Gregory M.D. Lopez

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

The complainants, executors of the Clemetson estate, engaged the Attorney (Gregory Lopez) around 2004 to handle probate and sale of 13 parcels of land. Over 2006-2013 they received no documents or accounting (except a single 2005 statement for lot 350). Several lots were sold in 2012 (totalling over $7.6M) without any accounting to the complainants. The Attorney failed to file a response affidavit and largely failed to attend hearings. The Panel accepted the uncontroverted evidence and found the Attorney guilty of professional misconduct in breach of Canons I(b), IV(r), IV(s) and VII(b)(ii). No express finding of dishonesty was made. The Panel deferred imposition of sanction to allow the Attorney to address it on penalty.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Failure to account for proceeds of sale of multiple properties (lot 341 for $3,300,000; Clive Williams lots for $1,200,000; Bernard Cridland lots for $3,100,000)
• Ignoring repeated client requests for information/accounting between 2006-2013
• Failure to file any Affidavit in response to the complaint despite being ordered to do so
• Palpable contempt for the complainants and the Committee
• Multiple transactions mishandled over many years