Empty courtroom. Photo: sirtravelalot/Shutterstock.com

The Connecticut Superior Court, acting on recommendations from the Statewide Grievance Committee, suspended four attorneys in the latest round of disciplinary cases. The sanctions ranged from interim suspension to up to one year for misconduct, including an assault case against one attorney and another who reported himself in a real estate transaction.

Here is a roundup of the attorneys disciplined.

David Alexander has been arrested three times for offenses that include driving under the influence of alcohol and assaulting his parents.

Alexander, an Enfield solo practitioner who is also a former state representative, was suspended for one year in November for a March assault against his mother while he was allegedly drunk in the home they shared. He had been charged with assaulting his father in a 2016 altercation.

Related story: Assaulting His Mother Cost This Attorney the Ability to Practice for 1 Year

Alexander, now 37 and living in Arizona, did not receive jail time for any of the offenses. He was sentenced to six months, execution suspended, for his latest offense. According to a police report, Alexander told police he hit his mother in the head with a mug and that she fell backward. The mother denies that her son threw a mug at her. She suffered two broken wrists and needed three staples to her head.

Also sanctioned was longtime attorney Joseph Saffi. While most attorneys are disciplined because a fellow lawyer or client reported them, Saffi reported himself to the Statewide Grievance Committee.

Saffi, who owns a law firm that bears his name and has been an attorney for 40 years, admitted to changing the date on a fax in order to protect his clients. In November, he was suspended for practicing law in the state for six months.

According to a June presentment by the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel in Danbury Superior Court, Saffi's client was issued a summons for failing to adhere to the purchase agreement for a property. When checking on the case, Saffi discovered he'd never faxed the cancellation document to the other attorney. He told state investigators he then changed the date on the fax transmission by nearly three months and sent out the notice in an effort to protect the client.

“Respondent determined that the absence of a fax transmission verification establishing that the letter was sent to sellers' attorney would undermine his client's position with regard to the litigation,” the presentment states.

In April 2017, the Danbury grievance panel found Saffi guilty of Rule 8.4 (4) of the Rules of Professional Conduct, which governs engaging in “conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.” Two months later, the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel filed its ethics case with several additional allegations of misconduct.

Longtime attorney Scott Garver, who has a history of attorney discipline, has been sanctioned again.

Garver, a Connecticut attorney since 1975, had been suspended or reprimanded four times. In the latest case, the Statewide Grievance Committee found in June that he'd violated several bar rules by making only two telephone calls to the lender over a two-year period in one case. Furthermore, Garver acknowledged those phone calls did not involve substantive discussions.

Garver's 60-day suspension took effect Nov. 1 and ended Dec. 31.

Stamford attorney William McCullough was suspended in November for not complying with an audit.

McCullough, a Connecticut attorney for 24 years, was given written notice on March 12 by the Statewide Grievance Committee that his offices, where he practiced primarily probate and real estate law, would be audited two weeks later.

When the auditors arrived, they were told by McCullough that he had not maintained records since 2014, making it impossible to conduct an accurate audit. McCullough, who said at the time he was working on getting a bookkeeper to bring his records into compliance, was then given a June 25 date for a new audit. But, on June 22, he notified authorities that he still did not have the records necessary to complete the audit.

McCullough was given an interim suspension with no official end date in November. The attorney was told to cooperate with the committee for an audit that would cover Jan. 1, 2017, onward. The court will review the matter on March 11, at which time it could lift the suspension.