SAN DIEGO : Suspended Attorney Pleads Not Guilty

An attorney who was suspended in two separate incidents last year by the State Bar of California pleaded not guilty Thursday to 12 felony counts of the unauthorized practice of law.

Richard Norman Potack, 41, was arrested after a sting operation Wednesday morning at an East San Diego restaurant. Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert L. Boles said Potack had contracted with two “clients,” who were actually undercover officers, to represent them in court.

Boles said the investigation started when several defendants in a $1-million welfare fraud case reported that they were represented by Potack, who has been disciplined by the State Bar several times over the past five years.

According to the State Bar, Potack was suspended for two years for failing to perform legal services for which he was hired. In a separate two-year suspension ordered to run consecutively, Potack was found to have made misrepresentations on the Pennsylvania Bar examination. This second suspension is open-ended and will run until he is “rehabilitated.”

Potack is on probation in a drunk-driving case. He is also scheduled to appear in court today on another pending driving-under-the-influence charge.