The State Bar of California filed disciplinary expenses Thursday towards a former high-ranking official within the Los Angeles metropolis lawyer’s workplace for his alleged position in a Division of Water and Energy scandal.
Jim Clark, a high deputy beneath then-Metropolis Atty. Mike Feuer, secretly directed different attorneys to orchestrate a class-action lawsuit in order that claims over a botched DWP billing system might be settled on phrases favorable to town, State Bar prosecutors allege.
Clark “directed and licensed a scheme of collusion and deceit that was a blatant betrayal of his duties as an lawyer and public official,” George Cardona, the Bar’s chief trial counsel, stated in an announcement.
Erin Joyce, an lawyer for Clark, stated the Bar was trying to “tarnish Mr. Clark’s document and good title” primarily based on unfounded allegations.
“Mr. Clark is a extremely revered lawyer who has loved a distinguished authorized profession over the previous 49 years, unblemished till now by a single grievance to the State Bar or by any allegation of moral impropriety,” Joyce stated.
If the fees are upheld by the State Bar Courtroom, Clark faces disbarment, suspension or probation.
A companion for 30 years on the legislation agency Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Clark joined town in 2013. He left to pursue mediation work in 2020, a yr after the FBI raided his workplace and others as a part of a prison investigation into the sham lawsuit.
Clark, who wasn’t charged within the prison probe, collects a metropolis pension value almost $4,000 a month.
The State Bar grievance alleges that Clark “instructed” three attorneys working beneath a metropolis contract to search out “pleasant counsel” to file a class-action lawsuit towards town over the defective DWP billing system, which had issued misguided payments to 1000’s of consumers. One Van Nuys couple was billed almost $52,000.
With an lawyer on the plaintiffs’ facet of the lawsuit colluding with town’s group, the claims might be settled on phrases favorable to the DWP.
Bar prosecutors additionally allege that Clark gave “false and deceptive statements” in one other lawsuit by denying his position within the sham lawsuit in a signed declaration. Clark additionally hid info from the civil courtroom overseeing the DWP lawsuits, prosecutors stated.
Clark knowingly dedicated “acts involving ethical turpitude, dishonesty, and corruption” in violation of the California Enterprise and Professions Code, which is a part of the State Bar Act, prosecutors stated.
Clark faces further State Bar expenses for accepting $640 value of tickets to a 2016 Who live performance from an lawyer concerned within the collusive lawsuit and failing to report the reward as required beneath metropolis legislation.
The State Bar has additionally filed expenses towards a former DWP commissioner and an outdoor lawyer and has proposed a short lived suspension for a metropolis lawyer who works on the DWP — all in reference to the large scandal.
Clark’s title appeared extensively in FBI search warrant affidavits made public in Might after The Instances sought their launch from a federal courtroom.
Former DWP common supervisor David Wright accused Clark of mendacity about his position within the collusive lawsuit, one affidavit acknowledged.
Marisol Mork, one other Clark lawyer, advised The Instances in Might that Wright’s “allegations are riddled with inaccuracies” and denied that Clark did something flawed.
A number of witnesses advised FBI brokers that Clark suffered from an unknown situation in 2017 and 2018 that affected his “performance” at work and prompted him to take a medical depart, one of many affidavits stated, with partial redactions to guard Clark’s privateness.
Within the affidavits, an FBI agent additionally stated he believed Feuer, who served as metropolis lawyer from 2013 to 2022, had lied to authorities investigators and possibly obstructed justice. Feuer disputes the agent’s allegations and maintains his innocence.
4 folks, together with onetime DWP common supervisor Wright and high-ranking officers within the metropolis lawyer’s workplace, pleaded responsible to numerous federal crimes, together with bribery.
