SAN FRANCISCO (Northern California Record) — Ohio attorney Raymond Thomas Lee III, admitted to the bar in California more than eight years ago, faces disbarment following a California State Bar Court recommendation after he allegedly failed to comply with probation requirements.
Lee, of Dublin, Ohio, was charged with failing to comply with state court rules and with the conditions of his probation handed down by the California Supreme Court last fall, according to the 16-page decision and order of involuntary inactive enrollment issued July 30 by the state bar court. Lee allegedly failed to contact the state bar's office of probation to schedule a required meeting and failed to turn in reports.
Lee admitted he received an email in November alerting him that he was not in compliance but said he did not open the emails until this past January because he was "trying to get away from the law" during those months, the decision and order said.
"In view of the nature of [Lee]'s misconduct, the court recommends that [Lee] be disbarred from the practice of law," the decision and order said.
The state bar court's recommendation included an involuntary inactive enrollment order that rendered Lee involuntarily enrolled as an inactive member of the State Bar of California. That order was effective three calendar days after service, according to the recommendation.
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 the parties can request further review within the state bar court.
Lee's recommended discipline was among the dispositions filed earlier this month by the state bar court's hearing department for July.
Lee was admitted to the bar in California on March 3, 2000 and to the Ohio Bar on Dec. 17, 2010, according to his profile at the State Bar of California website and in the Ohio Supreme Court's proceedings against him in January 2016.
In October, Lee, then 61 was suspended six months and placed on two years' probation after he stipulated having been suspended in Ohio for representing a client in Kentucky where he has not been admitted to the bar, according to information on his state bar profile.