Charlotte attorney suspended for two years, stayed

Attorney: James Landivar

Location: Charlotte

Bar membership: Member since 2018

Disciplinary action: Suspended from the practice of for two years on Feb. 26. That suspension is stayed for two years so long as Landivar complies with certain conditions.

Background: Landivar was an attorney with Carolina Legal Services (CLS), which provided debt-relief services to North Carolina consumers that included debt-adjusting (acting as a paid intermediary between a debtor and his creditors for the purpose of settling the debtor’s debts), which is illegal under North Carolina law unless done by a licensed attorney who is not employed as a debt adjuster. Landivar provided only limited legal services to his clients and knew that CLS was not authorized to engage in debt adjusting in North Carolina and used non-lawyers employed by out-of-state companies to provide most of the legal services to its North Carolina consumers, and did not adequately or directly supervise the non-lawyers doing this work.

Previous discipline: None

All information contained in the Bar Discipline Roundup is compiled and edited by Lawyers Weekly editor-in-chief David Donovan. He can be reached at [email protected].