It had to happen; Blogger Beware – the hand you bite may bite back; Durham Suspended; Parenting Time Changes; Indiana Talks.

I knew it would happen

I know this lawyer, and the nice things the hearing officer reported to the Supreme Court about her are true, from my experience. But she got reprimanded. I must admit, the facts are hard to decipher from the recitation of events in the opinion, but it appears that the lawyer took on a big case, apparently too big for a single lawyer to take on in the manner she did. She created a class of 64 plaintiffs who may not have had similar interests (since some had settled their claims before becoming part of the class), and they gave her authority to settle without getting further input from the clients, which is power that a lawyer should not have. The Court says that they insisted on it, and she accepted the authority. During mediation, she had a short period of time to accept or reject an offer that seemed appropriate for all 64 clients. She exercised the authority to settle rather than to leave the offer on the table. (Thanks OC and mediator).

It is not clear who reported the matter, but it does not sound (from the opinion) that any of the clients were upset with the settlement, offended by her actions, or thought any inappropriate action had occurred, but that is not the test under Rule 8.4.  Lawyers must let the clients make the decisions to settle, as painful as that can be from time to time (Rule 1.2(a)). Aggregate settlements are tricky creatures, and must be handled with care and with the informed consent of each client (Rule 1.8(g)). When lawyers fail to get informed consent, it usually leads to the failure to explain a matter so the client can make an informed decision (Rule 1.4(b)).

Although the Disciplinary Commission lawyer argued for and sought a suspension from the practice, the public reprimand seems right.

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Blogger Beware

The National Law Journal reported that a Chicago lawyer and blogger got caught up in a legal matter that prompted her to make allegations that the IL probate process is “a sleazy world of probate” and that there is “malpractice and malfeasance by attorneys and the court.”  Amazingly someone took offense at that.  The lawyer Joanne Denison now faces an ethics complaint.

It seems to stem from the court rejecting an application by Denison to serve as a guardian, after the court found that Denison had notarized the signature of a woman who might have been  suffering from dementia at the time of the signature, and that the document favored the woman’s daughter, a client of Denison, over others in the family.  They thought that was worthy of disqualification from serving as guardian in this matter. Denison went ballistic, created a blog in the name of the potential ward, and started blasting away at the judges and lawyers alike.  She named names and recounted allegations, apparently without due regard to the facts underlying the matters.

The ethics allegation is that the blog contains “comments that are false or made with reckless disregard for the truth.”  Oops.

I will take that into consideration as I write and edit this blog, and invite others to do likewise in their own writings.  As one reply to the NLJ article mentions, Rule 8.3(a) states: “A lawyer who knows that another lawyer has committed a violation of Rule 8.4(b) or Rule 8.4(c) shall inform the appropriate professional authority.”  That is not an invitation to inform via blog.

H/T Patrick Olmstead

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Durham Suspended

Indy Ponzi scheme convict Tim Durham, the subject of a previous post here, was suspended from the practice of law based on his finding of guilt in the $200M fraud case of Fair Finance. Durham was sentenced to 50 years, so unless he was planning a jail-house lawyer routine, this finishes his legal career. The Order is here.

The Indy Star claimed [login required] it was the Disciplinary Commission that suspended him, but we know  that the Supreme Court keeps that power to itself. Durham still has a challenge to the suspension, but…

BTW, this is Durham’s second suspension, the first was due to failure to pay his annual registration fee last October.  Kirkland & Ellis, one of the biggest of BigLaw firms in Chicago, has decided to provide a pro bono appeal for Durham, according to the Indiana Business Journal. If you cannot pay registration for your license, you probably qualify for indigent services.Good to see the poor getting adequate legal representation to protect their rights. It worked so well for Mike Tyson.

Parenting Time changes

Two lawyers in my office have produced a short video on the changes in the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines. The changes go into effect on March 1.

You may want to watch, or link to it. Andy Perkins and Rachel Arndt did a nice job, here.

IndianaTalks.com Interview

Indy lawyer Stephen Terrell will be interviewing me this coming Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 9:00 pm on his weekly online “radio” show. Steve has been on-line for 3 weeks now, and has had some very interesting interviews.  You can listen by tuning your browser to http://www.indianatalks.com/.  Steve discusses information of the week, and then conducts his interview for much of the hour.

Don’t know what we will talk about, but Steve and I, while friends for a decade, disagree about most of the important things in life, and this will be my chance to show him the errors of his ways for you all to hear. Plans are to discuss law, politics and religion. Where could we disagree about any of these matters?

I only hope the Hoosiers have put the Gophers away by 9:00.

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IN Re: Kendall Redux

Kendall – Redux

The 2004 case of In Re Michael Kendall (see 3-24-04 entry) is a landmark case among Indiana’s legal fee cases.

Kendall’s law firm went bankrupt, and several clients’ fees could not be refunded, having been deposited into his general account. The issue was whether those funds should have been safe in a trust account. In a 13 page opinion. the Supreme Court expounded on the proper use of “flat fees” “non-refundable retainers” and how lawyers can protect their livelihoods.

The hearing officer had found violations of Rule 1.4 on communicating with clients, but on the big fee issues, Rules 1.5 & 1.15, found no violation.  The Disciplinary Commission appealed those findings, and the Supreme Court found there were violations of Rules 1.5, & 1.15. The court distinguished Kendall’s actions from those found in the In the Matter of Stanton case, when flat fees for criminal matters, deposited in the lawyer’s general account was permissible. Kendall deposited advance fees for hourly work in the lawyer’s general account.

FLAT FEES

The court’s discussion starts with a helpful paragraph:  Advance fee payments are subject to different requirements, depending upon the terms of the agreement between the lawyer and the client.  This discussion will distinguish between the advance fees charged by the respondent here (that were to be earned in the future at an agreed rate) and advance fees that are agreed to cover specific legal services regardless of length or complexity (fixed or “flat” fees). 

After the discussion the Court held: “We therefore hold that Prof. Cond. R. 1.15(a) generally requires the segregation of advance payments of attorney fees, as discussed below….  Except in the case of flat fees governed by Stanton, a lawyer’s failure to place advance payments of attorney fees in a separate account violates this rule.”

The per curiam opinion, authored by now Chief Justice Dickson, defined a “flat fee” that could be charged, and once collected placed in the firm’s general account, as follows: “As distinguished from a partial initial payment to be applied to fees for future legal services, a flat fee is a fixed fee that an attorney charges for all legal services in a particular matter, or for a particular discrete component of legal services.”

Are you paying attention reader? Flat fees can be charged and put in the general office account.  But they must qualify as flat fees.  And you must explain, accurately, how that works, so the client is not misled.

UNREASONABLE FEES = NON-REFUNDABLE RETAINERS?

Kendall’s other mistake was to use language in his fee agreement that must have been common (considering how often the issue arises), a provision that fees paid were non-refundable unless otherwise provided by law.  That language is a huge red-flag, and while the Supreme Court has not yet said the term “non-refundable retainer” is forbidden, they have not approved it in recent history when addressing the situation.  In Kendall they held that even though the Commission never proved he had taken and kept a non-refundable retainer, and never failed to resolve a retainer when he was discharged before the completion of the case, the Court  still found the fee agreement that included a threat that the fees paid could not be refunded was unreasonable and in violation of Rule 1.5.

In language that I still find confusing, the court said the following two things: 1) “In discussing [in Thonert] the nonrefundability provision, we observed: We do not hold that unrefundable retainers are per se unenforceable.  There are many circumstances where, for example, preclusion of other representations or guaranteed priority of access to an attorney’s advice may justify such an arrangement.  But here there is no evidence of, for example, any value received by the client or detriment incurred by the attorney in return for the nonrefundable provision, other than relatively routine legal services.  [Thonert] 682 N.E.2d at 524.  Where a retainer is thus justified, a lawyer would be well advised to explicitly include the basis for such non-refundability in the attorney-client agreement; and 2) We hold that the assertion in an attorney fee agreement that such advance payment is nonrefundable violates the requirement  of Prof. Cond. R. 1.5(a) that a lawyer’s fee “shall be reasonable.”

How clear is that? The non-refundable retainer fee may be permissible, but to say so in the fee agreement violates the reasonable fees requirement.

Word that part of your fee agreement carefully, yet make it clear for the average client.

And remember, even though the Court did not say it out loud, no fee is Non-Refundable.

CONCLUSION

Michael C. Kendall, in the face of other undisclosed charges recently filed by the Disciplinary Commission, tendered his resignation of his license to practice law. On Jan. 28, 2013 the Supreme Court accepted his resignation, and said that he may not apply for reinstatement for at least five years.

I don’t know Michael C. Kendall, but the 2004 opinion included the following paragraph: The hearing officer received significant evidence of Kendall’s professional reputation.  Several highly respected witnesses testified favorably for Kendall, praising his history of ethical practice, his integrity, his significant public service, and his strong dedication, care, and commitment to his clients’ cases.  The hearing officer recognized that Kendall “deserves sanction” but noted that the “accolades from the various witnesses were impressive and unchallenged,” and urged that “the penalty needs to be tempered by what seems to be the Respondent’s superior ethical history until this recent period.”  Findings at 23. 

A few years ago a friend of mine had some troubles, and got a reprimand. Folks tried to help, but a second round of complaints hit. He resigned his license to practice as a lawyer. It was right for him. I hope this was right for Kendall.

New Rules for Lawyers and Judges: Living with the Rules; What is JLAP?

New Rules to Review

Six new sets of rules are going into effect for Indiana lawyers and judges on Jan. 1, 2013 based on a series of Ind. Supreme Court rulings issued in Sept.  The list of new 2013 orders (plus three effective July 1, 2012), if you have not seen them is here: http://www.in.gov/judiciary/2784.htm

It always pays to read the rules.

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Paying for Disclosure Violation

One hard fast rule in Bankruptcy Court is for the lawyer to disclose any interest, direct or indirect, in representations in the case.  In a recent bankruptcy case in Georgia, the lawyer was required to disclose any interest in any creditor of the bankrupt client before representing the client.  In this case the lawyer forgot to disclose that he and his wife were shareholders in a creditor bank, while her father had been bank president, board member and chair of the bank’s board, and to top it off, the lawyer’s former partner was general counsel to the bank.  Oops.

The opinion, as reported by the Business Reporting Committee, does a nice job of listing the five factors to used in determining if a disclosure misstatement is to be actionable, and here it clearly was an intentional misstatement of reality.  The court cut the law firm’s fees by $20,000 which should get these folks attention. And yours.

H/T Gregory Jordan for the link.

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What is JLAP?

One of the critical pieces of the legal system in Indiana was created in 1997, by adoption of Rule 31 of the Admission and Discipline Rules of the Supreme Court.

JLAP’s purpose “is assisting impaired members in recovery:” of all kinds.  It is designed to “provide assistance to judges, lawyers and law students who suffer from physical or mental disabilities that result from disease, chemical dependency, mental health problems or age that impair their ability to practice;…”

Terry Harrell is the extremely competent and compassionate Executive Director.  If you have questions about your situation, or the situation of a friend or colleague, you should review Rule 31 here and call JLAP for information and assistance.  The program has volunteers around the state, so you may get someone from nearby to provide assistance.

Of course the important thing is, if you or someone you know needs help, you should call. Today, or tomorrow. The impact of the call can be life saving, or might protect the rights and property of a client. Good faith calls get some qualified immunity under Section 9.  Call.  It is better than being required to report misconduct if you don’t call.