Vol. 73, No. 7, July 2000

Lawyer Discipline

The Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility, an arm of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, assists the court in discharging its exclusive constitutional responsibility to supervise the practice of law in this state and to protect the public from acts of professional misconduct by attorneys licensed to practice in Wisconsin. The board is composed of eight lawyers and four nonlawyer members, and its offices are located at Room 410, 110 E. Main St., Madison, WI 53703, and 342 N. Water St., 3rd Floor, Milwaukee, WI 53202.

Public Reprimand of Joan M. Boyd

Joan M. Boyd, 48, of Shawano, has been publicly reprimanded by the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility (BAPR). Boyd represented a married couple in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy that was converted to a Chapter 7 petition midway through the case. The trustee was left holding funds paid by Boyd's clients that could no longer be distributed to creditors. In late May 1999, the trustee returned the funds by sending to Boyd a check for $1,013.06 that was made payable to the clients.

Boyd had charged a $1,000 fee for the bankruptcy case. The clients had paid only $500. Boyd left several messages with the clients that she was holding the refund check, pending the settlement of her attorney fees, and she asked them to come in and pick up the check. The husband client left several strongly-worded messages with Boyd's staff that he was not going to pay her any more money. Boyd indicates that she and her staff were afraid of the client.

On June 9, 1999, Boyd signed the clients' endorsements on the back of the trustee's check and arranged to deposit the funds into a checking account that is administered by an accounting firm on Boyd's behalf. Boyd did not maintain a trust account. From June 9, 1999, through July 28, 1999, when Boyd returned the funds to the clients, there were nine days in which the checking account balance was below the amount of the trustee's check. Boyd's account was overdrawn on July 18 and July 20, 1999; the highest overdraft reached almost $400.

Boyd continued to represent the clients in the Chapter 7 case. At a meeting of creditors in late June 1999, the husband client inquired about the Chapter 13 funds. Boyd replied that it would be taken care of with the attorney fees.

On July 28, 1999, the clients asked the trustee's office about the Chapter 13 funds and were told that the refund check had been endorsed and cashed in June. When the wife client denied having endorsed the check, the trustee's staff member called Boyd and asked if the debtors had, in fact, signed the back of the check. Boyd replied that the clients had signed the check and that the matter was taken care of.

That same day, the clients contacted Boyd, who admitted that she had written their names on the back of the check. Boyd immediately issued a check to the clients for the full amount of $1,013.06. The clients' bankruptcy was completed in September 1999.

Boyd acknowledged her misconduct. Boyd suffers from a cyclothymic disorder, which is similar to bipolar or manic depressive disorder. She had discontinued taking antidepressant medication during the time that she was representing the clients. Boyd believes the absence of medication contributed to an overreaction on her part to the husband client's refusal to pay the remainder of her fee.

BAPR concluded that by signing her clients' names and making an endorsement payable to herself on the check that was payable to her clients, and by depositing the funds into a personal checking account, all without the knowledge or consent of the clients, Boyd violated SCR 20:8.4(c), which proscribes dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. BAPR found that Boyd failed to hold in trust, separate from her own property, property of clients that was in Boyd's possession in connection with a representation, contrary to SCR 20:1.15(a). BAPR also found that in spending the entire proceeds of the check that she had received on behalf of her clients, Boyd violated SCR 20:1.15(d), which provides that when a lawyer is in possession of property in which both the lawyer and another person claim interests, the property shall be treated by the lawyer as trust property until there is an accounting and severance of their interests. Finally, BAPR found that Boyd engaged in misrepresentation, contrary to SCR 20:8.4(c), when she told the trustee's staff member that the debtors had endorsed the trustee's check and that the matter had been taken care of, when, in fact, Boyd had signed the debtors' names on the check and made the endorsement payable to herself.

Boyd was an inexperienced sole practitioner. She had not maintained a trust account because she believed her areas of practice did not require one. Boyd has recently opened a client trust account.

BAPR imposed a public reprimand with the conditions that Boyd be required to maintain a client trust account as long as she is in private practice; that she continue to use an accounting firm to handle her finances; that she continue with a treatment regimen as prescribed by her physician; and that she attend a continuing legal education seminar on the use and requirements of trust accounts within six months of imposition of the public reprimand.

Hearing to Reinstate David V. Jennings III

A public hearing will be held on Aug. 15, 2000, at 6 p.m. on the petition of David V. Jennings III, Mequon, to reinstate his law license. The hearing will be held at the Park East Hotel, Executive I, 916 E. State St., Milwaukee, Wis. Any interested person may appear at the hearing and be heard in support of, or in opposition to, the petition for reinstatement.
On Oct. 8, 1999, Jennings filed a petition in the Wisconsin Supreme Court seeking reinstatement as a member of the Bar and restoration of his law license. The Wisconsin Supreme Court revoked Jennings' license effective Jan. 12, 1993. The revocation was based upon the following: Jennings' acknowledgement in a petition for revocation that he was unable to defend against allegations that he converted approximately $550,000 from two companies that he had represented in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Between January 1989 and July 1992, Jennings transferred funds from those companies' bank accounts to his own personal accounts on nearly a weekly basis. He subsequently pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of embezzlement and two counts of making false entries in bankruptcy estates and was convicted on all counts. On Aug. 10, 1993, the federal court sentenced Jennings to 27 months in prison.

Jennings is required by SCR 22.28 to establish by clear and convincing evidence, the following, that:

1. he desires to have his license reinstated;

2. he has not practiced law during the suspension;

3. he has complied with the terms of the suspension;

4. he has maintained competence and learning in law;

5. his conduct since the discipline has been exemplary and above reproach;

6. he has a proper understanding of and attitude toward the standards that are imposed upon members of the bar and will act in conformity with the standards;

7. he can safely be recommended to the legal profession, the courts, and the public as a person fit to be consulted by others and to represent them and otherwise act in matters of trust and confidence, and in general aid in the administration of justice as a member of the bar and an officer of the court;

8. he has made restitution or settled all claims from persons injured or harmed by his misconduct, or in the event such restitution is not complete, has explained the failure or inability to do so;

9. he has indicated the proposed use of the license after reinstatement; and

10. he has fully described all business activities during the period of revocation.

Further information may be obtained from Jeananne L. Danner, Deputy Administrator, Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility, 342 N. Water St., Suite 300, Milwaukee, Wis., (414) 227-4623.