Los Angeles, CA 90024
10 February 2011 | Disbarred (14 years, 3 months ago) Disbarment 06-O-15085 |
---|---|
4 September 2010 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (14 years, 8 months ago) Ordered inactive 06-O-15085 |
16 May 2010 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (15 years ago) Ordered inactive 06-O-15085 |
18 March 2010 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (15 years, 2 months ago) Ordered inactive 06-O-15085 |
22 May 1997 | Public reproval with/duties 94-O-19561 (28 years ago) |
21 August 1996 | Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 94-O-19561 (28 years, 9 months ago) |
16 December 1980 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (44 years, 5 months ago) |
February 10, 2011 SHERRI FORD COUSER [#93904], 56, of Los Angeles was disbarred Feb. 10, 2011, and was ordered to make restitution and comply with rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court. In a default proceeding, the State Bar Court found that Couser committed numerous acts of misconduct in seven matters, including failing to perform legal services competently, communicate with clients, refund $22,300 in unearned fees, return a client file, obey a court order, account for client funds, pay client funds promptly, maintain a current address with the State Bar or cooperate with the bar’s investigation. She also abandoned clients.Couser was publicly reproved in 1993 for collecting an illegal fee and failing to obey a court order.In one case, for example, a client hired Couser and paid her $2,500 to represent him in a divorce. The court entered her client’s default when she did not file a response to the dissolution petition on his behalf. She agreed to expedite a dissolution for another client who paid an advance fee of $4,000, and although she filed a petition, she conducted no discovery, did not request a trial and did not appear or represent her client at a trial setting conference.She took several months to file a petition for a client who was seeking joint physical and legal custody of his son. She did not appear at a hearing and the court ordered her to pay $5,500 for fees for opposing counsel and $2,167 per month for child support.“Based on the severity of the misconduct, the serious aggravating circumstances, in particular, (Couser’s) pattern of client abandonments, and the lack of any mitigating factors,†Judge Pat McElroy recommended her disbarment. |