Suspended Lorain attorney found in contempt

A local attorney currently under suspension has been found in contempt by the Ohio Supreme Court.

In an Aug. 21 decision the Ohio Supreme Court found Jeffrey H. Weir in contempt for failing to file an affidavit of compliance.

Weir, whose last known address was in Lorain, had been ordered to file documents in compliance with court orders by July 17.

The Ohio Supreme suspended

Weir in June, affirming a February recommendation by the Board of Professional Court after he was found to have neglected clients and failed to cooperate with disciplinary proceedings against him.

He was ordered to pay $250 in restitution and provide proof of compliance with a December 2019 Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program contract, in addition to proof he has followed treatment or counseling recommendations, court documents say.

He also must submit an opinion from a qualified health professional that he is able to return to practicing law in a competent and ethical manner.

According to court documents, Weir has been suspended or sanctioned on at least four occasions with the justices noting in their decision his lack of compliance with disciplinary procedures.

The suspension does not offer any credit for time served from a previous suspension handed down in June 2019.

According to court records, a disciplinary investigation began in 2017 after Weir misplaced a client’s $4,983 settlement check in 2015.

After Weir received the check from the other party’s attorney, he misplaced it and often did not communicate with his client and failed to pay restitution to his client.

In May 2019, Weir was given 10 days to respond to a grievance case in which he’d been suspended and continued to practice. He was ordered to serve six months of a one-year suspension in June 2019.

That suspension was put in place after Weir failed to respond to an ethics complaint from the Lorain County Bar Association that he had failed in his representation of a man who was executor on the estate of his mother, failed a client while acting as an attorney on her bankruptcy case, and failed a pair of clients in a property case.

In the most recent suspension, the Board of Professional Conduct cited multiple mitigating factors in rendering their recommendation, taking into consideration Weir’s prior sanctions, a pattern of misconduct, multiple offenses and a lack of cooperation in the disciplinary process, according to court documents.