Jansen v. People.

No. 24PDJ025. 12/18/2024. Opinion Denying Reinstatement.

February 5, 2025

Following a reinstatement hearing, a hearing board denied Molly Jansen O’Brien (formerly Molly Falk Jansen) (attorney registration number 34528) reinstatement to the practice of law in Colorado under CRCP 242.39. Jansen may not again petition for reinstatement for at least two years after the date the opinion issued.

In 2023, O’Brien was suspended for one year and one day for her misconduct while representing an incarcerated client in 2021. O’Brien conferred with her client only once during the representation, and she did not provide him with a writing that described the basis or rate of her fee. During the representation, O’Brien stipulated to a six-month suspension of her law license. But she did not promptly notify her client or the court presiding over his case that her law license had been suspended until two days before the suspension took effect. In her motion to withdraw from the case, O’Brien did not disclose her upcoming suspension; instead, she made an inaccurate statement about why she sought to withdraw. Also during the representation, O’Brien resolved a traffic case that she believed involved her client but that actually concerned an individual with the client’s first and last name. O’Brien never independently verified that the case involved her client and never communicated with him about resolving the matter.

Following a hearing, the hearing board concluded that O’Brien failed to show by clear and convincing evidence that she is rehabilitated from her misconduct and that she is fit to practice law.