SAN FRANCISCO (Northern California Record) — Fresno attorney Stephen Gary Quade faces suspension following an June 3 California Supreme Court order after he allegedly provided poor legal services to two incarcerated clients, according to a recent report issued by the State Bar of California and court documents.
The Supreme Court handed down a partly stayed two-year suspension and placed Quade on two years' probation with the first year to be spent on probation. The court also ordered that Quade will remain suspended until he meets a number of conditions, which include paying $41,850, plus interest, to two former clients.
If Quade remains suspended for two years or longer, he will be required to provide proof to the State Bar Court of his rehabilitation, fitness to practice and present learning and ability in the general law before his suspension will be terminated, according to the court's order.
Quade also was ordered to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination and to pay all costs in the matter. Quade's discipline will be effective July 3, according an announcement recently posted on the state bar's website.
Quade was admitted to the bar in California on Dec. 20, 1991, according to his profile at the state bar website. Quade had no prior discipline before the state bar, according to his profile.
Quade is alleged to have engaged in 11 acts of misconduct in his representation of two clients, according to the stipulation filed with the California State Bar Court in January. One client is serving a 42-years-to-life sentence at Corcoran State Prison following a 2008 murder conviction, while the other pleaded guilty to an attempted murder charge that same year.
In the former client's cased, Quade was hired in August 2010 to file a writ of habeas corpus petition, while in the latter client's case Quade was hired in April 2008 to appeal and resolve two pending criminal cases.
Quade allegedly received $16,850 in fees and costs on behalf of the former client, and then "filed a deficient and untimely writ," the stipulation said. Quade also allegedly received $25,000 in fees on behalf of of the latter client, for whom Quade never filed an appeal, according to the stipulation.
Both "clients are extremely vulnerable since they are both incarcerated," the stipulation said.