Law & Crime reports
The attorney whose career became famous in the movie Erin Brockovich is currently “not eligible to practice law,” the State Bar of California decided on Tuesday.
According to online records, attorney Thomas Vincent Girardi of the Los Angeles firm Girardi & Keese was ordered to assume inactive status as of March 9th. He was admitted to practice law in California on January 13, 1965.
An attorney who is “not eligible to practice law” may have been so ordered because of “suspension, involuntary transfer to inactive status and failure to pay mandatory State Bar fees,” the bar’s website says.
“Involuntary inactive enrollment is not discipline, but rather a regulatory procedure,” the website continues. “An attorney may also be voluntarily placed on inactive status but will not be entitled to practice law during that time. Attorneys on voluntary inactive status may switch to active status at any time provided that the proper fees are paid and any other requirements are met.”
No official record of discipline currently exists.
According to Hollywood website The Wrap, the move was “the apparent result of an ongoing conservatorship case” involving the 81-year-old high-profile lawyer. Documents obtained by the site indicate that Girardi “has Alzheimer’s disease and is unable to participate in court proceedings,” the site reported in summary.
“His emotional distress is directly related to his dementia and exacerbated by his confusion,” a psychiatrist said of Girardi, according to The Wrap.
Girardi’s brother is serving as his conservator.
Real-Life ‘Erin Brockovich’ Lawyer Tom Girardi Loses His Law License
