¶ 1 This is a Rule 6 bar disciplinary proceeding against Respondent, Larry Dean Wagener. A panel of the Professional Responsibility Tribunal (PRT) has recommended that Respondent be publicly censured. De novo review impels this Court to reject that recommendation. Respondent is suspended for six months and assessed the costs of this proceeding.
¶ 2 The single count allegation of professional misconduct concerns Respondent’s representation of Darel John Barnett in 1997 and 1998. The stipulated facts reveal thаt Respondent represented Barnett in his trial *568 on charges of rape and lewd molestation after former conviction. The victim was a minor child. After Barnett was cоnvicted in 1997, Respondent was retained to represent him on appeal. Respondent paid the court reporter to prepare the transcripts but he never picked them up. Although he filed a Notice of Intent to Appeal and a Designation of Record, Respondent failed to file a Petition in Error, a prerequisitе for appellate jurisdiction.
¶ 3 Respondent did not tell Barnett that he had failed to file the Petition in Error and that the deadline had passed for its filing. Instead, he advised Barnett that he was waiting to get transcripts from the court reporter and to “hang in there as things go slowly here.” The appeal was dismissed for lack of a Petition in Error. Respоndent failed to inform Barnett of the dismissal and ended all communication with him.
¶ 4 In April, 2001, Barnett filed a pro se request for his trial transcript still unaware that his appeal had been dismissed. By that summer, Barnett had learned through his own research that his appeal had been dismissed. By Fall, Barnett’s new lawyers had told him his appeal was dismissed because Respondent failed to file a Pеtition in Error. On October 2, 2002, the Office of General Counsel received a letter which stated that Barnett had filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Respondent had committed legal mаlpractice in handling his appeal.
¶ 5 Two days later, on October 4, 2002, the Professional Responsibility Commission (PRC) issued a private reprimand to Respondent for practicing law while under suspension. Respondent was reprimanded because he failed to notify the district court, the district attorney, and a client of his suspension. Further, he used а business card, letterhead, and envelope which listed him by the title “Attorney at Law” while he was under suspension. Since that time, judgment was rendered against Respondent in the malpractice action, the Court of Criminal Appeals has allowed Barnett to file a Petition in Error, this disciplinary proceeding was brought, and the PRT has recommended рublic censure based on the stipulated facts presented by the parties.
¶ 6 Respondent has stipulated that his conduct regarding Barnett’s appeal violated Rulе 1.1 (competence), Rule 1.3 (diligence), Rule 1.4 (communication with client), and Rule 8.4 (violating Rule of Professional Conduct). See Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct, Okla. Stat. tit. 5, ch.l, app. 3-A (2001). After reviewing the proceedings de novo, this Court concludes the allegations of misconduct have been proven by clear and convincing evidence. Only the question of the proper disciplinary sanction to be imposed remains.
DISCIPLINARY SANCTION
¶ 7 The determination of the discipline to be imposed in this matter is complicated by two facts. First, Respondent’s misconduct concerning Barnett’s appeal occurred within the same time frame as the misconduct for which a sixty day suspension was imposed by this Court. That susрension was imposed and served before the subject misconduct was reported. Second, the record is silent as to why the PRC proceeded with its private reprimаnd while this new allegation of misconduct was pending with the General Counsel’s office.
¶ 8 Respondent was suspended for sixty days in
State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass’n v. Wagener,
¶ 9 This Court has explained the need to “consoIid[ate] time-related offenses ... to avoid the waste of judicial resources, to provide a clear picture of respondent’s problems and shortcomings, and to ensure that the appropriate discipline is imposed.”
*569
State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass’n v. Wolfe,
¶ 10 This matter is distinguishable, however. Here, Respondent engaged in and was reprimanded by the PRC for practicing law during his suspension. The allegations of unauthorized practicе of law were pending before the PRC at the time the General Counsel’s office received the allegations which led to this complaint. Ideally, the PRC should have withheld its рrivate reprimand so that the allegations of practicing law while under suspension could have been combined with the allegations in this Rule 6 complaint. The reasons for the failure to combine pending allegations are not addressed by the trial panel, the Bar Association or Respondent. The Bar Association is again reminded of the need to consolidate, to the extent possible, time-related offenses. The question becomes whether Respondent’s unauthorized practice оf law will result in enhancement of the discipline recommended by the trial panel, public censure.
¶ 11 This Court disagrees with the parties’ assertion that had this “grievance beеn received so that it could have been consolidated with the disciplinary proceedings in Wagener I, this Court may have determined that a sixty day suspension would have been sufficient discipline for all of Respondent’s misconduct occurring within [the] identified time span.” This instance of client neglect jeopardized a client’s right to appeal his сriminal conviction. It was followed by Respondent’s wilful concealment of his failure to act on the client’s behalf. In addition, Respondent’s conduct during his suspension indicatеs that he did not learn from the discipline imposed.
¶ 12 Under rule 9.1 of the Rules Governing Disciplinary proceedings, Okla. Stat. tit. 5, ch.l, app. 1-A (2001), a suspended lawyer is required to notify all clients with matters pending of the lawyer’s inability to represent them and to formally withdraw as counsel in all pending eases. Respondent’s failure to comply with the Rule resulted in а grievance from a trial judge who had attempted to hold a preliminary hearing. The district attorney, witnesses, defendant, and Respondent’s client were all present in the courtroom. The client, however, was unrepresented because Respondent had failed to inform him or the court of the suspension and to withdraw from represеntation. The matter had to be continued, causing delay and potentially impacting the client’s right to a speedy trial.
¶ 13 This violation of Rule 9.1 and the instances of unauthorizеd practice of law described in the private reprimand resulted from Respondent’s admitted failure to read the Rules concerning lawyer suspension. That failure dеmonstrates a continued pattern of client neglect and disregard for those whom his suspension affected.
¶ 14 It is apparent that Respondent’s pattern of irresрonsible -behavior continued after this Court’s imposition of a sixty-day suspension. Clearly, a stronger message in the form of a more severe disciplinary sanction is required. Rеspondent is suspended from the practice of law for six months. He is directed to pay the costs of this proceeding in the amount of $486.95 within ninety days of the effective date of this opinion.
SIX MONTH SUSPENSION IMPOSED; COSTS ASSESSED.