California Bar Journal Discipline Summaries
Summaries from the California Bar Journal are based on discipline orders but are not the official records. Not all discipline actions have associated CBJ summaries. Copies of official attorney discipline records are available upon request.
May 15, 2015
MARC YOUSSEF LAZO [#215998], 40, of Irvine, was suspended from the practice of law for 90 days and ordered to take the MPRE and comply with rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court. He was also placed on two years’ probation and faces a two-year suspension if he does not comply with the terms of his disciplinary probation. The order took effect May 15, 2015.
A State Bar Court judge recommended Lazo be suspended after finding he misled a superior court judge in his unsuccessful effort to continue a trial, and then disobeyed two court orders by failing to appear at the trial and failing to pay sanctions on time. Lazo appealed and requested a private reproval. A three-judge review panel agreed with the hearing judge’s conclusion and upheld the recommended discipline.
In November 2011, Lazo’s father died. At the time, he was defending a client pro bono against a claim made by the client’s former attorney. A month after his father’s death, Lazo attended a case management conference where he agreed to a trial date the following April. Shortly after, he purchased refundable plane tickets to travel with his mother to the Middle East and Europe, in part to participate in a festival honoring the dead. The trip overlapped with the scheduled trial.
Lazo tried repeatedly to get the opposing attorney to agree to continue the trial but was unsuccessful. He then filed an ex-parte application with the court implying that there had been a recent death in the family and that the arrangements to travel had been made thereafter. The opposing attorney notified the judge of Lazo’s actual reservation date and the judge denied his request. Lazo filed a second ex-parte application but the judge denied it again, finding he’d grossly misrepresented the facts surrounding his earlier application.
Lazo then did not appear at trial, instead accompanying his mother on the trip. In his place, he sent another attorney, who was not prepared. The court continued the trial and, at an order-to-show-cause hearing, ordered Lazo to pay $3,654.20 in sanctions to opposing counsel. Lazo reported the sanctions to the State Bar but did not pay the other attorney until the following November, after the State Bar contacted him and shortly before disciplinary charges were filed.
In mitigation, Lazo had no prior record of discipline, has done significant community service, was suffering from significant emotional difficulties at the time of his misconduct, presented evidence of his good character and cooperated with the State Bar.
