Friday, May 8, 2009
Page 3
Suspended West Hollywood Attorney Pleads No Contest to Felonies
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Suspended West Hollywood defense attorney Crane Stephen Landis has pled no contest to four felony counts of engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Landis, 43, entered the plea Wednesday before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Horwitz, and that the plea was not part of a negotiated settlement.
Landis could not be reached for comment.
He was sentenced to two years summary probation and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service. Landis had faced a possible maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.
The attorney, currently ineligible to practice law, was charged with making four separate court appearances between September 2006 and October 2007 after becoming ineligible to practice law for the second time after being admitted to the State Bar in 1999.
A graduate of UCLA and U.C. Hastings law school, he was first ordered inactive in 2003 for failing to comply with MCLE requirements, and a second time in 2006 for failing to satisfy his MCLA requirements and pay State Bar dues.
During default proceedings, the State Bar later found that Landis had committed misconduct in two client matters while he was on inactive status. State Bar records show that on June 12 he was suspended for one year, stayed, and was actually suspended for 90 days and until such time as the State Bar Court granted a motion to terminate the suspension.
A warrant was issued for Landis’ arrest on January 14. He surrendered to authorities on February 11 and was released on his own recognizance.
Copyright 2009, Metropolitan News Company