Tardy lawyer sanctioned by bar
An attorney who was jailed last week after repeatedly arriving late -- or not at all -- to court has been placed on inactive status by the State Bar of California, thereby preventing him from practicing law, authorities said Tuesday.
The order barring Stephen Charles Hollingsworth from representing clients takes effect Thursday and followed a confidential hearing into Hollingsworth’s enrollment in the State Bar’s “alternative discipline program.”
In the last few years, the attorney has been accused of a range of misconduct, including incompetence and misappropriating at least $2,643 from a client.
His lawyer, Susan Lynn Margolis, said Hollingsworth hopes to persuade the State Bar Court to return him to active status in the future.
Last week, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John J. Cheroske jailed Hollingsworth after the lawyer failing to show up to an earlier preliminary hearing in a murder case and then appeared late when it was rescheduled.
He was released June 4.
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