Opinion ID: 1379246
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: The Ervin Matter

Text: Ervin retained Respondent regarding a divorce. Respondent accepted a $550 fee but performed virtually no legal services for Ervin. Respondent advised Ervin the action could be completed within sixty days, when he had reason to know the statement was false, for reasons including the fact that the opposing party would have to be served by publication. The client file has since been returned to Ervin, but Respondent has made no accounting as to how the fee was earned. Respondent was suspended from the practice of law on October 2, 1998, and thereafter became inaccessible to his client. Ervin made many unsuccessful attempts to contact Respondent about her options for alternative representation and retrieval of her file. Respondent's mother directed Ervin to another attorney, who had already received Ervin's file, but without Ervin's permission and without any consultation to seek Ervin's approval prior to the transfer of her file. Ervin filed a letter of complaint with the Commission on Lawyer Conduct and Respondent failed to respond to the subsequent inquiries and investigation.