James Earl Brown was admitted to the California Bar 18th June 1974, but has since been disbarred. James graduated from UCLA SOL.

Lawyer Information

NameJames Earl Brown
First Admitted18 June 1974 (51 years ago)
StatusDisbarred
Bar Number59180

Contact

Phone Number310-399-1682

Schools

Law SchoolUCLA SOL (Los Angeles CA)
Undergraduate SchoolUniversity of California (CA)

Address

Current Address2800 Neilson Way Ste 110
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Map

History

19 November 2009Disbarred (15 years, 7 months ago)
Disbarment 04-O-11346
14 February 2009Not eligible to practice law in CA (16 years, 4 months ago)
Ordered inactive 04-O-11346
10 October 2008Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 06-O-14560 (16 years, 8 months ago)
13 December 2007Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 06-O-14379 (17 years, 6 months ago)
26 October 2007Active (17 years, 7 months ago)
11 September 2007Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 06-O-10736 (17 years, 9 months ago)
30 April 2007Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 05-O-04220 (18 years, 1 month ago)
12 July 2006Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 04-O-11346 (18 years, 11 months ago)
18 June 1974Admitted to the State Bar of California (51 years ago)

Discipline Summaries

November 26, 2009

JAMES EARL BROWN [#59180], 70, of Santa Monica was disbarred Nov. 26, 2009, and was ordered to comply with rule 9.20.

Following a lengthy trial, State Bar Court Judge Donald Miles found that Brown committed numerous acts of misconduct in four matters. “His misdeeds were many and extended over an extensive period of time,” Miles wrote. “They resulted in injury to his clients and others. (Brown) allowed the misconduct of those under his control to continue even after he was fully aware that those individuals were acting improperly and harming members of the public. And now, rather than accepting responsibility for his actions, he seeks to blame others for it.”

Primarily a criminal defense attorney, Brown operated four offices in southern California that also handled workers’ compensation, personal injury and immigration matters. He acquired one office from a disbarred attorney who continued to work there.

Brown used his client trust account for business and personal purposes, Miles said, writing checks payable to restaurants, auto maintenance facilities, Costco, book stores, for child care, and for office supplies and rent as well as salaries. He also wrote checks against insufficient funds in the trust account.

In 2001, he took over a Los Angeles law firm but essentially turned over the operations to a disbarred lawyer and a non-lawyer. The firm was well-known in the Hispanic community and generated a significant amount of business. However, the disbarred lawyer, who served as the office manager, and a “law clerk” who was not a lawyer, both practiced law without authorization, signed up clients, filed and settled claims for those clients and handled the financial arrangements generated by this business. Brown paid these individuals a bonus for the work they generated.

However, Miles wrote, “the business practices followed in the office fell far short of those mandated” by professional standards: there were kickbacks to chiropractors for referring work; employees dipped into both the business and client trust accounts; medical liens were ignored, and “eventually the rights of clients to receive their funds were also ignored.”

Despite becoming aware by 2003 of his employees’ improper activities, Brown “elected to stay blind to the situation,” Miles said, and allowed the activities to continue. In 2005, after learning that some settlement funds were diverted to the employees, Brown notified law enforcement.

Miles also found that in several client matters, Brown failed to pay out client funds promptly, account for client funds, refund unearned fees, respond to client inquiries or cooperate with the bar’s investigation, and he committed acts of moral turpitude by failing to take steps to protect client funds.