Attorney Henry Penick of Birmingham, AL; ethical gremlin

The state of Alabama presented Henry Lee Penick with a law license in 1980 after he graduated from Samford University of Law School.

The Alabama State Bar Association found Hank guilty of the following misconduct.

In one matter, a client employed Hank to represent him regarding injuries incurred in an auto accident. Over the next seventeen (17) months, Hank failed to communicate with his client regarding the accident.

Subsequently, Hank advised the client that the insurance company had not been responsible to his demand letters to settle and that the client needed to pay him $316 as the court fee for filing a lawsuit against the person responsible for the client’s injuries.

After receipt of the $316 from the client, Hank again failed to communicate with the client about the status of the case. Several months later, the client (victim) learned that Hank had never filed any lawsuit on his behalf, and as a result of Hank’s gross negligence, the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit had passed.

As a consequence of his misconduct, the cheerleaders for Judicial Misfits sitting on the Alabama Supreme Court punished Hank by gifting him with a complimentary reprimand.

As we speak (ca. June 2014), Hank practices with H.L. Penick & Associates, PC in Birmingham, Alabama.