A former public defender has been suspended from practicing law for allegations that he violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for Pennsylvania lawyers.
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According to a state Supreme Court order on disciplinary action against local attorney Ronald Langella, he has been suspended from the Pennsylvania Bar for five years. The case went before the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and the suspension decision was made Jan. 15.Langella was dismissed from his public defender position in 2008, but McKean County officials declined at the time to say why. He maintained a private practice in Bradford after his dismissal.
According to a legal notice published in Tuesday’s edition of The Era, his suspension is effective Feb. 14.
Langella has been accused of violating the rules in six ways. According to court records, he failed to “act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client,” failed to “keep the client reasonably informed about the status of the matter,” failed to “promptly comply with reasonable requests for information,” failed to “take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests” after the end of representation of that client, failed to communicate the fees to a client whom the lawyer has no regularly represented and failed to hold a client’s “funds and property separate from the lawyer’s own property.”
Langella, who was already serving a private reprimand and five-year probationary period due to a previous disciplinary case, failed to comply with his probation conditions by failing to file monthly reports on his oversight of his IOLTA accounts — accounts that hold money for clients or third parties — and failing to pay the court costs and restitution, according to court records.
Full Article and Source:
Former Public Defender Suspended From Practice
Read the Suspension Order![]()
According to a legal notice published in Tuesday’s edition of The Era, his suspension is effective Feb. 14.
Langella has been accused of violating the rules in six ways. According to court records, he failed to “act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client,” failed to “keep the client reasonably informed about the status of the matter,” failed to “promptly comply with reasonable requests for information,” failed to “take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests” after the end of representation of that client, failed to communicate the fees to a client whom the lawyer has no regularly represented and failed to hold a client’s “funds and property separate from the lawyer’s own property.”
Langella, who was already serving a private reprimand and five-year probationary period due to a previous disciplinary case, failed to comply with his probation conditions by failing to file monthly reports on his oversight of his IOLTA accounts — accounts that hold money for clients or third parties — and failing to pay the court costs and restitution, according to court records.
Full Article and Source:
Former Public Defender Suspended From Practice
Read the Suspension Order