Attorney Anthony Piazza of Olmsted Falls, OH; ethical troll

The state of Ohio presented Anthony Michael Piazza with a law license in 1977 after he graduated from Ohio Northern University School of Law.

FYI: Ohio Northern is ranked as the 172^nd best law school in the country out of 205 accredited ABA schools.

The Disciplinary Counsel of the Ohio Supreme Court found Tony guilty of the following misconduct.

• Involved in misdemeanor convictions in two municipal courts
• Misused his client trust account
• Tony arrested and charged in the Berea Municipal Court with assault and disorderly conduct
• Berea Municipal Court issued a temporary criminal protection order prohibiting him from having any contact with the female victim
• Later in the month, Tony went to the victim’s home in Fairview Park, Ohio in violation of the criminal protection order
• When Fairview Park police questioned Tony about going to the victim’s home, he initially denied it, however, when police advised him that a witness had spotted him at the victim’s home, he admitted having gone there
• Thereafter, Tony was charged in the Rocky River Municipal Court
• The criminal charge in Rocky River Muni Court was dismissed when the victim failed to appear at the schedule court hearing because Tony lied to her by telling her the court was closed on that day
• Because of Tony’s lie to the victim, the criminal charges were reinstated
• Subsequently, Tony pleaded no contest (guilty in effect) to violating the protection order
• Tony also had improper contact with the victim while they were both at the Berea Municipal Court, which resulted in his arrest and new charges in that court for violating the protection order
• Subsequently, Tony pleaded no contest (guilty in effect) in the Berea Muni Court to violating the protection order
• Tony tested positive for cocaine, and in November 2018, he twice tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine
• After completing a chemical-dependency outpatient program and commenced a continuing-care treatment program, Tony again tested positive for benzoylecgonine
• The Berea court found that he had again violated his probation, sentenced him to seven days in jail
• Repeatedly violated the temporary protection order and the conditions of his probation
• Knowingly disobeyed an obligation under the rules of a tribunal (Up yours, said Tony!)
• Engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation)
• Repeatedly used an illegal substance
• Engaged in conduct that adversely reflects on the Davey’s fitness to practice law
• Investigation of Tony’s client trust account disclosed he had overdrawn the account
• Failed to maintain individual client ledgers or a general ledger
• Misconduct involved multiple offenses
• On at least one occasion, Tony used his client trust account for a personal reason
• Tony deposited personal funds into the client trust account on at least 11 occasions
• He withdrew money and issued checks from the trust account for personal reasons
• Failed to deposit one client’s unearned fees into the client trust account
• Failed ailed to maintain individual client ledgers and a general ledger
• Failed ailed to perform a monthly reconciliation of funds in the trust account
• Misappropriated (stole) client funds from the client trust account
• Commingled client funds with his personal funds
• Failed maintain a record for the lawyer’s client trust account setting forth the name of the account; the date, the amount, and the client affected by each credit and debit; and the balance in the account
• Engaged in a pattern of misconduct
• Tony offered a “veneer of good-faith cooperation and contrition” at his disciplinary hearing, however, he was “not sincere regarding his continuous and egregious flaunting of the Rules of Professional Conduct”

As a direct consequence of his misconductthe enablers for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Ohio Supreme Court punished Tony by gifting him with a complimentary 1-year suspension of his law license.

As we speak (ca. January 2023), Tony practices at 9324 Columbia Road in Olmsted Falls, Ohio.