Ex-Lawyer Gets 3-Year Term for Stealing From Client

A former lawyer accused of stealing a $100,000 settlement meant for his client pleaded guilty Thursday and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Stephen D. West, 46, of Huntington Beach was charged with grand theft and practicing law without a license after it was discovered that in 1987 he had cashed a check meant for a woman he represented on a personal-injury case.

West pleaded guilty to both felony charges during his arraignment in Municipal Court in Santa Ana.

“This conduct was pretty egregious,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Kelly said. “At least Mr. West did show some remorse by pleading guilty early in the process.”

Kelly said the victim discovered last year that West had cashed her settlement check after learning he had quit his law practice.

West had relinquished his license to practice law in 1993 following an investigation into charges that two clients paid him for services he never performed, authorities said.

Kelly said West, who recently worked as a marketing representative for a Costa Mesa firm, has no money to pay back the victim. But he said prosecutors would seek to repay her from a statewide lawyers’ fund set up to protect victims of legal malpractice.