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After 11 disciplinary cases and his retirement, lawyer’s license is suspended

['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- March']

Date: 2022-03-18 00:00:00


After 11 prior disciplinary cases, a criminal conviction for fraud and his retirement from practicing law, a western Iowa attorney’s law license has been suspended by the Iowa Supreme Court.

The Grievance Commission of the Iowa Supreme Court had recommended that the court revoke the Iowa law license of Sioux City lawyer Brien P. O’Brien for his long history of disciplinary actions and his more recent neglect of a client’s case. On Friday, the court opted to instead impose a three-year suspension.

Court records indicate O’Brien has been licensed to practice law in Iowa since 1996. During that time, he has been privately admonished on at least seven occasions for various offenses, including client neglect and failure to communicate with clients, and he was publicly reprimanded in 2017 for neglecting a client’s case. In addition, the Iowa Supreme Court has twice suspended O’Brien’s license in the past and O’Brien has been disbarred in the state of Nebraska.

In addition, O’Brien was criminally convicted of fraudulent practices in 2004. Those charges stemmed from his failure to file Iowa income tax returns.

The most recent complaint against O’Brien involved his representation of Damon Krull of Woodbury County in a 2019 child-custody dispute. Krull paid O’Brien $2,750 as a retainer. After making his initial appearance in the case, according to the board, O’Brien never filed any paperwork in the matter and never communicated again with Krull, despite the client’s numerous phone calls and visits to his office.

O’Brien, the Supreme Court said in Friday’s decision, “ghosted” Krull and “attempted to put on an invisibility cloak.”

Krull eventually hired another attorney, but O’Brien never refunded the $2,750 or provided an invoice for any services.

O’Brien also failed to respond to the Attorney Disciplinary Board’s inquiries about the case and failed to appear when the board brought the case before the Grievance Commission for a hearing. The board recommended the commission ask the court to suspend O’Brien’s license for 18 months; the commission recommended a license revocation.

The court found that while there were several aggravating factors to consider in the case, there were no mitigating factors that would suggest leniency was in order. Still, the court said, in determining the appropriate sanctions for O’Brien, it needed to “aim for consistency” with regard to past cases involving other attorneys accused of client neglect. “In considering our precedents, we find a suspension of three years the appropriate sanction in this case,” the court ruled.

The license suspension may have little practical effect on O’Brien. A secretary who answered the phone at his former law office in January said that O’Brien was retired and no longer practicing law. In addition, O’Brien’s Iowa law license was already inactive, having been indefinitely suspended last June for separate violations.

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