Betrayal Of Trust

The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board has recommended a fully-deferred suspension of one year and one day in case matter involving the failure to supervise an embezzling employee:

The record in this case shows that [the attorney] failed to properly supervise his non-lawyer employee…even after receiving notice of allegations of prior embezzlement. As a result, [the employee was able to embezzle approximately $15,000 over the course of five months. During this time [the attorney] experience personal problems, causing him to be absent from the office for some of the time that the embezzlement occurred. The absence contributed to, but does not excuse, [his] failure to supervise [the employee].

The board further recommends probation of two years with trust accounting school, reconciliation of his trust account by a CPA, and “there being no resulting evidence of improper accounting. ” (Mike Frisch)