SAN FRANCISCO — Mary Alice Nolan, an attorney practicing in Antioch, has been disbarred from the practice of law by the State Bar Court of California.
The recommendation for disbarment was made by the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel (OCTC) in lieu of Nolan’s felony conviction of intercepting communications and tax evasion, according to court documents.
Court documents state the attorney was charged with one count of felony interception of communication as she and her staff were allegedly found to have accessed a listening device to eavesdrop on several conversations in August and September 2007. Four additional felony charges were for tax evasion between the years of 2005 and 2008, during which Nolan allegedly filed false tax documents.
Nolan pleaded guilty to all five charges in 2014. She was ordered to serve 24 months in federal prison and pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $468,918.01. The California State Bar initially placed the attorney on an interim suspension to provide adequate time for Nolan and her counsel to file an appeal. No appeal was submitted, and a default was entered on Nolan’s behalf in the disciplinary proceedings.
Nolan is required to comply with the California Rules of Court Rule 9.20 subsections (a) and (c) in regards to her disbarment. The rules require her to notify all of her clients of the ruling, deliver any papers necessary to clients about their cases, return any fees that remain unearned and alert opposing counsel in any pending litigation of her disbarment. Nolan must then alert the Clerk of the State Bar Court that she has complied with the provisions of her disbarment.
The California State Bar was established in 1927 by the state’s legislature and is governed by nineteen trustees. The State Bar Court added appointed full-time judges in 1989. Court documents for all State Bar Court of California cases can be located online at calbar.ca.gov.