Practice of Law After Disbarment Is Charged

A Los Angeles man was charged Tuesday with two felony counts of practicing law after he had been disbarred last year, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

A deputy district attorney filed two charges against Douglas Paul Grim, 52, of Los Angeles accusing Grim of continuing to practice law after being disbarred April 13, 1991, by the California Supreme Court.

Grim is scheduled to be arraigned today in Municipal Court in Santa Ana, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig McKinnon, who is prosecuting the case.

Grim was stripped of the right to practice law for misappropriation of a client’s funds, McKinnon said, but “he apparently was hoping no one would notice,” when he appeared Dec. 27, 1991, in Orange County Superior Court to defend a Los Angeles man in a civil case.

The first felony count against Grim stems from the reported December appearance, while the second is in connection with a Jan. 15 billing letter to the Los Angeles client, McKinnon said.

If found guilty on both counts, Grim could face almost four years in prison, McKinnon said.

Calls to Grim’s West 6th Street office were not returned Tuesday afternoon.

McKinnon said Grim’s case came to the district attorney’s attention by chance a few weeks after the reported December court appearance. McKinnon said the attorney opposing Grim in Superior Court was flipping through a copy of California Lawyer, a monthly magazine that publishes lists of lawyers who have been disbarred or otherwise disciplined.

“It was kind of luck that this developed this way,” McKinnon said. McKinnon said Grim’s client, whom he declined to name, was not being investigated and would appear as a witness in court against Grim.

McKinnon said that the district attorney’s office is still investigating the case and more charges may be filed.