Sanction At Issue In Missouri

SC100925

In re: Roy King Jr.

Jackson County

Attorney discipline

Roy King Jr. is an attorney practicing in Kansas City. Over the years, this Court has reprimanded and suspended him for violating various rules of professional conduct. He also been admonished for other ethical rule violations. In April 2022, a bank notified the chief disciplinary counsel that King’s client trust account was overdrawn, with at least one check being written for an operating expense that should not have been paid from the client trust account. Upon investigation, an auditor for the chief disciplinary counsel found various cash withdrawals and payment of paralegal fees but was unable to determine on behalf of what clients those payments were made. King also did not comply with the auditor’s requests to provide sufficient information for her to complete the audit. King tried to hire a bookkeeper to help him manage the accounts, but the bookkeeper told the auditor she would not work with him because he was using his client trust account as a personal account. King later made a sworn statement admitting he had kept his own money in his client trust account to avoid having the IRS garnish his accounts and wrote checks for cash from his client trust account to pay his living expenses. The auditor also noted King was not keeping general or client ledgers and was not reconciling his accounts. In October 2023, the bank again notified the chief disciplinary counsel that King’s client trust account was overdrawn. The auditor found King was still making cash withdrawals from the client trust account to pay personal expenses. King stated he maintained primarily a municipal case practice for which he charges a flat fee, has not had clients complain about him, did not intend to commit fraud, struggled with his bookkeeping and had not read the ethical rules governing how to maintain client trust accounts. Following a July 2024 hearing, the disciplinary hearing panel found King had violated Rules 4-1.15 and 4-8.4(c) and recommended he be disbarred. The chief disciplinary counsel asks this Court to disbar King; King argues the Court should consider mitigating factors and issue discipline that allows him to continue practicing.

This case presents two questions for this Court – whether King violated rules of professional misconduct and, if so, what discipline, if any, is appropriate.