Enterprise attorney Rahn Hostetter has begun a suspension from practicing law, part of a disciplinary agreement he reached with the Oregon State Bar.

Under an order entered Feb. 21 in the Oregon Supreme Court, Hostetter is suspended from practicing in Oregon for 18 months, all but six months of which are to be stayed pending a 12-month probationary period. The suspension went into effect 15 days from the orders entry date, which would allow the attorney to resume his occupation in mid-September.

The disciplinary order resolves an amended complaint the Bar filed in October alleging professional ethics violations. The charges sprang from two different professional conduct complaints originally filed by two different Hostetter clients husband and wife Gregory and Claudette Wieck; and Elk Mountain Cattle Company and its principals Charles Olsen, Lewis Olsen, and Jessica Anderson.

In the Feb. 21 stipulation for discipline, Hostetter admitted to violations of professional standards, including multiple client conflicts of interest, entering into a business transaction with a client, and failure to obtain a clients informed consent to continue with multiple representation.

The attorney in some instances failed to communicate with clients in writing. While the stipulation acknowledges its a point of dispute between Hostetter and the Wiecks as to whether Hostetter ever fully disclosed to them terms of certain transactions, the order further notes [t]here is no dispute that the Accused failed to give the Wiecks a reasonable opportunity to or advise them in writing of the desirability of seeking the advice of independent legal counsel, and failed to obtain their written informed consent to the essential terms of the transactions and the Accuseds role in the transactions, including whether he was representing them.

In determining what it deems an appropriate sanction in this case, the order takes into account the amount of injury, among other criteria. Neither the Wiecks, nor Elk Mountain and its principals sustained actual monetary injury, the order states. However, there was the potential for injury because they did not appreciate the Accuseds loyalty to them might be divided.

Listed as an aggravating circumstance in the sanction paragraph: prior disciplinary offenses, which brought Hostetter a 90-day suspension in 1997, an admonition in 2001, and a 150-day suspension in 2010.

Hostetter issued the following statement after the Feb. 21 order accepting stipulation for discipline was filed:

Treating others rightly has its innate rewards, even if not recognized by the rules of the profession. I have learned so much and been treated so well by the people of Wallowa County, and I have sought to pass on that blessing. This experience will not change my desire and practice of responding to friends and neighbors when they need and request legal assistance. I will, however, write many more letters properly confirming and documenting such needs and requests, as required by the Bar. In the meantime, far be it from me to despise the rod. There is much to learn from it.