Austin M. Collins This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. CD05FE97

   www.nobc.org/San_Antonio_Feb__ - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/7/2001   Last Visited: 9/11/2002

   In re Austin M. Collins, N.Y.S.2d , 1996 WL 647693 (1st Dept., Nov. 7, 1996). A lawyer previously admonished on three separate occasions for neglecting client matters was disbarred for similar misconduct. This time, he neglected five client matters. In his defense, the lawyer denied that he engaged in misconduct and blamed his problems on faulty mail delivery at not one but three different offices that he maintained over the years. The hearing panel found his arguments incredible and the hearing officers were incensed that he had enlisted his longtime secretary and friend to help him attempt to make plausible an implausible defense. Although the parties to the disciplinary case believed that a three year period of suspension with reinstatement conditioned on his ability to prove fitness would be an appropriate sanction, the Court disagreed focusing on the lawyer's lack of candor during the disciplinary proceeding. The Court declined to temper the quantum of discipline based upon the Respondent's wife's medical problems and the behavioral problems of his son.
   
   Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Michaelle T. Crowley, 76 Ohio St.3d 365, 667 N.E.2d 1183 (August 21, 1996). A former chief city prosecutor of Bowling Green was suspended for two years with the second year of the suspension conditionally stayed. She neglected a medical malpractice claim on behalf of a client, repeatedly lied to that client about the status of the claim, failed to diligently represent a missionary who sought reparations as a crime victim and, while serving as a special prosecutor for the city of Rossford, failed to notify the municipality or the complaining witness of her decision not to recommend the filing of criminal charges in a certain matter. In mitigation, the Court determined that her mother had recently died, her marriage failed, she was suffering from depression, and she had a ruptured disc requiring surgery and the extended wearing of a cervical collar. A dissent recommended the indefinite suspension advocated by Bar Counsel.