Inconsistent Contentions

The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board recommends the disbarment of an attorney who had taken for himself $50,000 of a personal injury settlement due to his firm. He had also violated the duty to appropriately safeguard entrusted funds and lied to his partners. The board rejected his claims of mitigation “[he] never claimed that mental disability caused him to convert the [client’s] cash payments. Instead, his defense to the allegation of conversion was innocence,i.e., that he did not intend to permanently deprive his law firm of the case.” His claim of of ADHD only explained his lies to his partners and did not cause the misconduct. (Mike Frisch)