Riverside, CA 92501
6 April 2003 | Resigned (21 years, 1 month ago) Resignation with charges pending 02-Q-12984 |
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24 June 2002 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (21 years, 11 months ago) Vol.inactive(tender of resign.w/charges) 02-Q-12984 |
2 February 2002 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (22 years, 3 months ago) Discipline w/actual suspension 99-O-12302 |
30 October 2001 | Active (22 years, 6 months ago) |
1 September 2001 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (22 years, 8 months ago) Suspended, failed to pay fees |
17 April 2001 | Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 00-O-14423 (23 years, 1 month ago) |
6 October 2000 | Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 99-O-12302 (23 years, 7 months ago) |
21 December 1977 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (46 years, 5 months ago) |
February 2, 2002 GARY ROBERT ODOM [77617], 50, of Riverside was suspended for three years, stayed, placed on three years of probation with an actual two-and-a-half year suspension and until he makes restitution and proves his rehabilitation. He was ordered to take the MPRE and comply with rule 955. The order took effect Feb. 2, 2002. Odom stipulated to 17 counts of misconduct in 18 consolidated cases. Six counts involved failure to maintain client funds in trust, six involved moral turpitude for misappropriating client money, two additional counts of moral turpitude were the result of issuing checks against insufficient funds, two counts were for failing to pay out client funds properly and one count was for failing to cooperate with the bar's investigation. Many of the counts, however, involved multiple clients. For instance, in one count alone, Odom admitted that he allowed the balance in his client trust account to fall below the amount he was required to maintain for 20 different clients. He also wrote numerous checks against insufficient funds.The misappropriation of client funds totaled more than $117,000.Odom has no record of discipline in more than 23 years of practice, and the State Bar Court found that his conduct was aberrational. He was under extreme emotional stress at the time of the misconduct due to the disintegration of his marriage. His ex-wife had been his bookkeeper and she handled his client trust account; her departure and an increased caseload led to irregularities in Odom's record-keeping. In most of the cases, he made restitution to his clients before they complained to the State Bar. |