SAN FRANCISCO (Northern California Record) – Studio City attorney Andrew Mark Weitz faces disbarment following a recent California State Bar Court recommendation over allegations that included those arising from his arrest by a bailiff in 2015 when Weitz left a superior court room with a case file.
Allegations in the recommendation stemmed from alleged misconduct in four consolidated matters, according to the 17-page decision and order of involuntary inactive enrollment issued May 14 by the state bar court.
Weitz participated in the proceedings against him until the first day of his trial on Feb. 6 but left the state bar court before his case was called. After that, Weitz failed to participate in person or via counsel in the proceedings and a decision and order for disbarment was entered by default.
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.
Weitz's recommended discipline was among the dispositions filed by the state bar court's hearing department for May.
Weitz was admitted to the bar in California on Dec. 14, 1987, according to his profile at the state bar website. Weitz had no prior disciplining but he does have other disciplinary matters pending, and as of the end of March he owed the Client Security Fund more than $72,500 for payments it has made as a result of his alleged misconduct, according to his profile and recommendation.
Allegations in one of the four matters against him were filed after his nolo contendere plea in February 2016 to a misdemeanor charge of stealing and removing a paper or proceeding of the court, according to the recommendation. The previous June, Weitz was in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of a prospective criminal client and he obtained the prospective client's court case file from the public defender.
Weitz was stopped by a bailiff when he attempted to leave the courtroom with the case file. Weitz allegedly uttered an expletive to the baliff and refused to hand over the case file over. "(Weitz) exited the courtroom and resisted the bailiff's attempts to retrieve the file," the recommendaiton said. "The bailiff then forcibly detained and handcuffed (Weitz)."