DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS May to August The Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct from May to August 1987, issued two letters of reprimand, one letter of caution and two letters of warning. It filed a disbarment suit in Pulaski County Circuit Court against Wali Muhammed of Little Rock, suspended for one year the law license of Sam Sexton, Jr.. of Fort Smith and accepted the surrender of license from Jack W. Dickerson of Garland County. The Committee took no action on 131 informal complaints and voted "no action warranted" on 18 formal complaints.
theft by deception.
SAM SEXTON
Disbarment Suit A disbarment suit was filed on August 5, 1987, in Pulaski County Circuit Court against Wali Muhammed of Little Rock by the Committee on Professional Conduct, the Arkansas Gazette reported. The suit cited several complaints it had investigated concerning Muhammed's conduct as a lawyer and noted that the Committee in May 1986 had suspended his license for one year. "The Committee has shown an indulgent forbearance" toward Muhammed prior to the action for disbarment, the suit said. It added that Muhammed's "history of misconduct is so plenary that it suggests a conscious design." The Committee decided to file for disbarment due to a February 25, 1987, complaint. It did not elaborate on the nature of the complaint. Muhammed told the Gazette that the suit was just "a continuation of the
Suspension of License Sam Sexton, of Fort Smith, had his license suspended for one year on August 29, 1987, by the Committee on Professional Conduct for improperly entering into a business arrangement with a client. a violation of Rule 1.8(a) of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the Arkansas Gazette reported. Sexton said he will appeal the suspension within the 3D-day limitation and was granted authority by the Committee to practice law until his appeal is decided. According to the client. Sexton was hired to represent him in an insurance claim. The client said he was injured in a 1982 automobile accident and was awarded a lump sum of $9O,(XXJ, in addition to monthly payments of $650 for the rest of his life. Of the $9O,(XXJ lump sum, $40,(XXJ was to go to his attorney, whom he understood to be Sexton. The client said Sexton offered to allow him to loan $2O,(XXJ to RSC, Inc.. a coal mining firm in Sebostian County. Sexton guaranteed he would be paid $40,(XXJ in 40 months, he said. The client alleged that RSC went out of business and Sexton paid him only after the complaint was filed with the Committee. Sexton testified that he was RSC's president at the time and owned 49 percent of the stock, but that he was never the complainant's attorney. He said two attorneys who worked out of the same office and shared expenses with him represented the complainant. but that he had participated in a
harassmen t" from the Committee
deposition in the case and signed
and that he expected to win in the federal courts where he filed in late July a suit to have his law license reinstated. On August 4, 1987, Muhammed was charged in Pulaski County Circuit Court with one count of forgery, four counts of theft by deception and one count of attempted
the settlement with the insurance company. Sexton said he was acting as RSC's attorney when he offered the investment to the complainant. that he took up RSC's payments to the complainant when the company went out of business and that following a three-month ab-
WAU MUHAMMED
IS41Arkansas Lawyer/October 1987
sence due to heart surgery he returned to his office and found that the complainant had filed a suit against him seeking the rest of the $4D,(XXJ.
JACK W. DICKERSON Surrender of License Jack W. Dickerson, of Garland County, voluntarily surrendered his license to the Committee on Professional Conduct in July. The Committee accepted his surrender of license on July 20, 1987. According to the Arkansas Supreme Court clerk, Dickerson was arrested on May 29, 1987, and was charged with possession of a controlled substance, driving while intoxicated, felony hit-<md-run, reckless driving and refusal to submit to a urine analysis.
HAROLD FLOWERS Letter of Reprimand Harold Flowers, of Pine Bluff, was issued a letter of reprimand by the Committee on Professional Con-
duct in August for violation of Rule 1.4 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct involving communication. Flowers' client said that he hired Flowers in 1985 to represent him in a divorce and was not notified by Flowers of a December 1985 hearing in which the divorce suit was dismissed. He said he still wanted the divorce but was denied a chance to testify. Flowers said he kept the client. who is now divorced, informed about his case "at all times," the Arkansas Gazette reported. He said the attorney for the client's ex-wife asked that the divorce be dismissed because the couple "was living together as man and wife."
ROBERT E. IRWIN Letter of Reprimand Robert E. Irwin, of Russellville,