Friday, January 07, 2000
Court suspends lawyer's license
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — A suburban Cincinnati lawyer who suffers from clinical depression and was accused of mishandling clients' cases and funds cannot practice law for one year, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled.
The court voted 4-3 on Wednesday to suspend Chuck Stidham's law license for two years, with the second year stayed, because his depression had a “severe and debilitating effect” on his ability to function as a lawyer.
The dissenting justices said they would have upheld a disciplinary board's recommendation to indefinitely suspend Mr. Stidham from practicing law because they did not think his depression was a reason for a lesser punishment.
Mr. Stidham must submit to monitoring by the Cincinnati Bar Association and continue treatment for clinical depression.
He was found in 1998 and 1999 to have neglected several legal matters and paid himself probate fees without court approval. In one case, he depleted $37,000 in intended escrow funds for his personal and business use before scrambling to replace the client's money.
Justice Alice Robie Resnick wrote for the majority that Mr. Stidham “was at times paralyzed into inaction by his depression” and deserved a lesser punishment.
Mr. Stidham said treatment and medication have left him optimistic about his eventual return to the law practice.
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