In re Discipline of Talbot

In In re Discipline of Talbot, Wn.2d 335, 728 P.2d 595 (1986), a pre-ABA Standards case, the court approved the recommendation of the Disciplinary Board for disbarment of the attorney for four acts of misconduct: (1) disregarding an automatic stay of a client's bankruptcy petition and withdrawing funds from the court registry to pay his attorney's fees; (2) neglecting to respond to a pending motion for summary judgment and not telling his client the motion was granted against her; (3) neglecting to process an estate in which he served as executor and not appearing for show cause hearings during a lawsuit filed by his client's heirs; (4) failing to cooperate in and ignoring the Bar Association's investigation of the matter. In addition, the attorney had several prior disciplinary offenses involving similar misconduct: a 1969 censure for two counts of neglect of a legal matter; a reprimand for not cooperating with the Bar Association's investigation; a 1970 suspension and a 1971 reprimand for neglect of legal matters; and a voluntary transfer to inactive status in 1972 to avoid pending disciplinary charges. In re Talbot, 107 Wn.2d at 335-36.