April 29, 2024
Virginia State Bar Clients’ Protection Fund Board Pays $182,165.64 on Seventeen Petitions
The Virginia State Bar Clients’ Protection Fund Board authorized payments totaling $182,165.64 in reimbursement to petitioners regarding nine Virginia attorneys at its February 1, 2024, meeting.
The board approved a payment of $3,000 to a former client of Brittani Nata’lita Baldwin of Williamsburg for failing to perform all the work for which she was paid in a divorce case. Baldwin’s license was suspended based on impairment on February 6, 2023 and revoked effective August 17, 2023.
The board approved payment of $2,500 to a former client of James Cooper Bell and the client’s relative who paid the attorney’s fee for a criminal matter. Bell handled the case through the preliminary hearing stage but died suddenly in January 2023 before completing work for the client.
The board approved a payment of $56,548.64 to the Executor of an estate for a deceased man from whom Brown improperly took money while she held the man’s power of attorney. Brown’s license was revoked in April 2023 based on unrelated criminal convictions.
A former client of Christopher L. Contreras of Arlington received a payment of $8,600 for reimbursement for lack of services rendered in a felony criminal defense matter. Contreras’s license was revoked on August 25, 2023.
The Board approved a payment of $3,750, representing partial reimbursement for unearned fees in a divorce matter to a former client of Mark Edward Englisby of Midlothian, who died in March 2023.
A former client of Paul Reddick Hedges of Chesapeake was awarded $750, representing partial reimbursement, by the board. In the case, the board found that Hedges did sufficient work to earn some, but not all, of the fees paid by the clients before Hedges passed away in December 2021 and his practice went into receivership.
Nine former clients of David Gary Hoffman of Fairfax received payments totaling $80,267 ($1,080, $10,000, $7,975, $6,750, $3,900, $10,500, $13,015, $11,855, and $15,192) as reimbursement for fees paid for future estate planning and/or estate administration services that Hoffman did not perform. Hoffman’s license was revoked in December 2021 for similar actions.
A former client of Dale R. Jensen of Staunton received a payment of $25,000 for reimbursement for lack of legal services rendered in a criminal case. Jensen’s license to practice law was suspended in July 2022. His license was subsequently revoked in November 2023.
A former client of Charles Gregory Phillips of Salem received a payment of $1,750, representing partial reimbursement for lack of services rendered in child support, custody, and protective order proceedings. The board found that Phillips did sufficient work to earn some, but not all, of the fees paid by the client. Phillips’s license to practice law was
suspended in May 2023. His license was subsequently
revoked in October 2023.
| Docket Number |
Lawyer's Name |
City of Record |
Amount Paid |
Type of Case |
|
24-555-003491
|
Brittani N. Baldwin
|
Williamsburg, VA
|
$3,000.00
|
Unearned Fee/Family Law
|
|
24-555-003475
|
James C. Bell
|
Farmville, VA
|
$2,500.00
|
Unearned Fee/Criminal Defense
|
|
24-555-003466
|
Elizabeth K. Brown
|
Cumberland, VA
|
$56,548.64
|
Embezzlement /Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
24-555-003485
|
Christopher L. Contreras
|
Arlington, VA
|
$8,600.00
|
Unearned Fee/Criminal Defense
|
|
24-555-003478
|
Mark E. Englisby
|
Midlothian, VA
|
$3,750.00
|
Unearned Fee/Family Law
|
|
24-555-003492
|
Paul R. Hedges
|
Chesapeake, VA
|
$750.00
|
Unearned Fee/Family Law
|
|
23-555-003453
|
David G. Hoffman
|
Fairfax, VA
|
$1,080.00
|
Unearned Fee/Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
23-555-003455
|
David G. Hoffman
|
Fairfax, VA
|
$10,000.00
|
Unearned Fee/ Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
24-555-003467
|
David G. Hoffman
|
Fairfax, VA
|
$7,975.00
|
Unearned Fee/ Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
24-555-003468
|
David G. Hoffman
|
Fairfax, VA
|
$6,750.00
|
Unearned Fee/ Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
24-555-003470
|
David G. Hoffman
|
Fairfax, VA
|
$3,900.00
|
Unearned Fee/ Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
24-555-003477
|
David G. Hoffman
|
Fairfax, VA
|
$10,500.00
|
Unearned Fee/Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
24-555-003481
|
David G. Hoffman
|
Fairfax, VA
|
$13,015.00
|
Unearned Fee/Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
24-555-003493
|
David G. Hoffman
|
Fairfax, VA
|
$11,855.00
|
Unearned Fee/Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
24-555-003482
|
David G. Hoffman
|
Fairfax, VA
|
$15,192.00
|
Unearned Fee/Estate Planning/Administration
|
|
23-555-003384
|
Dale R. Jensen
|
Staunton, VA
|
$25,000.00
|
Unearned Fee/Criminal Defense
|
|
24-555-003483
|
Charles Gregory Phillips
|
Salem, VA
|
$1,750.00
|
Unearned Fee/Family Law
|
The Clients’ Protection Fund was created by the Supreme Court of Virginia in 1976 to reimburse persons who suffer a quantifiable financial loss because of dishonest conduct by a Virginia lawyer whose law license has been suspended or revoked for disciplinary reasons, or who has died and did not properly maintain client funds. The fund is not taxpayer funded but is supported by Virginia lawyers who pay an annual fee of $5. Payments from the Clients’ Protection Fund are discretionary and are not a matter of right.
If you have any questions, you may contact Vivian R. Byrd, administrator to Clients’ Protection Fund by email or at (804) 775-0572.