Des Moines Lawyer Faces Disbarment For Criminal, Ethical Conduct

DES MOINES, IA — A Des Moines lawyer could lose her license after she reportedly violated terms of a suspension, lied to a judge and misappropriated a client's money. Additional complaints also have been leveled against Sandra Suarez Quilty by the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board.

The Des Moines Register reported that Quilty previously acknowledged committing a felony by taking money from clients and conducting a number of other ethical violations. As a result, a grievance committee for the state Supreme Court seeks to disbar her from practicing law.

The Register story said Quilty admitted to the allegations but is appealing the commission's decision to seek disbarment.

Quilty was arrested in 2012 and subsequently convicted of domestic-abuse assault causing bodily injury, the Register reported. The story also noted that two years prior to that arrest, she allegedly assaulted a state trooper after a drunk-driving arrest. She was suspended and publicly reprimanded in 2013 for the criminal conviction and in 2015 for ethical violations.

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Quilty has been a managing partner in the Suarez Law Firm since 2012 and is president and owner of Q4 Consulting, according to online biographical information. The law firm handles immigration, family, divorce, business and mediation cases.

Quilty is listed online as a statewide spokesperson for the American Heart Association and American Medical Association, former vice president of government and public relations for Orchard Place, former director of Iowa government and public relations for the American Cancer Society's Midwest Division, and former in-house counsel for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa.

Two clients providing reviews online vary widely in their description of her services. While one said Suarez "helped my family immensely," another client wrote that Suarez was paid in advance to handle the pre-trial and mediation stages of a case that was expected to go to court, but "less than 12 hours before pre-trial, Sandra emailed me telling me to find a new lawyer. She provided no reason. Pre-trial is not necessary if all documents are e-filed; she did not do this. I later found out she ... had legal issues of her own."

The Register story said the commission noted several areas of concern in determining it would pursue disbarment:

• Suarez-Quilty lied to a judge about her representation of a client
• She continued to practice law while under suspension following a second-offense drunk driving conviction
• She used a client’s trust fund to pay for expenses not related to that client’s case
• She was arrested a fourth time for drunk driving before resolution of a court case related to her third-offense drunk driving case
• She charged $5,000 to a client’s credit card for no legitimate reason.

Quilty told a Register reporter that she did not dispute any of the allegations, which she said were bad decisions that arose "in the course of my disease of alcoholism." She said she is sober today.

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