Frankfort Mayoral Candidate Addresses 2014 Law License Suspension

FRANKFORT, IL — Frankfort mayoral candidate and attorney John Clavio recently spoke to Patch about the suspension of his law license in 2014. Clavio is a partner at Clavio, Van Strand & Associates, and practices in real estate, estate planning, family law, and business law.

The incident that resulted in the suspension happened more than 18 years ago, Clavio told Patch. Clavio is running for mayor of Frankfort, and has served as village trustee since 2017.

According to the Illinois State Bar Association, Clavio's law license was suspended for 60 days in December 2014. In 2003, Clavio had drafted a will for a client, and at the time the client signed the will, although others were present, no witnesses signed the will attesting to their presence, a release from ISBA states.

Clavio later directed his employees to falsely attest that they had been present and had witnessed the client sign the will; he also notarized the signatures of the person who made the will and the witnesses, and stated that they signed the will on the same day, when they actually signed on different days.

The client died in 2011, and an investigation regarding the validity of the will began in 2012, according to the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois' database.

The will was later declared invalid in 2013, "based in part on the misconduct," the release from ISBA states.

"When the matter was brought to my attention, I willingly cooperated with the Attorney Registration Committee and took full responsibility for the matter," Clavio said. "In fact, I agreed to voluntarily set my license aside for a period of 60 days. The matter in no way gave validity to any claims for civil or criminal actions of any kind."

According to the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois' database, Clavio has no other disciplinary reports or decisions.