South Tahoe attorney faces disciplinary action from State Bar

By Kathryn Reed

South Lake Tahoe attorney Jordan Morgenstern faces disciplinary action from the California State Bar.

“We would not have gone forward with (the) matter if there was not evidence of misconduct. We do not go forward on speculation and conjecture,” Susan Kagan, deputy trial counsel for the State Bar, told Lake Tahoe News.

Jordan Morgenstern

In the 12-page report, it details several instances where Morgenstern took money for work, held onto the money for months, didn’t do work and didn’t return money in a timely manner.

Common practice for an attorney is to set up a trust account for each client so money is not co-mingled.

In the December ruling, the State Bar Court of California recommended Morgenstern be on probation for two years. The state Supreme Court will have the final say, which usually takes four to six months after the Bar has made its decision.

According to Kagan, the Supreme Court rarely overturns the Bar’s ruling.

If the court rules to discipline Morgenstern, the probation would begin 30 days later.

“What I admitted to was not providing clients with accounting as quickly (as I should have),” Morgenstern said. He said he agreed to a settlement because “I didn’t want to continue to pay a lawyer and go through all the garbage they put you through.”

Morgenstern said the disciplinary action is not newsworthy.

However, Kagan with the State Bar said, “We get a large number of complaints every year. Only a small number get to investigation and then an even smaller number to discipline.”

In a terse conversation with Lake Tahoe News, Morgenstern repeatedly bad-mouthed one of the people who brought allegations against him.

“I’m filing a restraining order against her today for what she is doing,” Morgenstern said Feb. 24 of Brenda Rogers.

Morgenstern and Rogers told Lake Tahoe News they plan to sue each other. Neither had anything nice to say about the other.