Mt. Lookout attorney who impersonated colleague disbarred

The Ohio Supreme Court has disbarred an attorney who impersonated a former colleague and continued practicing even after his law license was suspended.

The Ohio Supreme Court voted 6-0, with one justice not participating, to disbar Robert H. Hoskins, whose practice was in Mount Lookout.

The state Supreme Court found Hoskins repeatedly lied to clients, judges and other attorneys, engaged in a pattern of misconduct and lied during the disciplinary investigations.

Hoskins told The Enquirer he filed a resignation "weeks ago" and declined to comment further.

Hoskins was disciplined by the Ohio Supreme Court in April 2015 with a 60-day suspension, but he continued practicing, according to documents filed by the high court’s Board of Professional Conduct. The Ohio suspension came a few months after a 60-day suspension in Kentucky.

In one of the cases, involving Bertke Electric Company, the documents said Hoskins impersonated a former colleague, creating and using an email address that included the former colleague’s name.

Hoskins withdrew from the case in September 2015 without notifying the company. 

Also while his license was suspended, Hoskins continued to represent Preferred Interiors Drywall Services in a Clermont County lawsuit.

At a deposition, the opposing attorney asked Hoskins if he had been reinstated to practice in Ohio. Officials say Hoskins claimed he had been told his license was reinstated. Another attorney called the state's board of professional conduct while the deposition was happening and confirmed Hoskins had not been reinstated. During the break, the opposing attorney called the judge, who prohibited Hoskins from being involved in the case.

Officials said Hoskins continued to represent four other clients without telling them about his suspension.

"In light of Hoskins' extensive pattern of deliberately and repeatedly violating this court's prior orders, the presence of numerous aggravating factors…we find that permanent disbarment is the only appropriate sanction in this case,” the high court said in its opinion.

In addition to disbarment, Hoskins was ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution to one of his former clients and pay for the costs of the disciplinary proceedings.

Hoskins tried to submit a letter from a psychologist on his behalf, but the disciplinary board rejected it partly because it was "insufficient to establish the existence of a mitigating disorder."