Traffic court lawyer who used slurs agrees to suspension

If approved, deal would require anger management counseling

A Chicago attorney who repeatedly used homophobic and offensive language to describe other lawyers while competing for traffic court clients has agreed to at least a monthlong suspension of his license.

Thomas Guadagno, 66, engaged in the name-calling for at least six years, using terms such as "gay scum" and "child molester" to refer to other attorneys, according to a complaint filed by the state's attorney disciplinary body.

He also allegedly told one client not to hire an attorney because the man had a "sexual torture chamber in his basement."

In 2009, a Cook County judge found him guilty of disorderly conduct after an incident that started when Guadagno greeted a former client and the new attorney told Guadagno not to talk to his client, according to documents filed with the disciplinary body.

Guadagno said the client shouldn't have hired the "gay" attorney and later yelled "scumbag" and "homosexual" at the attorney, continuing even after a sheriff's deputy told him to stop, records state. 

He was sentenced to six months of court supervision and ordered to take an anger management class.As part of the agreement approved last week by an Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Guadagno's license would be suspended for a month and he would have to complete two years of probation.While on probation, Guadagno must continue seeing a therapist for anger management counseling and complete a seminar on attorney professionalism, according to the agreement. If he violates probation, the panel would suspend his license for an additional four months. 

The agreement must still be approved by the Illinois Supreme Court.Guadagno, who has focused on traffic cases since about 1990, could not be reached for comment.The disciplinary body noted in a filing that he has "acknowledged that his conduct was inappropriate and has expressed regret for it."

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