Plaintiffs say Guajardo maintained control over their cases and never revealed that he was ineligible to practice law.

On March 18, a judge approved the city's motion for a preliminary
injunction barring Stender and IPG from doing any legal work on
Guajardo's behalf and requiring them to notify his clients that he's
ineligible to practice law.

Attempts to reach Guajardo were unsuccessful, and city officials say they don't know where he is or if he has retained an attorney. Stender's attorney, Kristin Caverly, told the Guardian: "We are not able to provide comments to the press at this time given the ongoing litigation."

White said that an important goal of the civil suit is to get the word out to immigrants so that they look into attorneys' backgrounds before hiring them. "If clients had gone to the state bar website," White said, "they would have seen that Guajardo resigned in April 2008."