoning Cty. Bar Assn. v. Mickens, Slip Opinion No. 

2018-Ohio-2630.] 

Attorneys—Misconduct—Violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct—

Conditionally stayed six-month suspension. 

(No. 2017-1726—Submitted January 24, 2018—Decided July 10, 2018.) 

ON CERTIFIED REPORT by the Board of Professional Conduct of the Supreme 

Court, No. 2017-028. 

__________________ 

Per Curiam.

{¶ 1} Respondent, Charles Gary Mickens, of Youngstown, Ohio, Attorney 

Registration No. 0052024, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1991. 

{¶ 2} On December 8, 2016, we publicly reprimanded Mickens for 

neglecting a probate matter, failing to communicate with the fiduciary for that 

probate estate, and failing to advise his clients that he did not maintain professional-
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liability insurance. Disciplinary Counsel v. Mickens, 151 Ohio St.3d 302, 2016-

Ohio-8022, 88 N.E.3d 920. 

{¶ 3} In a formal complaint certified to the Board of Professional Conduct 

on June 29, 2017, relator, Mahoning County Bar Association, charged Mickens 

with several ethical violations relating to the representation of a single client who 

retained him in December 2003—approximately eight years before the conduct for 

which Mickens was previously disciplined. 

{¶ 4} A panel of the board considered the cause on the parties’ consent-todiscipline agreement. See Gov.Bar R. V(16). The parties stipulated that Troy 

Carlton retained Mickens to pursue an insurance claim arising from a structure fire. 

Carlton paid a $500 retainer plus $300 for the filing fee and gave Mickens all of the 

paperwork he had received from the insurance company. After Mickens failed to 

return Carlton’s phone calls, Carlton became frustrated and stopped calling, but he 

never sought or retained new counsel. During a chance meeting at a local 

courthouse in late 2016, Carlton asked Mickens about the status of his case. 

Mickens stated that he would look into it, but Carlton never heard from him again. 

Mickens has admitted that he did not resolve the matter with the insurance company 

or file suit on Carlton’s behalf and that he owes Carlton a refund of $800. He also 

admitted that he did not carry malpractice insurance during the representation and 

that he has no recollection of having informed Carlton of that fact. 

{¶ 5} The parties stipulated and the board found that the conduct set forth 

above violated Prof.Cond.R. 1.3 (requiring a lawyer to act with reasonable 

diligence in representing a client), 1.4(a)(2) (requiring a lawyer to reasonably 

consult with a client about the means by which the client’s objectives are to be 

accomplished), 1.4(a)(3) (requiring a lawyer to keep a client reasonably informed 

about the status of a matter), 1.4(a)(4) (requiring a lawyer to comply as soon as 

practicable with reasonable requests for information from a client), and 1.4(c) 

(requiring a lawyer to inform a client if the lawyer does not maintain professional-
January Term, 2018 

3

liability insurance and obtain a signed acknowledgment of that notice from the 

client).1 Relator agreed to dismiss one additional alleged violation. 

{¶ 6} Stipulated aggravating factors include Mickens’s prior disciplinary 

offenses and a selfish motive, see Gov.Bar R. V(13)(B)(1) and (2), and mitigating 

factors include Mickens’s full and free disclosure to the board, his cooperative 

attitude toward the disciplinary proceedings, and evidence of his good character 

and reputation, see Gov.Bar R. V(13)(C)(4) and (5). 

{¶ 7} The board recommends that we adopt the parties’ consent-todiscipline agreement and suspend Mickens from the practice of law for six months, 

with the entire suspension stayed on the conditions that he make restitution of $800 

to Carlton within 60 days of our order, complete six hours of continuing legal 

education (“CLE”) in law-office management, serve one year of monitored 

probation, and engage in no additional misconduct. In support of its 

recommendation, the board noted that in Columbus Bar Assn. v. Kluesener, 150 

Ohio St.3d 322, 2017-Ohio-4417, 81 N.E.3d 457, we adopted a consent-todiscipline agreement and imposed a conditionally stayed six-month suspension for 

similar rule violations arising from an attorney’s neglect of a matter. We note that 

in Disciplinary Counsel v. Simon, 146 Ohio St.3d 44, 2016-Ohio-535, 51 N.E.3d 

605, we also imposed a conditionally stayed six-month suspension on an attorney 

with prior discipline who failed to reasonably communicate with two clients, 

neglected the legal matter of one of those clients, and failed to inform the other 

client that he did not maintain professional-liability insurance. 

{¶ 8} Based on the foregoing, we agree that Mickens’s conduct violated 

Prof.Cond.R. 1.3, 1.4(a)(2) through (a)(4), and 1.4(c) and that a six-month 

 

1

 To the extent that Mickens’s misconduct commenced before February 1, 2007, the effective date 

of the Rules of Professional Conduct, but continued after that effective date, the acts comprise single 

continuing ethical violations whether charged under the Rules of Professional Conduct, the former 

Disciplinary Rules of the Code of Professional Responsibility, or both. See, e.g., Disciplinary 

Counsel v. Freeman, 119 Ohio St.3d 330, 2008-Ohio-3836, 894 N.E.2d 31, ¶ 1, fn. 1. 
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suspension, stayed on the recommended conditions, is the appropriate sanction for 

that misconduct. We therefore adopt the parties’ consent-to-discipline agreement. 

{¶ 9} Accordingly, Charles Gary Mickens is suspended from the practice of 

law in Ohio for six months, with the entire suspension stayed on the conditions that 

he pay restitution of $800 to Troy Carlton within 60 days of this order, complete 

six hours of CLE in law-office management in addition to the requirements of 

Gov.Bar R. X, serve a one-year period of monitored probation in accordance with 

Gov.Bar R. V(21), and engage in no further misconduct. If Mickens fails to comply 

with any condition of the stay, the stay will be lifted and he will serve the full sixmonth suspension. Costs are taxed to Mickens. 

Judgment accordingly. 

O’CONNOR, C.J., and O’DONNELL, KENNEDY, FRENCH, FISCHER, and 

DEWINE, JJ., concur. 

DEGENARO, J., not participating. 

_________________ 

David C. Comstock Jr., Bar Counsel, for relator. 

Charles Gary Mickens, pro se. 

_________________