NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) – Ineligible Shreveport attorney Christopher Lee Sices faces possible permanent disbarment following a recent Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee's recommendation over allegations that included identity theft and forgery.
"This committee is of the unanimous opinion that nothing short of permanent disbarment would protect the public and the profession," LADB Hearing Committee No. 3's 10-page recommendation to the Louisiana Supreme Court said.
The seven consolidated allegations stem largely from misconduct that lead to his arrest on felony charges in 2017, according to the recommendation.
The recommendation was signed Jan. 16 by Committee Chair Frederick B. King and was issued the same day. Attorney member Tyler G. Storms and Public member John H. Dowd concurred in the recommendation.
Sices was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on Oct. 23, 2008, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association’s website. Sices has been ineligible to practice law in Louisiana in September 2017 over unpaid bar and disciplinary dues and noncompliance with trust account registration requirements, according to his state bar profile and the hearing committee's recommendation. In June, he was again listed as ineligible over noncompliance with continuing legal education requirements.
Sices was jailed in Caddo County in September 2017 on felony identify theft, theft and forgery charges, according to information on the county sheriff's website. Sices, then 36, was alleged to have forged another attorney's signature and federal tax ID number to cash settlement checks intended for clients' medical bills, according to a local news report at the time. The two checks apparently totaled more than $11,000.
Those allegations form part of the allegations against him in the hearing committee's recommendation. In another count, Sices allegedly was hired in December 2015 to handle a succession case, for which he was paid a fixed fee of $3,500 but then "made no identifiable effort to complete the succession or return unearned fees," the recommendation said.
In another count, Sices allegedly was hired in December 2015 to represent a client in a personal injury claim but he failed to communicate with his client or the insurance company's counsel. Sices "made no identifiable effort" to resolve the claim, the recommendation said.