Illinois Supreme Court Disbars 7, Suspends 10 in Latest Disciplinary Filing

The Illinois Supreme Court announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on January 29, 2019. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.

DISBARRED
 

• Brian M. Fornek, St. Charles
  
  Mr. Fornek, who was licensed in 1990, was disbarred on consent. He misappropriated $66,000 in settlement funds that he was supposed to hold for clients in his trust account.
   
• Soo-Hyun Jung, Moline
  
  Mr. Jung, who was licensed in 2004, was disbarred on consent. He pled guilty to federal charges of mail fraud and making a false and fraudulent claim to the Internal Revenue Service based upon his misappropriation of at least $83,200 of one client’s income tax refunds and $115,000 of another client’s investment funds. 
   
• Bianca Christine Lee, Chicago
  
  Ms. Lee, who was licensed in 2014, was disbarred. She neglected six different civil matters for clients, failed to refund unearned fees, and did not participate in her own disciplinary proceeding.
   
• Kiflom Tekie Meles, Silver Spring, Maryland
  
  Mr. Meles was licensed in Illinois in 2004 and in the District of Columbia in 2006. He was disbarred in the District for failing to keep two clients reasonably informed regarding the status of their matters. In the first matter, Mr. Meles also failed to inform the client of a settlement offer and then misappropriated $2,800 of the settlement funds. In the second matter, he failed to provide competent representation to the client and did not refund $1,500 in unearned fees at the end of the attorney-client relationship. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and disbarred him.
   
• Robin Lynn Perry, Spring Grove
  
  Ms. Perry, who was licensed in 1997, was disbarred on consent. She misappropriated $21,742 from her law firm employer. This conduct resulted in her conviction on felony theft charges in the Circuit Court of McHenry County. She was suspended on an interim basis on September 24, 2018.
   
• Robert Alan Spencer, New York, New York
  
  Mr. Spencer was licensed in Illinois in 2003 and in New York in 2009. He was disbarred in New York following an interim suspension for failing to cooperate with New York disciplinary authorities. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and disbarred him.
   

• Ralph Frederick Tellefsen III, Elmhurst
  
  Mr. Tellefsen, who was licensed in 1980, was disbarred on consent. He was convicted of possession of child pornography in DuPage County. He was suspended on an interim basis on March 9, 2018.
   

SUSPENDED
 

• Colin Francis Carr, Chicago
  
  Mr. Carr, who was licensed in 2007, was suspended for three months and until further order of the Court. He engaged in the unauthorized practice of law when, on behalf of clients, he drafted and sent a demand letter to parties involved in a lease dispute while he was removed from the Master Roll of Attorneys for failing to register as required by Supreme Court rules. In addition, he failed to cooperate with the ARDC investigation into his misconduct and did not appear at his own disciplinary hearing.
   

• Michael Glen Conrad, Des Plaines
  
  Mr. Conrad, who was licensed in 1995, was suspended for six months, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a one-year period of conditional probation. He converted $15,500 in disability insurance benefits from a client and commingled $8,700 belonging to another client.
   

• Tyrone Davis, Chicago
  
  Mr. Davis, who was licensed in 1988, was suspended for three years and until further order of the Court and was ordered to pay certain restitution. He neglected three different client matters, failed to communicate with a client, did not return unearned fees on four client matters, and failed to cooperate with the ARDC investigations into his misconduct. He did not appear at his own disciplinary hearing. 
   
• Jeffrey Wade Deer, Chicago
  
  Mr. Deer, who was licensed in 1990, was suspended for fifteen months, effective February 19, 2019. He converted over $14,000 from two clients who had given him funds to pay a judgment against them. He also neglected two client matters and failed to promptly refund unearned fees to one of those clients. He was suspended on an interim basis on November 30, 2018.
   
• Roy E. Ekstrand, Costa Mesa, California
  
  Mr. Ekstrand was licensed in Illinois in 1976 and in California in 1986. He was suspended in California for one year, with the suspension stayed after thirty days in favor of a two-year period of conditional probation. He failed to timely pay fees totaling $3,670 to the United States Patent and Trademark Office on behalf of clients in seven different matters by issuing checks from an account with insufficient funds. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for one year, staying the suspension after thirty days in favor of a two-year period of probation, subject to the conditions imposed by the Supreme Court of California. The suspension is effective on February 19, 2019.
   
• Matthew S. Jones, Austin, Texas
  
  Mr. Jones was licensed in Illinois in 2004 and in Texas in 1997. He was suspended in Texas for one year, with the suspension fully stayed by conditional probation. He accepted fees from a client to make filings necessary to convert a California corporation into a Texas corporation, but neither performed those services nor refunded any portion of the $4,600 in fees paid to him by the client. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for one year, staying that suspension in its entirety in favor of a one-year period of probation, nunc pro tunc to January 1, 2016, and by finding that the period of probation in Illinois has been satisfied by Mr. Jones’ completion of probation imposed in Texas.
   
• Maurice James Salem, Palos Heights
  
  Mr. Salem is licensed in New York but was never licensed in Illinois. He has, however, maintained a law office in Cook County, Illinois, for several years. The Supreme Court of Illinois suspended him for ninety days and until further order of the Court for dishonestly holding himself out to the public as an Illinois lawyer. 
   
• Robert Vincent Schaller, Hindsdale
  
  Mr. Schaller, who was licensed in 1985, was suspended for six months. In 2013, he filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition on behalf of the wife of a client in an attempt to forestall a sheriff’s sale of the couple’s home, without ensuring that he had the wife's permission to file the petition. In another matter, he filed two Chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions on behalf of a client who was ineligible for relief as a matter of law. The suspension is effective on February 19, 2019. 
   
• John George Steckel, Rock Island
  
  Mr. Steckel, who was licensed in 2000, was suspended for eighteen months and until further order of the Court and until certain restitution is made. He neglected the family law matters of three clients and did not return the unearned portions of two clients’ security retainers after they discharged him. He also did not return client records and dishonestly told one client that the law required the client to pay for a copy of his records before they could be returned to the client.
   

• Paula Rose Weisberg, Chicago
  
  Ms. Weisberg, who was licensed in 1985, was suspended for thirty days and until she makes certain restitution. She neglected two clients’ child support matters and, in the case of one of those clients, accepted a $1,500 fee for which she performed no work and failed to refund the fees to the client. The suspension is effective on February 19, 2019.
   

CENSURED
 

• Andrew M. Carter, Wheaton
  
  Mr. Carter, who was licensed in 1977, was censured. While representing clients in litigation, he failed to place the summons for service on the opposing party for over nine months, resulting in the dismissal of the claim. He did not keep his clients reasonably informed about the status of their matter, did not respond to requests for their files after his termination, and told his client that the matter was pending after it had been dismissed.
   

REPRIMANDED
 

• Philip Jeffrey Nathanson, Chicago
  
  Mr. Nathanson was licensed in Illinois in 1979 and in Arizona in 1992. He was admonished in Arizona and placed on probation for two years, nunc pro tunc to July 25, 2016. He failed to provide contracted legal services in the defense of a civil suit filed against his client and did not respond to that client's request for an accounting. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline by reprimanding him, placing him on probation for two years nunc pro tunc to July 25, 2016, and finding that the period of probation in Illinois has been satisfied by Mr. Nathanson’s successful completion of his Arizona probation.
   

• Alan Kent Wittig, Queen Creek, Arizona
  
  Mr. Wittig was licensed in Illinois in 1992 and in Arizona in 1997. The Supreme Court of Arizona entered an order admonishing him and placing him on probation for one year, subject to conditions, for neglecting a client’s civil rights case resulting in the dismissal of his client’s lawsuit. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline by reprimanding him and placing him on probation for one year, nunc pro tunc to November1, 2016, and by finding that the period of probation in Illinois has been satisfied by Mr. Wittig’s completion of the probation imposed in Arizona.