On Friday, January 27, 2023, the Presiding Disciplinary Judge suspended Ian Trevor Hicks for 30 months to take effect on March 2, 2023.

The case is entitled “People v Ian Trevor Hicks” with case no. 22PDJ038.

The charges cited Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.7(a)(2), 1.8(j), 1.15A(a), 1.15C(c), 1.15D, 3.1, 8.4(c), 8.4(d), 8.4(g) which state:

A lawyer must act with reasonable diligence and promptness when representing a client;

A lawyer must not represent a client if the representation involves a concurrent conflict of interest;

A lawyer must not have sexual relations with a client unless a consensual sexual relationship existed between them when the client-lawyer relationship began;

A lawyer must hold client property separate from the lawyer’s own property;

Requiring quarterly reconciliation of trust account records;

A lawyer must maintain trust account records;

A lawyer must not assert frivolous claims;

It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation;

It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice;

In representing a client, a lawyer must not engage in conduct that exhibits bias against a person based on the person’s race, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status, when such conduct is directed to anyone involved in the legal process.

The Rules of Professional Conduct can be found here.

The suspension originated from two matters that personally involved the Respondent. The first matter happened when Respondent paid his fee from the $10,000 payment from his clients even though he had not yet received the full settlement amount, violating the terms of his fee agreement. On June 2020, Hicks received the full amount of $30,000 due from his clients but due to insufficient recordkeeping, he believed that only $20,000 has been paid. In 2021, Respondent enforced the settlement even though the defendants had already paid the settlement in full.

The filing states:

Hicks had not reconciled his trust account from June 2020 to November 2021. Had he done so, he would have discovered the “missing” $10,000.00. During that time, the balance in his trust account dipped below what he should have held for his clients.

Another matter happened in 2021 when Hicks began representing a client in a civil case against the latter’s ex-boyfriend. After the representation, Hicks and the client developed a sexual relationship which the same.

As of today, Mr. Hicks is a sole practitioner at The Law Office of Ian T. Hicks, LLC. He graduated from the Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2004 and the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver in 2007, according to his firm’s website.

A copy of the filing can be found here.