Current Status:  Active

This member is active and may practice law in California.

See below for more details.

Profile Information

The following information is from the official records of The State Bar of California.

Bar Number:	94403
Address:	523 W 6th St Ste 552 Los Angeles, CA 90014 Map it	Phone Number:	(213) 489-2119
		Fax Number:	Not Available
		e-mail:	Not Available
County:	Los Angeles	Undergraduate School:	Stanford Univ; Stanford CA
District:	District 2
Sections:	None	Law School:	Santa Clara Univ SOL; Santa Clara CA

Status History

Effective Date	Status Change
Present	Active
12/16/1980	Admitted to The State Bar of California

Explanation of member status

Actions Affecting Eligibility to Practice Law

Effective Date	Description	Case Number	Resulting Status
Disciplinary and Related Actions Overview of the attorney discipline system.
5/4/2008	Discipline, probation; no actual susp.	05-O-01314
Administrative Actions
This member has no public record of administrative actions.

State Bar Court Cases

NOTE: The State Bar Court began posting public discipline documents online in 2005. The format and pagination of documents posted on this site may vary from the originals in the case file as a result of their translation from the original format into Word and PDF. Copies of additional related documents in a case are available upon request. Only Opinions designated for publication in the State Bar Court Reporter may be cited or relied on as precedent in State Bar Court proceedings. For further information about a case that is displayed here, please refer to the State Bar Court's online docket, which can be found at: http://apps.statebarcourt.ca.gov/dockets/dockets.aspx

DISCLAIMER: Any posted Notice of Disciplinary Charges, Conviction Transmittal or other initiating document, contains only allegations of professional misconduct. The attorney is presumed to be innocent of any misconduct warranting discipline until the charges have been proven.

Effective Date	Case Number	Description
5/4/2008	05-O-01314	Stipulation [PDF]

California Bar Journal Discipline Summaries

Summaries from the California Bar Journal are based on discipline orders but are not the official records. Not all discipline actions have associated CBJ summaries. Copies of official attorney discipline records are available upon request.

May 4, 2008

XAVIER JAMES VEGA [#94403], 53, of Los Angeles was suspended for one year, stayed, placed on two years of probation and was ordered to take the MPRE within one year. The order took effect May 4, 2008.

Vega stipulated that he failed to perform legal services competently in two immigration matters. He also failed to keep the client apprised of developments in one of the matters.

In both cases the clients had hired non-lawyers to help them obtain legal status in the U.S.; when their applications were denied, they turned to Vega.

The first case involved a Guatemalan mother and her son. The mother’s two brothers and a nephew had been assassinated and two daughters suffered trauma at the hands of a family member. Vega did not interview either client for more than 10 minutes prior to an INS hearing and ultimately withdrew both applications for asylum without presenting any evidence of the hardships endured by the family.

Although the court cancelled the removal order for the mother, it said the son had to return to Guatemala. Vega promised to appeal but did not do so. The cancellation of the mother’s removal also was reversed on appeal.

A new lawyer won a finding by the Bureau of Immigration Appeals that the clients’ cases were prejudiced due to ineffective assistance of counsel. Their matters were remanded to immigration court.

In the second case, Vega appeared before the immigration court without having met or spoken to a husband and wife whose asylum applications were denied. Although the judge told Vega the couple might be eligible to have their removal orders cancelled, he never pursued the suggestion. He also never submitted any supporting documents, despite a court-ordered continuance giving him an opportunity to pursue the case.

The clients’ application was eventually denied for failure to prosecute.

In mitigation, Vega has no prior discipline record.