Encino attorney suspended by Supreme Court of California for non-compliance to the Terms and Conditions of his probation

On Thursday, January 12, 2023, the Supreme Court of California suspended Encino attorney Thomas Vincent Johnston for failure to comply with probation terms and conditions.

The case is entitled “In the matter of Thomas Vincent Johnston”, and was brought by the Office of Probation of the State Bar of California with case no. SBC-22-PM-30636.

On September 2, 2022, in an Order,  it was stated that the Supreme Court issued an Order imposing discipline against the respondent for a prior case where the latter had failed to properly represent a client in a competent manner. Mr. Johnston was suspended for one year, stayed, and was placed on probation, subject to conditions. But despite his knowledge of the following Order along with the given conditions, the respondent failed to comply with any of the following.

The filing states:

“On May 30, 2022, Respondent emailed his probation case specialist in response to the May 25 communications. He explained that he had just “come across” Probation’s May 25 email and said also: “I fear that I may have inadvertently deleted any prior [emails], because I did not recognize your name.” Respondent stated that he intended to comply with the imposed terms of probation, would review the email attachments and his probation terms, and would “be in touch” about his compliance. Probation did not hear back from Respondent.”

Due to the non-compliance of the respondent with the conditions set forth, the Hearing Department of the Los Angeles Supreme Court of California recommended that the probation of the respondent be revoked, that the stay previously stayed suspension be lifted, and that respondent be actually suspended from the practice for one year. The Supreme Court of California En Banc adopted the recommendation.

The Disposition states:

“The court orders that the probation of Thomas Vincent Johnston (Respondent), State Bar Number 82019, is revoked. The court further orders that: 1. Respondent is suspended from the practice of law for one year and that the Respondent is given credit towards the one-year suspension for the period of involuntary inactive enrollment which commenced on September 5, 2022.”

As of today, Mr. Johnston is listed on the website of The Law Offices of Thomas V. Johnston, as a practicing attorney. His info can be found on martindale.com. Thomas attended Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, graduating in 1978. He practices in Encino, California. He is licensed in California.

A copy of the original filing can be found here.