Disqualified attorneys face censure

CARSON CITY -- Two Las Vegas attorneys who lost their right to practice law are facing formal charges that they continued to preside as temporary judges in the Justice and Municipal courts, even though they were disqualified.

The state Judicial Discipline Commission Tuesday filed charges against Brian Morrison and Laura Ungaro. Neither could be reached for comment.

On Jan. 5, 1998, the Nevada Supreme Court put both of them on inactive status because they failed to get the required annual continuing legal education. The discipline commission said both had been notified previously they had to fulfill the obligation but apparently ignored it.

After that they continued to sit as referees for the Las Vegas Justice Court and as alternate Municipal Court judges. That requires them to be active members of the state bar.

Leonard Gang, director of the discipline commission, said the two attorneys have 20 days to file an answer and ask for a hearing. If found guilty, they could be reprimanded, censured, or fined $5,000. They also could be stopped from ever running or serving as a judge again.

Both Morrison and Ungaro had sought elective judicial offices in the past.

Between the two of them they sat on an estimated 20,000 cases in the city and county courts. The county and the city offered anyone who had a contested case before the two a chance for a new trial.

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