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:
- he desires to have his license reinstated;
- he has not practiced law during the suspension;
- he has complied with the terms of the suspension;
- he has maintained competence and learning in law;
- his conduct since the discipline has been exemplary and above
reproach;
- 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;
- 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;
- 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;
- he has indicated the proposed use of the license after
reinstatement; and
- 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.
Wisconsin Lawyer
