State Bar of California Proceeding To Place Avenatti On Involuntary Inactive Status

[jberryhill]

http://www.calbar.ca.gov/About-Us/News-Events/News-Releases/state-bar-of-california-files-to-place-attorney-michael-j-avenatti-on-involuntary-inactive-status

Today the State Bar filed a petition with the State Bar Court to place Los Angeles attorney Michael J. Avenatti on involuntary inactive status, pursuant to California Business and Professions Code 6007(c)(1)-(3).

This section of statute, amended by the Legislature on January 1, 2019, authorizes the Office of Chief Trial Counsel to file a petition for involuntary inactive enrollment of an attorney when there is sufficient evidence to show that the attorney caused or is causing substantial harm to the attorney’s clients or the public and there is a reasonable probability both that the Chief Trial Counsel will prevail on a related disciplinary matter and that the attorney will be disbarred.

The licensee has 10 days from the service of the petition to file a verified response and request a hearing. If the licensee does not do so within that time frame, he waives the right to a hearing.

If no hearing is held, the State Bar Court must file its decision within 30 days of submission. If a hearing is requested, the Court will set a hearing date.

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The full complaint is here:

http://members.calbar.ca.gov/courtDocs/19-TE-30259.pdf



Attached to the complaint are all of the records and communications between Avenatti and the client Gregory Barela from whom Avenatti outright stole more than $700,000 and has ignored inquiries from the State Bar of California about why Barela never received his payment, and why Avenatti provided Barela a falsified version of the settlement agreement and lied about receiving the money.

Whenever you wonder, "How could people fall for an obvious fraudulent con man like Trump?", take a look at the people who deliberately ignored every red flag about Michael Avenatti, took him for some kind of hero, and intentionally misdirected others to minimize facts that were known about him early on.

[Codeine]

1. State Bar to Avenatti: "Basta!"

Arrogant SOB.

[jberryhill]

7. Here's your daily dose of irony....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. He can't control himself on Twitter any better than Trump.

He really needs to STFU. Most lawyers know when silence is golden, but evidently he doesn't.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.

In fact, sometimes he's another douchebag just like my enemy.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

3. I've said this for a long time. Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your enemy as well. nt

[ProudLib72]

4. Does this mean he will have more time for his 2020 campaign?

[jberryhill]

10. No, but I'm working on a line of Michael Avenatti Twitter DM greeting cards

He has a chain a mile long, which people on Twitter like to pull...

[LanternWaste]

5. The world is filled with red-flag-lawyers who barely cracked 130 on their LSAT.

They never seem to admit it though...

[jberryhill]

6. By all accounts, Avenatti performed well in school

I've never seen any data that correlates LSAT score with either ultimate legal competence or, more to the point here, ethical treatment of one's clients (let alone intentional criminal activity of the type in which Avenatti engaged).

My LSAT score qualified me for a half-tuition scholarship at the school which turned out to be a good fit for my full time employment at the time, but beyond that, I can't even recall what the number was. I'd have to go hunt down my transcript to find it. I qualified for a full-tuition academic scholarship after my first year. So, for one singular data point, it worked out.

I've never actually known the LSAT score of any attorney, and I'd bet the overwhelming majority don't remember what it was.

There are plenty of very intelligent criminals, so I don't quite get the point.

[StarfishSaver]

8. I have no idea what my LSAT score was

[jberryhill]

9. The only reason I remember mine was relatively high

...is because one of the night programs to which I applied offered me that scholarship.

I was commuting to work at the time, and on the application where they asked, "Why did you choose to apply to our school?" my answer was "It is convenient to public transportation" since it was a short drive from the lot where I parked for the train each day.

After a couple of years of practice, how well anyone did on that test, or in law school, is not a big deal.

I finished sixth in my class, and my wife finished fourth, so she wins all the arguments in our house.

However, I get the impression that Diogenes here wasting the lantern is trying to imply something, per usual.

[StarfishSaver]

11. "After a couple of years of practice, how well anyone did on that test, or in law school,

is not a big deal.""

So true! Test scores and grades are merely predictors of how someone might do as a lawyer, used because they don't have an actual track record. But once they start practicing, test scores and grades are irrelevant.

Some of the best lawyers I ever worked with graduated at the bottom of their class. And some of the worst aced their LSATs.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. A guy I once knew got into the same kind of trouble as Avenatti,

though on a less spectacular scale. He was very smart - he'd been first in his law school class, Law Review, judicial clerkship, all that stuff, but he turned out to have the ethics of a jackal (or Michael Avenatti). He became a name partner in one of the more high-profile, reputable local law firms, and since he was a partner nobody was watching his trust accounts - from which he was stealing. He stole money from clients that included a developmentally disabled person, several children and elderly people, and two AIDs victims. At some point the firm did an audit and discovered what had been going on, so the other partners fired him and turned him over to the feds, who prosecuted him for mail fraud. He was promptly disbarred (it was the fastest disbarment in the state's history), did five years in the pokey, which included a well-deserved upward departure from the sentencing guidelines. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-8th-circuit/1419043.html After he got out of prison he left the state and got a job as a paralegal for a medical services firm, but got in trouble again for claiming he was a lawyer. He finally committed suicide. You can be all kinds of smart and still be as sleazy AF, and this guy, like Avenatti, used his brains to lie, cheat and steal, but he wasn't smart enough not to get caught.

[ismnotwasm]

14. He was fun when he was pulling Trumps chain

But it took just a cursory look at his background to realize he was sketchy as shit