A harsh economic environment is being cited as the reason for a rise in the number of Tennessee lawyers disciplined for stealing or misusing client funds.
And some attorneys are taking money from clients and then closing shop without performing the legal services they were paid to do.
"Some lawyers are just abandoning their practices because they can't make their business model work, and they're not telling their clients and they're not telling the judges," said Nancy S. Jones, chief disciplinary counsel for the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility. The TBPR disciplines lawyers for ethical violations.
Jones said some lawyers, many of them sole practitioners who work on criminal or divorce cases, are having a hard time staying afloat because they aren't getting enough business. Many of them are dipping into their trust accounts — which contain monies such as court costs, expert witness fees and settlement disbursements — just to pay toward their business expenses and they are getting into trouble.
"I think that lawyers are not making enough money to pay their personal expenses, and they think 'I'll get the money, I'll put the money back, nobody will know about it and it will be fine,' and they just keep on doing it until they get in an overdraft situation and then we find out about it," Jones said. She compared it to a Ponzi scheme that eventually comes crashing down.
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TN Lawyers Being Disciplined More Often for Theft
I think this is going on all across the country. Discipline records need to be public and easy access.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised they'd come out and admit it!
ReplyDeleteany wonder why lawyers are lining up for a spot in the a group for guardianship case appointments? easy money guaranteed to be approved by the court from the ward's assets no haggling with clients no siree just submit billing and there you have it checks in the mail
ReplyDelete