In a 7-0 per curiam decision announced today, the Supreme Court of Ohio permanently disbarred Columbus attorney SaKeya M. Stubbs for multiple acts of professional misconduct including continuing to practice law while her license was under administrative suspensions, filing a falsified and falsely notarized affidavit in a court proceeding, and accepting fee advances from several clients but failing to perform promised legal services or to refund the clients’ unearned fees.

The court noted that Stubbs’ law license has been under an indefinite suspension since February 2011 for prior disciplinary infractions. It also noted that the complaint resulting in today’s action  had to be prosecuted through default proceedings because Stubbs failed to answer the complaint filed against her, failed to respond to multiple requests for information from the Columbus Bar Association, and failed to appear for a scheduled deposition or respond to a subpoena for documents related to the current disciplinary charges.

In setting disbarment as the appropriate sanction for Stubbs’ misconduct, the court wrote: “We have previously explained that ‘[t]he normal penalty for continuing to practice law while under suspension is disbarment.’ ... Moreover, we have held that ‘accepting legal fees and then failing to carry out the contract for employment is tantamount to theft of client funds and is also cause for disbarment, particularly when coupled with neglect, history of misconduct, and other disciplinary infractions.’”

“Stubbs’s neglect of entrusted client matters, her acceptance of client funds without performing the work, her attempts to practice law while her license was suspended, her failure to inform clients of her license suspension, her dishonesty, her incompetence, and her failure to cooperate in the disciplinary process demonstrate that she is no longer fit to practice law. Accordingly, SaKeya MonCheree Stubbs is hereby permanently disbarred from the practice of law in Ohio.”

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2012-0316. Columbus Bar Assn. v. Stubbs, Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-5481.
On Certified Report by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, No. 11-010.  SaKeya MonCheree Stubbs, Attorney Registration No. 0071309, is permanently disbarred from the practice of law in Ohio.
O’Connor, C.J., and Pfeifer, Lundberg Stratton, O’Donnell, Lanzinger, Cupp, and McGee Brown, JJ., concur.
Opinion: http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2012/2012-Ohio-5481.pdf

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