Disciplinary Actions / Notices from the Most Recent Journal

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Keywords: Covington

Disbarments

Michael B. Nifong, formerly district attorney in Durham, was disbarred by the DHC. The DHC found that Nifong had concealed exculpatory evidence from defendants in a criminal case, lied to the court on multiple occasions about the exculpatory evidence, and made dozens of improper extrajudicial statements to the news media.

Suspensions & Stayed Suspensions

Garey Ballance, a former district court judge from Warren County, failed to file timely tax returns and utilized the funds of a non-profit for which he was a fiduciary for unauthorized purposes. Ballance's law license was suspended for five years.

The DHC activated the 2004 suspension of Raleigh lawyer Mohammed Shyllon for failing to comply with terms of his stayed suspension, which required him to provide a full accounting of previous activities in his trust account. The case did not involve misappropriation of entrusted funds.

Censures

Durham lawyer J. Wesley Covington was censured by the Grievance Committee for engaging in a conflict of interest, failing to provide his clients with adequate information to make informed decisions, permitting a third party who paid his fee to make decisions regarding the clients' representation and thereby engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.

Reprimands

Asheville lawyer Clarke K. Wittstruck was reprimanded for neglecting and failing to communicate with two clients and for failing to respond to the Grievance Committee's inquiries.

Stephen Manzano of Charlotte was reprimanded by the Grievance Committee. After he was discharged as co-counsel in a domestic case, Manzano failed to return confidential client documents and instead attempted, unsuccessfully, to reveal the documents to his client's parents in order to damage the client's reputation and credibility with her parents.

Richard Broadnax, formerly of Reidsville, was reprimanded for failing to respond to the Grievance Committee's Letter of Notice. Broadnax is currently serving two consecutive active suspensions of his law license for unrelated misconduct.

Raleigh lawyer Richard Schwartz was reprimanded by the Grievance Committee. Schwartz was retained by a local school board to investigate alleged assaultive conduct by high school students. Schwartz conducted interviews of several alleged victims. Rather than make it clear to the interviewees and their parents that he had a preexisting attorney-client relationship with the school board and was giving advice to the school board about the matter being investigated, he created the impression that he was conducting an independent investigation. Schwartz also lead the district attorney to believe there was no evidence that a felony occurred when in fact there was evidence, which Schwartz deemed incredible, that, if true, would constitute felony sexual offense. Schwartz' misconduct was mitigated by his lack of prior discipline and apparent lack of dishonest motive.

Notice of Intent to Seek Reinstatement

Individuals who wish to note their concurrence with or opposition to this Petition should file written notice with the secretary of the State Bar, PO Box 25908, Raleigh, NC 27611, before November 1, 2007 (60 days from publication).

In the Matter of Reginald Scott

By order dated May 25, 2000, the Disciplinary Hearing Commission disbarred the petitioner for misappropriating entrusted funds.

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