Sacramento attorney disbarred in California after professional misconduct, State Bar says
A Sacramento attorney has been disbarred and is no longer eligible to practice law in California after committing multiple acts of professional misconduct while representing her clients, State Bar officials said.
Janice Dianne Dudensing, who was admitted to the bar in December 2011, was disbarred on April 9, the State Bar of California announced Monday in a news release. Dudensing was among 18 attorneys across California who were disbarred in the second quarter of the year.
In one court case, Dudensing represented the parent of a Laguna Creek High School student who was allegedly punched by his teacher. State Bar officials said Dudensing served late discovery responses, failed to appear in court and did not inform her clients of her failure to do so, costing her clients the ability to seek legal recourse.
In the high school student’s case, Dudensing failed to appear in court and then lied to the court saying she had asked another attorney to appear in her place, according to the State Bar.
State Bar officials said Dudensing conducted other acts of misconduct with other clients, including misappropriating nearly $53,000 of client funds; making misrepresentations to a client, lienholder and the court; failing to perform with competency; violating court orders by repeatedly failing to appear that resulted in sanction orders, commingling personal funds in her client trust account; and knowingly employing a disbarred attorney whom she allowed to handle client funds and negotiate liens in violation of ethical rules.
This story was originally published August 15, 2023 at 8:19 AM.
