Illinois Supreme Court Disbars Four, Suspends Eleven in Latest Disciplinary Filing

The Illinois Supreme Court announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on May 18, 2021. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.

DISBARRED

• John L. Allen, Bedford, New Hampshire

  Mr. Allen was licensed in Illinois in 1986 and in New Hampshire in 1988. The New Hampshire Supreme Court entered an order disbarring him. He abandoned his law practice and did not communicate with clients for an extended period. He also misappropriated approximately $690,000 in funds that he had agreed to hold in trust related to two real estate transactions, transferred approximately $943,000 from his client trust accounts to his operating account without identifying the purpose of the disbursements or the client associated with them, and commingled more than $350,000 of operating account funds with client funds. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and disbarred him.

• Nikola Duric, Park Ridge

  Mr. Duric, who was licensed in 1985, was disbarred. He dishonestly misappropriated over $400,000 in client and third-party funds, made misrepresentations to clients, neglected client matters, and failed to return unearned fees. He was suspended on an interim basis on October 15, 2020.

• Michael Lee Henneberry, Walnut

  Mr. Henneberry, who was licensed in 1981, was disbarred on consent. While serving as a court- appointed public defender for a client, he made sexually explicit comments to the client, touched the client without her consent, and masturbated in front of the client in his office during a meeting about her case. Additionally, he was criminally charged and pled guilty to providing alcohol to a minor.

• Radford Reuben Raines III, O’Fallon, Missouri

  Mr. Raines was licensed in Missouri in 1989 and in Illinois in 1997. The Supreme Court of Missouri disbarred him for dishonestly failing to pay fees owed to a deceased attorney’s trust after Mr. Raines took over representation in a number of cases on which the deceased attorney had worked prior to his death. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and disbarred him.

SUSPENDED

• Howard Randolph Baker, Jr., Decatur

  Mr. Baker, who was licensed in 1988, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a two-year period of probation with conditions. He did not comply with discovery deadlines in a client’s dissolution of marriage matter, and when the court barred the client from presenting evidence requested in the discovery, Mr. Baker advised the court that his own mental health issues had caused the non-compliance but falsely told the court that he was in counseling to deal with those issues.

• Eric James Dale, Clinton, Iowa

  Mr. Dale was licensed in Iowa in 2007 and in Illinois in 2009. The Supreme Court of Iowa publicly reprimanded him and suspended him for 60 days for neglecting several client matters, placing a client’s signature on a document without authority, and entering a plea of not guilty for that same client and waiving her right to a speedy trial without consulting her. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and imposed a reprimand and a 60-day suspension. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2021.

• Marie A. Durbin, St. Louis, Missouri

  Ms. Durbin was licensed in Missouri in 1986 and in Illinois in 1987. The Supreme Court of Missouri entered an order suspending her indefinitely with no petition for reinstatement to be filed for one year. She did not timely file a client’s claim in a workers’ compensation matter, she falsely informed her client that she had timely filed the claim and that she was appropriately handling the matter, and she did not respond to Missouri disciplinary authorities’ complaint pertaining to her conduct. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended her for one year and until she is reinstated to the practice of law in Missouri. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2021.

• Joseph C. Farwell, Schaumburg

  Mr. Farwell, who was licensed in 1992, was suspended for ninety days. Over the course of two years, while in the process of closing down his law firm, he converted over $8,000 that his firm had collected, and was holding, for a client. He did not repay the funds until the client complained to the ARDC. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2021.

• Shelby Kanarish, Scottsdale, Arizona

  Mr. Kanarish was licensed in Illinois in 1971 and in Arizona in 2011. The Presiding Disciplinary Judge of the Supreme Court of Arizona suspended him for six months and one day, and required that, following a reinstatement hearing, he would be subject to probation and additional terms. Over the course of several months after the settlement of a personal injury matter, Mr. Kanarish made false statements about his purported fees to a doctor who had requested payment for services he had provided to Mr. Kanarish’s clients. He also knowingly made a false statement to the Arizona disciplinary authority regarding his purported fees. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for six months and until he is reinstated to the practice of law in Arizona. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2021.

• William Briskin Kohn, Highland Park

  Mr. Kohn, who was licensed in 1987, was suspended for six months, with the suspension stayed after 90 days in favor of a one-year period of conditional probation. While representing a physician in a business dispute in 2013, he did not timely respond to summary judgment motions filed by the defendants and did not file a brief in the resulting appeal despite receiving three extensions of time to do so. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2021.

• Patrick J. O’Shea, Wheaton

  Mr. O’Shea, a former circuit court judge who was licensed in 1979, was suspended for one year and until further order of the Court. In 2017 and 2018, Mr. O’Shea made false statements to the police and the Judicial Inquiry Board about the accidental discharge of a handgun in his apartment. A suspension until further order of the Court is an indefinite suspension which requires the suspended lawyer to petition for reinstatement after the fixed period of suspension ends. Reinstatement is not automatic and must be allowed by the Supreme Court of Illinois following a hearing before the ARDC Hearing Board.

• John Thomas Sheets, Havana

  Mr. Sheets, who was licensed in 1990, was suspended for thirty days for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. He practiced law for approximately six weeks after having been removed from the roll of attorneys in 2019 for failure to complete the Supreme Court’s registration requirements and then practiced law for an approximately 23 weeks after having been removed from the roll of attorneys in 2020 for failure to complete Minimum Continuing Legal Education requirements. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2021.

• Jennifer Prager Sodaro, Scottsdale, Arizona

  Ms. Sodaro was licensed in Illinois in 1986 and in Arizona in 2017. The Presiding Disciplinary Judge of the Supreme Court of Arizona suspended her for six months and required that, upon her reinstatement, she be placed on a two-year period of conditional probation. She engaged in misconduct in multiple client matters, including communicating with a represented party and leaving that party a disparaging voicemail message about her counsel, sending a letter to a presiding judge in which she accused her opposing party and her counsel of lying, and knowingly disbursing proceeds of a home sale without authorization. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended her for six months and until she is reinstated to the practice of law in Arizona, followed by a term of probation subject to the conditions imposed in Arizona and continuing until her Arizona probation is completed. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2021.

• Dwight A. White, Chicago

  Mr. White, who was licensed in 2014, was suspended for two years and until further order of the Court, stayed after one year in favor of a three-year period of probation subject to conditions. He dishonestly converted $13,906.56 in funds belonging to two clients, failed to refund unearned fees, neglected and failed to effectively or timely communicate the status of matters to three clients, and failed to reduce two contingent fee agreements to writing. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2021.

• Jeffrey P. White, Auburn, Maine

  Mr. White was licensed in Illinois in 1982 and in Maine in 1988. The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine publicly reprimanded him and suspended him for nine months. He neglected two client matters and failed to communicate with those clients, and he concealed from a bankruptcy court his client’s payment of attorney’s fees to him. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and entered an order reprimanding him and suspending him for nine months and until he is reinstated to the practice of law in Maine. The suspension is effective on June 8, 2021.

PROBATION

• Hrant Norsigian, Jr., O’Fallon

  Mr. Norsigian was licensed in Missouri in 1988 and in Illinois in 1989. The Supreme Court of Missouri placed him on probation with conditions for 12 months for making disbursements from his client trust account before the appropriate funds had been deposited into the account and for failing to keep required trust account records. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and placed him on probation for 12 months, nunc pro tunc to July 3, 2018, subject to the conditions imposed in Missouri, and continuing until he completes the period of probation in Missouri.