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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 145 / 07-0777 Filed March 28, 2008 IOWA SUPREME COURT ATTORNEY DISCIPLINARY BOARD, Complainant, vs. BRANDON ADAMS, Respondent. On review from the report of the Grievance Commission.

Grievance Commission reports respondent has committed ethical misconduct and recommends a three-month suspension. SUSPENDED. LICENSE

Charles L. Harrington and Elizabeth E. Quinlan, Des Moines, for complainant.

Brandon Adams, Waterloo, pro se.

2 CADY, Justice. The Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board charged Brandon Adams with numerous violations of the Iowa Code of Professional Responsibility for Lawyers and the Iowa Rules of

Professional Conduct, mainly predicated on his neglect and inattention to client matters in several cases. The Grievance Commission of the

Supreme Court of Iowa found Adams violated the Code of Professional Responsibility and the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct. It

recommended Adams be suspended from the practice of law for a period not less than three months. On our review, we find Adams violated the codes of professional conduct, and we impose an indefinite suspension of not less than four months. I. Background Facts and Proceedings. Brandon Adams is an Iowa lawyer. He practices law as a sole

practitioner in Waterloo. Adams was admitted to the practice of law in Iowa in 2000. He worked for one year after graduation from law school as a public defender in Kansas and was employed by two law firms in Waterloo from 2000 to 2003, before opening his own law office. He is married and supports four children. Adams is thirty-three years old. He has participated in the volunteer lawyer project by providing free legal services to the needy. The board filed a five-count complaint against Adams on January 10, 2007. The complaint centered on claims of neglect and lack of diligence in representing clients, client misrepresentation, failure to make an accounting, and failure to timely respond to requests for information by the board. The neglect resulted in the dismissal of two appeals for lack of prosecution, and the lack of diligence resulted in the

3 arrest and incarceration of a client for failure to appear at a court hearing in a criminal case. Adams failed to respond to the complaint and failed to answer requests for admissions submitted by the board. As a result, the

commission deemed the allegations of the complaint and the request for admissions to be admitted. It nevertheless permitted Adams to submit exhibits and evidence at the hearing. At the hearing, Adams offered evidence to both excuse and mitigate his conduct. He testified he was unable to perform legal services at times due to debilitating migraine headaches. He also had other ongoing

personal matters that would interfere with his work, including bouts with depression. Additionally, Adams lacked financial resources to purchase legal research tools to help perform legal services. At times, he employed inexperienced legal assistants who hampered communications with clients due to clerical errors. He was unable to locate billing records due to a change in his office computer system. Adams has a history of prior discipline. He was privately

reprimanded by the board in 2003 for inflating a claim for legal services. He received a public reprimand in 2004 for altering a copy of a decision by an administrative law judge before sending it to his client by deleting a sentence stating he failed to file a brief in the case. He was temporarily suspended on two occasions in 2005 for failing to respond to board complaints and for not complying with client security regulations. He

was publicly reprimanded in January 2007 for neglect of a client matter by failing to file a posttrial motion in a criminal case. The commission found the board established the violations as set forth in the five-count complaint. It found Adams' conduct violated

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