Board keeps Hammargren aide from law practice

CARSON CITY -- An aide to Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren has failed to win reinstatement to practice law in Nevada after a disciplinary committee questioned his "moral qualifications."

Williams Works, who has staffed Hammargren's Carson City office, was suspended from law practice in 1989 for three years by the Nevada Supreme Court for a variety of infractions. He has tried twice without success to return to law practice.

Works, who has taken a leave of absence to work on Hammargren's Republican campaign for governor, testified before the Northern Nevada Disciplinary Board of the State Bar that he had fulfilled the conditions set in 1995 for his reinstatement.

Works, a self-professed alcoholic, said he has been sober since 1993 and he passed the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. While the board complimented Works on curbing his drinking, it said it must look further into his qualifications before granting reinstatement.

The panel said Works' answers to questions about his prior misconduct were "evasive and hostile. He displayed singular loss of memory with respect to particular events and had made no apparent effort to refresh his recollection before the hearing (in May) to such events."

The board, in its decision released last week, said Works acknowledges he reacts "negatively to stress" and he might benefit from continued anger management counseling.

Works was suspended on grounds he offered to settle a case which was unfavorable to his client; he was convicted of battery in pushing or hitting a client in his office; he made a misstatement of fact about his conviction to the Nevada Supreme Court; he sued one of his clients; and he was sanctioned by the federal court with a $9,975 fine for filing a frivolous lawsuit. These offenses took place from 1982 to 1987.

Works told the board that alcoholism was the sole cause of his misconduct and that behavior will not happen again. He said he wants his license back to remove any embarrassment to Hammargren and he only wants a limited practice of one or two cases.

The board said Works fails to appreciate the seriousness of his prior violations of ethical behavior. "Only if such past misconduct is acknowledged and fully understood can we be confident that the petitioner's (Works) future conduct will be more in keeping with the ethical rules than his past conduct has been."

Since his suspension, Works has done legal research, operated a food distribution business, was a partner in an auto repair business and has worked for Hammargren for about one year.

archive