first reported<\/a> on these disciplinary charges in January.<\/p>\nBlock, who runs a firm that claims to have evicted hundreds of thousands of tenants, is expected to be placed on probation for one year. He will also be required to take classes on ethics and proper handling of client funds if the State Bar Court\u2019s recommendation is approved by the California Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n
If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n
The State Bar Court recommended Block be suspended from practicing law for one year, but allowed the suspension be stayed as long as he complies with ethics rules and his probation conditions.<\/p>\n
David Bramante is one of the clients who reported Block to the bar. He said he paid Block $17,000 up front to work on a court motion that needed to be taken care of quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ellis Act work I paid for never got done,\u201d Bramante told LAist. \u201cAnd when I terminated him, his office wouldn’t give me a real accounting of where the money went.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bramante said it was only after many months and the State Bar\u2019s investigation that Block\u2019s firm refunded him the money.<\/p>\n
Three legal ethics experts told LAist the disciplinary actions the bar recommended against Block are in line with similar cases they have seen in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a pretty serious sanction,\u201d Scott Cummings, a UCLA law professor who teaches legal ethics, told LAist.<\/p>\n
Cummings said suspension and disbarment are the two highest forms of discipline given by the bar.<\/p>\n
Even though the suspension is being stayed in this case \u2014 because Block cooperated with State Bar investigators and has had a long career without disciplinary issues \u2014 Cummings said it seems like the bar is sending a message to Block and other attorneys that they need to treat their clients\u2019 interests and money with the highest level of care.<\/p>\n
Still, others think the court didn\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n
Richard Zitrin, an emeritus lecturer with UC Law San Francisco, called it a \u201cslap on the wrist” considering the level of wrongdoing in the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe failure to suspend Mr. Block is letting him get away with clearly unethical conduct that harms his clients,\u201d Zitrin told LAist.<\/p>\n
Other clients who were not involved with the bar\u2019s investigation also claimed they had negative experiences with Block\u2019s firm.<\/p>\n
Xavier Jones said he hired Block\u2019s firm for a few months in 2025. He told LAist there were no issues at first. Then, he said he saw Block\u2019s attorneys start coming to court unprepared for his case. He said he also felt Block was overbilling him for the firm\u2019s services.<\/p>\n
Block would hang up on him when he asked legal questions or about how much he was being billed, Jones said. He said there were two times the firm\u2019s lawyers came to court without having a copy of the tenants\u2019 lease, which he says he sent them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m paying for this, for them to show up, for them to do their back-end work,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt’s just unprofessional, it’s embarrassing, and it’s costing me a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones said he stopped working with Block in November. He said he had lost about $70,000 in unpaid rent, legal fees and other costs he believes could have been avoided with proper legal assistance.<\/p>\n
LAist reached out to Block and his attorneys this week for comment, but did not receive a response. Last month, Erin Joyce \u2014 Block\u2019s defense attorney \u2014 told LAist that the State Bar Court\u2019s investigation into her client was \u201cthorough\u201d and found \u201cno conduct by the firm involved moral turpitude,\u201d which had been alleged in the original charges.<\/p>\n
How to reach me<\/p>\n
If you have a tip, you can reach me on Signal. My username is \u00a0jrynning.56.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles-area eviction lawyer Dennis Block has agreed to one year of probation after the California State Bar…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":965675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,387992,387993,2961,224,5337,19052],"class_list":["post-965674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-dennis-block","tag-eviction-attorney","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-probation"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117000477631129127","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}