► Attorney George Ford III of Norwalk, OH; ethical gremlin Print
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Attorney George Ford III of Norwalk, OH; ethical gremlin

 
The state of Ohio presented George Cook Ford III with a law license in 1977 after he graduated from the University of Dayton Law School.
 
Disciplinary Counsel of the Ohio Supreme Court found George guilty of the following misconduct.
  1. Failed to act with reasonable diligence (slacker)
  2. Failed to cooperate with disciplinary investigators (Up Yours, said George!)
  3. Failed to keep client informed of status of legal matter
  4. Failed to provide competent representation (moron)
  5. Charged an excessive or clearly illegal fee (crook)
  6. Conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice
In one matter, Ellie Justice hired George to hander her divorce, which became final in late 2007. The court’s decision and agreed judgment specified that Justice’s ex-husband was to receive the jointly owned real property and Ellie was to receive $90,000 from her ex-husband’s stock ownership and pension plans. The agreement called for George to prepare and submit a qualified domestic relations order (Q            DRO) to effectuate the stock ownership and pension plans.
 
Ellie signed a quitclaim deed to transfer the real property to her ex-husband, but George the Loser did not forward the executed quitclaim deed to the ex-husband’s attorney. George also failed to respond to the ex-husband’s attorney’s multiple requests for the deed or his inquiries about the QDRO. The ex-husband’s attorney then asked the court for an entry to convey the real property, which the court granted the same day.
 
19 months after the divorce became final, George wrote to the ex-husband’s attorney to tell him that he was completing the QDRO. Shortly thereafter, Ellie’s friend, Sharleen Williams, paid George $400 to prepare the QDRO. Sharleen forwarded the $400 to QDRO Consultants, and the completed document was sent to ford shortly thereafter.
 
Ellie called George more than 50 times to discuss the status of the QDRO during the three years following her divorce. On the rare occasions when she was able to speak to George, he advised her that he was working on her case or that he would call her back, which he never did.
 
In a second matter, George received $3,500 to represent a client who was convicted and serving a sentence in a federal prison. George agreed to file the necessary papers to try and set aside the client’s sentence and/or to have it reduced. However, George never performed any services nor did he ever file any motions on the client’s behalf. When the client demanded that George return the $3,500 in unearned fees, George refused.
 
As a consequence of his misconduct, the cheerleaders for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Ohio Supreme Court punished George by gifting him with a complimentary 180-day suspension of his law license.
 
As we speak (ca. January 2013) George practices with the Huron County Public Defender’s Office at 16 East Main Street in Norwalk, Ohio.