Illinois Lawyer Faces 3-Year License Suspension

"Given the respondent's lack of remorse, failure to understand the wrongfulness of his misconduct and inclination to personalize adverse rulings, we are concerned that he will be unable to conform his future conduct to professional standards," the hearing board report says.

The ARDC administrator filed a four-count complaint against Amu in December 2011 asserting that he made statements about the integrity of four judges that were false or made with reckless disregard as to their truth or falsity.

Amu represented clients in two personal-injury cases, a medical-malpractice action and a legal-malpractice lawsuit. Those cases were before then-Cook County Circuit Judges Francis J. Dolan and Thomas R. Chiola, along with Circuit Court Judges Lynn M. Egan and Irwin S. Solganick. 

The four judges all made rulings adverse to Amu's clients.

Amu asserted that Dolan's ruling in a personal-injury case barring all the plaintiff's witnesses was improper and attacked the judge's integrity and fairness.

 

Amu, who represented himself before the hearing board, testified that he "stands by [his] statements," and his statements were 100 percent correct, the report says. Amu also called his statements "courageous."

The ARDC administrator's office urged that Amu be disbarred. The hearing board disagreed.

"While we recognize respondent's misconduct is serious and deserving of substantial discipline, we do not believe disbarment, the harshest possible sanction, would better advance the goals of the disciplinary system," says the hearing board report, which was issued last week.

"We do, however, believe a three-year suspension is necessary to impress upon respondent the wrongfulness of his misconduct and deter future misconduct."

As for the suspension-until-further-court-order condition, the report says, "We are confident this hurdle is necessary for respondent because he continues to view his conduct as not only acceptable but necessary, lacks remorse and has demonstrated throughout these disciplinary proceedings that he will likely continue to engage in the same course of conduct whenever he believes he has been treated unfairly."

The hearing board consisted of its chair,  Debra J. Braselton (pictured at left), Andrea D. Rice and Donald D. Torisky, a non-lawyer. In the matter of Lanre O. Amu, No. 2011 PR 00106.

Amu said the ARDC is "abusing its processes" and he plans to file exceptions to the hearing board report with the ARDC Review Board, an appellate tribunal.

"What they have done there is a miscarriage of justice," he said. "I reject it completely."