Discipline Notice - George A. Kolin

License Number: 22529
Member Name: George A. Kolin
Discipline Detail
Action: Reprimand
Effective Date: 5/13/2003
RPC:
Discipline Notice:
Description: George A. Kolin (WSBA No. 22529, admitted 1993), of Washougal, received a reprimand in May 2003, following a hearing. This discipline is based on his conduct in 1999 in a criminal matter involving a client facing deportation.
In 1999, a client retained Mr. Kolin to represent her son. The son was a Russian citizen and had pled guilty to four criminal offenses. The client did not want her son to be deported and asked Mr. Kolin for an opinion about the likelihood of getting the charges reduced. Mr. Kolin charged the client $6,000. The client paid $3,200. Mr. Kolin signed an affidavit and wrote one letter to the prosecutor asking to amend two of the charges to which the son pled guilty. Mr. Kolin did not tell the client that it was unlikely that the prosecutor would agree to reduce the felony charges to misdemeanors prior to writing the letter. The prosecutor did not agree to reduce the charges. In May 2000, the son was deported. The Hearing Officer found that the reasonable value of Mr. Kolin’s work was $1,000.
Mr. Kolin’s conduct violated RPCs 1.5(a), requiring lawyer’s fees to be reasonable; 1.2(a) requiring lawyers to abide by the client’s decisions concerning the objectives of the representation; and 1.1, requiring lawyers to provide competent representation.
Tracy D. Calabrese represented the Bar Association. Mr. Kolin represented himself. James Danielson was the Hearing Officer.


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