Monica Malek-Yonan is an active member of the California Bar and was admitted 11th December 1986. Monica graduated from Loyola Law School.
Lawyer Information
| Name | Monica Malek-Yonan |
|---|---|
| First Admitted | 11 December 1986 (37 years, 4 months ago) |
| Status | Active |
| Bar Number | 125987 |
Contact
| Phone Number | 818-249-4744 |
|---|
Schools
| Law School | Loyola Law School (Los Angeles CA) |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate School | San Francisco State Unv (San Francisco CA) |
Address
| Current Address | PO Box 723 Verdugo City, CA 91046-0723 |
|---|---|
| Map |
History
| 26 September 2005 | Active (18 years, 7 months ago) |
|---|---|
| 16 September 2005 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (18 years, 7 months ago) Suspended, failed to pay fees |
| 8 September 2005 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (18 years, 7 months ago) Suspended, failed to pass Prof.Resp.Exam 97-O-14777 |
| 18 July 2004 | Discipline w/actual suspension; credit for prior ineligibility 97-O-14777 (19 years, 9 months ago) |
| 26 December 2003 | Active (20 years, 4 months ago) |
| 26 May 2002 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (21 years, 11 months ago) Ordered inactive 97-O-14777 |
| 13 August 2001 | Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 97-O-14777 (22 years, 8 months ago) |
| 11 December 1986 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (37 years, 4 months ago) |
Discipline Summaries
July 10, 2004 MONICA MALEK-YONAN [#125987], 43, of Verdugo City was suspended for five years, stayed, placed on five years of probation with an actual 18-month suspension and was ordered to take the MPRE within one year. The order took effect July 10, 2004. The State Bar Court review department reversed a hearing judge’s recommendation that Malek-Yonan be disbarred. It upheld the earlier findings that Malek-Yonan committed serious misconduct through “gross inattention†to safeguarding client funds.Malek-Yonan was initially charged with 25 counts of misconduct, but 19 were dismissed. She ultimately was found to have committed five acts of misconduct. A sole practitioner, she handled primarily personal injury cases from two offices — her home office in Glendale and another office in Orange County. Between 1997 and 1999, she handled about 500 files, representing between 1,800 and 1,900 individuals. She had a half dozen employees in her Orange County office and authorized her bookkeeper to sign checks using a rubber stamp of her signature. She did not know how much money was in the general business account and did not review the bank statements from her client trust account, or reconcile her account or compare settlement checks with deposits. Malek-Yonan eventually realized her employees were embezzling settlement funds and after finding more than 200 bogus checks in her records, put the amount of missing money at $1.7 million. She filed for bankruptcy, sued three former employees, and repaid the clients who had not received any money. She was named a defendant in 185 small claims actions filed by medical providers; the cases were resolved through bankruptcy, either by payments or dismissals.The review department upheld the hearing judge’s finding that Malek-Yonan failed to perform legal services competently by abrogating her responsibility to manage her office and her trust account, and that her actions involved moral turpitude by breaching her fiduciary duty to safeguard client funds.In one particular matter, Malek-Yonan wrote to an individual who was hired by lienholders to collect money from her, stating that his clients were under criminal investigation and threatening to make his conduct part of that investigation if he attempted to damage her credit or garnish her wages. The hearing judge found, and the review department agreed, that Malek-Yonan threatened to present criminal charges to obtain an advantage in a civil dispute.In mitigation, Malek-Yonan had no prior record of discipline, she provided evidence of her good character and she did pro bono work. |