People v. Hale. 13PDJ048. June 19, 2013. Attorney Regulation. The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved a conditional admission of misconduct submitted by the parties and suspended Margaret T. Hale (Attorney Registration Number 31406) from the practice of law for one year and one day, effective June 19, 2013. Hale agreed to represent a client in a slip-and-fall incident, but she failed to keep her client informed about the case. Further, Hale’s paralegal, not Hale herself, signed all the correspondence directed to her client. In a response to a motion to compel discovery responses on her client’s behalf, Hale indicated that she had lost contact with her client and had hired a private investigator to find her, but these representations were false. Her continued and unexplained failure to respond to the opposing party’s discovery requests led the court to dismiss her client’s case and assess attorney’s fees against her client. Hale did not inform her client of the order dismissing her case or the award of attorney’s fees. Hale’s misconduct constitutes grounds for the imposition of discipline pursuant to C.R.C.P. 251.5 and violated Colo. RPC 1.1, 1.4(a)(3), 1.4(a)(4), 3.3(a), 5.3(b), and 8.4(d).