Lax Oversight
The web page of the Ohio Supreme Court has a summary of a decision issued today:
The law license of Lancaster attorney Lawrence M. Maley has beensuspended for 18 months, with the final six months stayed onconditions, for failing to properly supervise the activities of hissecretary, who without his knowledge accepted retainer fees fromclients and independently prepared and/or filed legal documents in atleast 39 bankruptcy cases over a period of more than a year. Thesuspension was also based on Maley’s failure to maintain a dedicatedclient trust account, resulting in the improper commingling of feeadvances and other moneys he held in trust for his clients with his ownpersonal and business funds.
The Supreme Court adoptedfindings by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Disciplinethat Maley’s lax oversight of his employee and failure to maintainproper client accounts enabled the secretary to use his credit card andthe court’s online filing software to independently prepare and filebankruptcy petitions bearing Maley’s electronic signature, and toperform other unlicensed legal work for dozens of clients who thoughtthey were obtaining Maley’s professional services. Maley subsequentlynotified police that the secretary had pocketed client fees totalingmore than $25,000 and had used his credit card to make an additional$8,300 in unauthorized purchases or payment for her own benefit.
TheCourt found that Maley’s acts and omissions violated multiple stateattorney discipline rules including those that prohibit conductprejudicial to the administration of justice, conduct adverselyreflecting on an attorney’s fitness to practice, aiding a non-lawyer inthe unauthorized practice of law, neglect of entrusted client legalmatters and prejudicing or damaging a client in the course of aprofessional relationship.
The lawyer had given the secretary broad authority to run his practice with little, if any, supervision. After he discovered that she was untrustworthy, he terminated her. She continued to undertake bankruptcy matters by gaining entry into his office after business hours. The lawyer had not changed the locks, did not get the secretary’s keys back and had not canceled his credit cards, which facilitated additional misconduct. (Mike Frisch)