SAN FRANCISCO – Longtime Los Angeles attorney Joel Richard Bander faces disbarment following a May 4 California State Bar Court recommendation over allegations he violated his probation from a previous encounter with the bar.
Bander also was charged with violating rules regarding moral turpitude and misrepresentation, according to the state bar court's 23-page recommendation.
The recommendation includes an involuntary inactive enrollment order was accepted and effective three calendar days after service, according to the recommendation.
The state bar court also recommended Bander be ordered to pay almost $11,000 plus interest in restitution to two former clients. "Two of his former clients have yet to receive payment of the arbitration awards issued against [Bander]," the recommendation said.
"There is no evidence that this delay in payment by [Bander] has not caused harm to those individuals. Nor is the evidence persuasive that [Bander]'s acts of moral turpitude and probation violations result from any good faith on his part."
The state bar's recommendation is pending final action by the California Supreme Court, an appeal before the state bar's review department or expiration of time in which parties may request further review within the state bar court.
Bander's recommended discipline was among the dispositions filed earlier this month by the state bar court's hearing department for May.
Bander was admitted to the bar in California on Dec. 10, 1985, according to his profile at the state bar website.
In September 2013, Bander received a stayed three-year suspension and was placed on four years probation with two years of actual suspension after he stipulated to misconduct in 10 client matters involving home loan modification services, according to information on his state bar profile. "In the majority of the cases, Bander failed to perform legal services with competence because he did not file the lawsuits his clients expected him to file against their lenders," his state bar profile said.
Bander previously received a stayed year of suspension with probation in June 2012. In that discipline, Bander was placed on 36 months of probation with 90 days of actual suspension after he stipulated to 39 counts of misconduct in 20 matters, most of which involved mortgage litigation.