Is there a moral to the story? I suppose one should add "are you about to be disbarred, and if so for what?" to your list of interview questions. Followed by "No, Really. Are you about to be disbarred?" Would I recommend this guy to my friends, assuming he gets un-suspended? Would you?

Update: I now know how to answer the above question thanks to some helpful email. If I had checked the lawyer search database at IARDC, I would at least have found out that he had been censured twice, once for failing to pay his 339 parking tickets and once for failure to return unearned portion of retainer to 2 different clients. Also I would have learned that there were current disciplinary hearings pending against him. My Bad. Check this out before you engage a lawyer

Update 2: This is what he was suspended for, and he knew it was coming since January 9 2004. He seems to be well aquainted with clients taking him to small claims court to get thier retainers back. See you there Michael!

Update 3: Updated updates 1 and 2 to make factual corrections: I originally thought both censures were for mishandling clients funds. I also asserted in update 2 that he is scum which is not factually correct by any literal definition. I don't know a precise single word definition for a suspended lawyer with a documented history of deception, asset conversion, and uncooperativeness to his own clients and the ARDC who owes me my retainer back but when I find it, I will share. In german it would probably be something like suspendedlawyermitdocumentedhischtoryofdeception undassetenconversionunduncooperativenessmitownclients undderARDCwhoowesmemyretainerbackenheyhansletsgogetunbeeryah but thats just a guess, my german is as bad as my latin.

Update 4: Michael has made the local paper.

Epilogue:

Update 4 was written in 2004, I write this in early 2008. A few things have happened in the meantime:

1. I hired a new lawyer and was able to achieve a decent, civilized divorce. It was painful, but in the end I think it worked out for the best. Contact me if you live in Illinois and want a reference to the lawyer I used.

2. I applied for restitution from an IARDC insurance fund and got most of my money back.

3. I complained to the States Attorney about Mr. Marsh's behavior. More than one person who was also victimized by Mr. Marsh contacted me through this site, and I urged them to complain to the States Attorney too. Apparently some of them did because:

4. In early January 2008 Mr. Marsh pleaded (or pled? there seems to be no consensus on this verb tense. In either case, Marsh is a plodder!) guilty to 5 counts of misdemeanor theft, to wit: taking and keeping retainers from 5 people after he was already suspended. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, 24 months of probation, and full restitution, meaning he has to repay the IARDC insurance fund the portions they already covered, and also repay poor schmoes like me the parts they did not. Newspaper articles with even more juicy details are here and here . I was subpoenaed and eager to testify against him when he pled, the dirty rotten plodiatrist! He avoided felony charges by doing this.