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Around March 2021, Molly Falk Jansen verbally agreed to represent a client in a felony case in Arapahoe County. Because the client was incarcerated in California at the time, Jansen made the oral agreement with the client’s wife who paid $6,000 toward Jansen’s $20,000 fee around May 12, 2021, and $1,500 in mid-July 2021. Neither the client nor the client’s wife ever received a written description of the basis or rate of Jansen’s fee. Jansen entered her appearance in the case on May 19, 2021. She conferred with her client just once, during a 15-minute phone call, on June 2, 2021. On July 1, 2021, Jansen told the client’s wife she was negotiating with the district attorney who was working to obtain a writ for the client’s appearance at a status conference in mid-August.
Meanwhile, on July 2, 2021, Jansen’s stipulation to discipline was approved in a separate discipline case; in that matter, Jansen agreed to a six-month suspension of her law license, which was to take effect Sept. 1, 2021. Jansen didn’t discuss her suspension with the client or the client’s wife. On Aug. 20, 2021, Jansen moved to withdraw from her client’s case, inaccurately stating in her motion that her client wished to apply for a public defender because he wasn’t able to pay Jansen her full fee. On Aug. 30, 2021, Jansen notified the court of the impending suspension and stated that she informed her client of her suspension via certified mail. But Jansen didn’t notify her client or his wife of the suspension until that day, and she never provided her client with a written notice of her suspension.
During the representation, Jansen resolved a traffic case in Boulder County Court that she believed involved her client but that actually involved an individual with the same first and last name. Jansen never independently verified that the Boulder County case involved her client and never communicated with her client about resolving the Boulder County case.
The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved Jansen’s stipulation to discipline and suspended her for one year and one day, with $4,000 due in restitution. The suspension takes effect May 1. To be reinstated to the practice of law after her suspension, Jansen must prove by clear and convincing evidence that she has been rehabilitated, has complied with all disciplinary orders and rules and is fit to practice law.