Opinion ID: 1377201
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prior Disciplinary Record

Text: Petitioner was admitted to the practice of law in 1956. He has a prior record of discipline, consisting of public reproval in April 1986 for mishandling two different matters. In the first matter, petitioner was retained in 1979 to file a petition for guardianship of a minor child. He never filed the petition and, for over a year, failed to inform the client of this fact. The second matter was a marital dissolution and child support action which petitioner agreed to handle for another client in 1982. However, he ignored various decrees and orders, and thereby jeopardized the client's interests. The State Bar found that, in both cases, petitioner wilfully failed to inform the client of the status of the case, or to use the skill reasonably necessary to perform the services for which he had been employed.