Untimely Explanation Rejected

Default may be in our stars but it is unhelpful in dealing with a bar complaint, as evidenced by a recent Louisiana Hearing Committee report finding trust account violations and failure to respond

Prior to instituting the formal charges, the Respondent offered an explanation for her delay in responding to ODC’s formal complaint. She stated that she had no office staff and her office was not always open to receive certified mails that needed to be signed for. She said  she did attempt to retrieve the ODC mail from the post office after she got notice of the mail from the post office but it had already been returned to the ODC unclaimed. (ODC Exhibit 6). Regarding her delay in responding to the ODC’s request for supplemental information, she explained that it was because she had technical issues with her computer and thought she had responded to the supplemental request when in fact she had not. She said she had used her computer to promptly draft a response to the supplemental request but the computer crashed before she could back up the draft response and other documents. She lost these documents. She had to have the computer repaired. In the midst of this computer problem, she forgot she had not sent out the drafted response (now lost in the computer crash) to the ODC supplemental request. She apologized and denied any intention to not cooperate with the ODC’s investigation. (ODC Exhibit 11).

The foregoing explanation of the Respondent may be persuasive but it is of no avail because the formal charges alleging that she failed to cooperate with the ODC were undisputed and were deemed admitted and proven by a clear and convincing evidence. Therefore, the committee is bound to find that the Respondent violated Rule 8.1c – failure to cooperate with the ODC investigation.

The proposed sanction

All considered, the committee imposes one year suspension on the Respondent with all but one month deferred. In addition, the committee imposes a minimum of 2 credit hours mandatory class on managing Client Trust Account on the Respondent. Finally, the committee assesses all costs of these proceedings against the Respondent.

(Mike Frisch)