Practice while Suspended Draws Disbarment

The Nebraska Supreme Court has disbarred an attorney admitted in 1976 who had practiced while suspended and failed to participate in the resulting disciplinary prosecution

As background within the narrative of the formal charges, it was stated that on June 13, 2018, pursuant to Neb. Ct. R. § 3-401.11(D) (rev. 2017), we suspended Nelson from the practice of law because he had failed to satisfy the mandatory continuing legal education reporting requirements for 2017. Notice was sent by regular mail to Nelson’s business address. Later that year, on December 7, 2018, we reinstated Nelson’s license to practice law.

After the suspension

On June 13, 2018, attorney Patrick J. Nelson was administratively suspended from the practice of law for his failure to
satisfy continuing education reporting requirements. He was reinstated on December 7. During the period of his suspension, Nelson was the counsel of record for several clients, but failed to inform the court and clients that he was suspended. As a result, on July 11, 2019, Nelson received a private reprimand as discipline. Subsequently, the Counsel for Discipline of the Nebraska Supreme Court brought this action, and Nelson did not file an answer or otherwise participate in these proceedings. We granted the Counsel for Discipline’s unopposed motion for judgment on the pleadings as to the facts and reserved the issue of the appropriate sanction. We now order that Nelson be disbarred.

There were five matters handled by Respondent during the period of suspension.

Sanction

We are without knowledge of mitigating circumstances which would give us an opportunity to assess Nelson’s future ability to practice law. In view of the facts that have been established—Nelson’s prior discipline and his silence in connection with the current matter—the sanction of disbarment in this case falls squarely within the principles we have recited above. We therefore determine that the appropriate discipline in this matter is disbarment.

State ex rel. Disciplinary Counsel v. Nelson was decided on March 25. (Mike Frisch)