LOS ANGELES — The State Bar Court of California ruled on Nov. 20, 2016 to suspend Carlsbad attorney Verne Craig Scholl from the practice of law for a period of three years, according to a report on the State Bar's website.
Scholl will also serve four years of probation.
Scholl, who was admitted to the State Bar in 1971, has been on suspension since 2014 after being found culpable in several counts of misconduct between two cases. In one instance, Scholl had represented a client in a loan modification outside of his jurisdiction and illegally collected fees. In the other instance, the attorney allegedly misappropriated nearly $50,000 of client funds that were never deposited into his client trust account.
The State Bar heavily contemplated disbarment in the matter, but Scholl was able to avoid the sentence through extensive community-service hours and by providing proof of his good character. Scholl did not have any disciplinary actions against him prior to the 2009 incident, according to court documents.
In June 2015, Scholl was suspended for one year for misconduct in two additional loan-modification cases. The attorney had taken on matters in the states of Maryland and Florida, neither in which he is licensed to practice. As well, the attorney again allegedly collected illegal fees in both instances. Scholl entered a pre-filing stipulation for both matters.
The Nov. 20 decision was made in light of Scholl’s failure to comply with the terms of his probation. As part of the attorney’s probation, Scholl was required to attend State Bar Ethics School as well as State Bar Trust Accounting School. Scholl was unable to provide proof of completion for either course by the specified date.
In addition to the previous conditions of his probation, Scholl will also be required to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. If he is unable to pass the exam and comply with the remaining conditions, a four-year suspension will be enacted without hearing.
In accordance with the suspension, Scholl must comply with the California Rules of Court Rule 9.20 subsections (a) and (c). Under the rule, Scholl is required to inform all of his clients of the ruling, provide to them any papers necessary to their cases, return any fees that are still unearned, and tell opposing counsel in any pending litigation about his disbarment. Scholl must then file with the clerk of the State Bar Court that he has complied with his disbarment provisions.
According to his profile page on the State Bar website, Scholl attended law school at the University of Michigan and took his undergraduate classes at the University of California Santa Barbara.
Court documents for all State Bar Court of California cases can be found online at calbar.ca.gov.