Illinois Supreme Court Disbars 12, Suspends 11 in Latest Disciplinary Filing

The Illinois Supreme Court announced the filing of lawyer disciplinary orders on September 21, 2023. Sanctions were imposed because the lawyers engaged in professional misconduct by violating state ethics law.

Disbarred

Karen Linden Boscamp, Key West, FL

Ms. Boscamp, who was licensed in 1992, was disbarred. She misappropriated $51,850 in trust assets while acting as co-trustee for a trust, knowingly offered evidence that she knew to be false in a guardianship proceeding, and made a false statement under oath to the ARDC. 

Ian L. Erdos, Chicago

Mr. Erdos, who was licensed in 1991, was disbarred on consent. In the course of representing two clients in trust and estate matters, he dishonestly converted $849,476 in client funds, charged and collected unreasonable fees totaling $110,944, and made false statements regarding his use of trust assets. 

Matthew Eric Gurvey, Chicago

Mr. Gurvey, who was licensed in 1994, was disbarred. During the time he was the subject of a prior attorney disciplinary proceeding, he misappropriated $25,000 he had agreed to hold in connection with a real estate transaction. 

Lorenzo A. Hester, St. Louis, MO

Mr. Hester was licensed in Illinois in 2005 and in Missouri in 2004. The Supreme Court of Missouri disbarred him for, over a course of years, misappropriating an unknown but significant amount of money and having clients sign misleading contingent fee agreements and inaccurate settlement statements. He also obstructed and engaged in deceptive practices during his Missouri disciplinary proceedings. The Illinois Supreme Court imposed reciprocal discipline and disbarred him. 

Thomas Kantas, Palos Heights

Mr. Kantas, who was licensed in 2000, was disbarred on consent. In the course of representing clients in personal injury matters, he misled five clients regarding the status of their matters; made false statements to his clients and the court about the progress of matters; and created false settlement negotiation communications, pleadings, and court orders to support his false statements. 

Jan. R. Kowalski, LaGrange Highland

Ms. Kowalski, who was licensed in 2007, was disbarred on consent. She was convicted of concealing assets from a bankruptcy trustee when she and her brother made fraudulent representations, claims and promises in her brother’s bankruptcy petition and accompanying documents, and when she used her client trust account to conceal from her brother’s creditors and the trustee hundreds of thousands of dollars that were part of her brother’s bankruptcy estate. 

Patricia Manila Martin, Chicago

Ms. Martin, who was licensed in 1986, was disbarred on consent. She intentionally used for her own purposes more than $240,000 she had agreed to hold for an elderly relative who was residing in a nursing home, made false statements to the physician who held her relative’s power of attorney about the balances in his bank and investment accounts, and did not produce documents in response to an ARDC subpoena. 

Corey E. McGinn, Downers Grove

Mr. McGinn, who was licensed in 2012, was disbarred on consent. Between 2020 and 2022, in the course of representing 26 clients in personal injury matters, he misappropriated more than $106,000 that was due those clients or their medical providers.

Brittany Roebke, Chicago

Ms. Roebke, who was licensed in 2011, was disbarred on consent. She misappropriated $34,702 in funds she received in connection with 12 clients’ business litigation matters and misrepresented her actions to her employer and others by making false statements and creating false documents and e-mails to conceal her actions.

Charles Robert Scanlon, Chesterfield, MO

Mr. Scanlon, who was licensed in 1989, was disbarred on consent. He misappropriated over $88,000 in settlement funds he was holding for a personal injury client and a lienholder in the client’s case. 

Steven Gary Silets, Northbrook

Mr. Silets, who was licensed in 1973, was disbarred on consent. He represented indigent defendants by court appointment and submitted hundreds of fee petitions to the court, many of which overstated the hours he worked on cases.

Stephen Oneil Willoughby, Decatur

Mr. Willoughby, who was licensed in 1973, was disbarred on consent. He did not competently and diligently handle several civil matters and a criminal case. He also failed to communicate with his clients in those matters, failed to return over $10,000 in unearned fees, and engaged in the unauthorized practice of law on two occasions in the criminal case by appearing in court after he had been removed from the roll of attorneys for failing to register. 

Suspended

David William Belconis, Barrington

Mr. Belconis, who was licensed in 1986, was suspended for three years, retroactive to September 17, 2019. He was convicted in federal court of knowingly participating in a fraudulent real estate scheme by using false statements to close real estate transactions and by concealing relevant information from lenders to influence their lending decisions.

Anthony V. Boyle, Chicago

Mr. Boyle, who was licensed in 2012, was suspended for two years and until further order of the Court, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a four-year term of probation with conditions. He did not diligently represent clients in six matters, did not adequately communicate with those clients, failed to return $21,500 in unearned fees, and made a misrepresentation to one client about the status of his matter. 

Jason Russel Caraway, Belleville

Mr. Caraway, who was licensed in 2007, was suspended from the practice of law for one year and until further order of the Court. He misappropriated $4,634 belonging to his client in a personal injury matter, falsely told the client that he had paid a lienholder, and failed to prepare or maintain appropriate trust account records. A suspension until further order of the Court is an indefinite suspension which requires the suspended lawyer to petition for reinstatement after the fixed period of suspension ends. Reinstatement is not automatic and must be allowed by the Supreme Court of Illinois following a hearing before the ARDC Hearing Board.

Douglas Gordon Iler, Chino, CA

Mr. Iler was licensed in Illinois in 2004 and in California in 2005. The Supreme Court of California suspended him for three years, with the suspension stayed by a three-year period of probation, subject to conditions, including that he be suspended for a minimum of the first 15 months of the period of probation and until he provides proof of rehabilitation to the State Bar Court. He violated several terms of a previous California order of discipline, including not timely submitting quarterly reports, not providing proof of his participation in an ethics class, and not filing an affidavit regarding notification to clients of his prior discipline. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for 15 months and until further order of the Court. A suspension until further order of the Court is an indefinite suspension which requires the suspended lawyer to petition for reinstatement after the fixed period of suspension ends. Reinstatement is not automatic and must be allowed by the Supreme Court of Illinois following a hearing before the ARDC Hearing Board.

Alison H. Motta, Sugar Grove

Ms. Motta, who was licensed in 2004, was suspended for 90 days, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a one-year period of probation with conditions. In an Illinois criminal trial, she repeatedly interrupted the judge and muttered an obscenity in response to the judge overruling an objection. She also took photos during the prosecutor’s closing argument despite a ban on photos in the courtroom. In a Nebraska criminal matter, she publicly disseminated DNA results from evidence to news outlets in violation of a previous protective order issued by the court. 

Philip Eugene Prewitt, Macon, MO

Mr. Prewitt was licensed in Illinois in 1995 and in Missouri in 1992. The Missouri Supreme Court indefinitely suspended him, with no leave to apply for reinstatement for two years, for threatening to file an ethics complaint against his potential opponent in a judicial election and to reveal details of the infidelity of his potential opponent’s spouse in an attempt to dissuade her from running against him in the election. He also threatened to reveal a former client’s confidences as part of that latter threat. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for two years and until he is reinstated to the practice of law in Missouri. The suspension is effective on October 12, 2023. 

James Thomas Rollins, Chicago

Mr. Rollins, who was licensed in 2007, was suspended for five months. He attempted to defraud his fellow law firm members about the amount of capital he had contributed to their start-up law firm. The suspension is effective on October 12, 2023. 

James H. Schultz, Rock Island, IL

Mr. Schultz, who was licensed in 1992, was suspended for three years and until further order of the Court, and was required to pay $6,000 restitution to a client. He engaged in a conflict of interest by drafting estate planning documents for an elderly woman, at the direction of the woman’s nephew, which documents benefited the nephew. He also collected an unreasonable fee of $6,000 from the woman. A suspension until further order of the Court is an indefinite suspension which requires the suspended lawyer to petition for reinstatement after the fixed period of suspension ends. Reinstatement is not automatic and must be allowed by the Supreme Court of Illinois following a hearing before the ARDC Hearing Board. 

Thayer Lance Weaver, Jr., Chicago

Mr. Weaver was licensed in Illinois in 1998 and in Missouri in 1997. The Missouri Supreme Court suspended him for three years, with the suspension stayed by a three-year period of conditional probation, for mishandling his client trust account, including by commingling client funds with earned fees and failing to regularly reconcile the account. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and suspended him for three years, with the suspension stayed in its entirety by a three-year period of probation, nunc pro tunc to March 7, 2023, subject to the conditions imposed in Missouri and continuing until he successfully completes his Missouri probation.

Michael Francis McClain, Quincy

Mr. McClain, who was licensed in 1975, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court after he was convicted in federal court of nine counts of bribery conspiracy, bribery, and willful falsification of records. 

Anne R. Pramaggiore, Barrington

Ms. Pramaggiore, who was licensed in 1989, was suspended on an interim basis and until further order of the Court after she was convicted in federal court of nine counts of bribery conspiracy, bribery, and willful falsification of records.

Probation

Alan Kent Wittig, Queen Creek, AZ

Mr. Wittig was licensed in Illinois in 1992 and in Arizona in 1997. Arizona disciplinary authorities reprimanded Mr. Wittig and placed him on probation for one year. He did not diligently represent a client, or adequately communicate with her, in litigation regarding whether the client’s minor son would be allowed to move out of state with his father. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and censured him and placed him on probation subject to the conditions imposed in Arizona and continuing until his Arizona probation is completed. 

Censured

Isaiah Skip Gant, Hermitage, TN

Mr. Gant was licensed in Illinois in 1975 and in Tennessee in 2006. Tennessee disciplinary authorities censured him for improperly disclosing confidential information about a client he represented in a criminal matter, failing to inform his client that he had disclosed the information, engaging in a conflict of interest, and failing to report another attorney’s misconduct. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and censured him.

Leila Louisa Hale, Henderson, NV

Ms. Hale was licensed in Nevada in 2000 and in Illinois in 2013. The Supreme Court of Nevada publicly reprimanded her for prematurely taking attorney’s fees from funds she held in trust and for failing to promptly pay funds to a client and lienholders. The Supreme Court of Illinois imposed reciprocal discipline and censured Ms. Hale.