Case Title: Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility v. Jane A. Edgar

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: wisconsin

Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

Date: 1999-10-26T00:00:00Z

Document:
SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN 
 
 
Case No.: 
99-0062-D 
 
 
Complete Title 
of Case: 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings  
Against Jane A. Edgar, Attorney at Law: 
 
Board of Attorneys Professional  
Responsibility,  
 
Complainant, 
 
 
v. 
 
Jane A. Edgar,  
 
Respondent.  
 
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST EDGAR 
 
 
Opinion Filed: 
October 26, 1999 
Submitted on Briefs: 
      
Oral Argument: 
      
 
 
Source of APPEAL 
 
COURT: 
      
 
COUNTY: 
      
 
JUDGE: 
      
 
 
JUSTICES: 
 
Concurred: 
      
 
Dissented: 
      
 
Not Participating:       
 
 
ATTORNEYS: 
      
 
No. 
99-0062-D 
 
1 
 
NOTICE 
This opinion is subject to further editing and 
modification.  The final version will appear in 
the bound volume of the official reports. 
 
 
No. 99-0062-D 
 
STATE OF WISCONSIN               :        
        
 
 
 
 
IN SUPREME COURT 
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings  
Against Jane A. Edgar, Attorney at Law: 
 
Board of Attorneys Professional  
Responsibility,  
 
          Complainant, 
 
     v. 
 
Jane A. Edgar,  
 
          Respondent.  
FILED 
 
OCT 26, 1999  
 
Marilyn L. Graves 
Clerk of Supreme Court 
Madison, WI 
 
 
 
ATTORNEY 
disciplinary 
proceeding.  Attorney's 
license 
suspended.  
¶1 
PER CURIAM   We review the report of the referee 
recommending that the license of Jane A. Edgar to practice law 
in Wisconsin be suspended for two years as discipline for 
professional misconduct.  That misconduct consisted of Attorney 
Edgar's having converted some $11,000 of funds belonging to a 
client and to an adverse party in a divorce action, commingling 
her own funds and client funds in her law office business 
account and making deposits into and disbursements from that 
account for her personal expenses, and having falsely certified 
that she had a trust account and maintained trust account and 
bank records in compliance with the applicable rules governing 
the conduct of attorneys.  The referee recommended that the 
No. 
99-0062-D 
 
2 
license suspension be retroactive to the date on which the court 
temporarily suspended Attorney Edgar's license to practice law 
pending disposition of this proceeding. 
¶2 
We determine that Attorney Edgar's conversion of 
client funds and funds belonging to a third person to her own 
use and her failure to hold property of a client and a third 
party 
in 
trust 
are 
sufficiently 
serious 
to 
warrant 
the 
recommended two-year license suspension.  By that conduct, 
Attorney Edgar violated her fiduciary responsibility to her 
clients and others who were entitled to rely on her for the 
protection of their property.  
¶3 
Attorney Edgar was licensed to practice law in 
Wisconsin in 1985 and prior to the temporary suspension of her 
license, practiced in Milwaukee.  She previously has not been 
the subject of a disciplinary proceeding.  The referee, Attorney 
John R. Decker, made findings of fact and conclusions of law 
based on the parties' stipulations.   
¶4 
During her representation of a client in a divorce, 
Attorney Edgar received a check for approximately $106,000 as 
proceeds of the sale of the parties' home.  On July 24, 1997, 
she opened a savings account with $100,000 of that amount in the 
names of her client, the adverse party, and herself as "escrow 
agent."  She notified counsel for the adverse party of the 
existence of the account and distributed to the parties the 
balance of the sale proceeds and the funds from a tax refund 
check, three dividend checks, and earnest money, pursuant to 
their agreement.   
No. 
99-0062-D 
 
3 
¶5 
Between September 26, 1997, and April 6, 1998, 
Attorney Edgar withdrew sums of $5,000, $4,000, and $2,000 from 
the savings account without the knowledge or consent of her 
client or the adverse party or his counsel.  On April 20, 1998, 
she deposited $11,781 into that account.  
¶6 
When 
confronted 
by 
the 
adverse 
party's 
counsel 
concerning some $10,000 missing from the account, Attorney Edgar 
responded that she was "shocked" and asserted that she did not 
appropriate the money for her personal use but merely had 
withdrawn funds from the wrong account to pay business expenses. 
 Contrary to those representations, the referee found that 
Attorney Edgar intentionally made those withdrawals and that 
they were not the result of inadvertence or mistake.  Moreover, 
Attorney Edgar's deposit of $11,781 constituted her replacement 
of the funds she had converted plus what she computed to be 
interest lost as a result of her unauthorized withdrawals.   
¶7 
In the course of its investigation into her conduct, 
the Board requested copies of Attorney Edgar's bank records of 
her client trust account.  Incomplete copies of bank records 
were provided in response to that request, and Attorney Edgar 
acknowledged that she did not maintain a general client trust 
account but instead used separate interest-bearing accounts for 
funds held for significant periods of time.   
¶8 
Records 
of 
her 
business 
account 
disclosed 
that 
Attorney Edgar had improperly used that account for the deposit 
and disbursement of client funds for payment of her personal 
expenses.  On her 1996-97 and 1997-98 State Bar dues statements, 
No. 
99-0062-D 
 
4 
she falsely listed that business account as her client trust 
account and certified falsely that she maintained all required 
records of trust account transactions, when in fact she did not 
keep individual client ledgers or monthly reconciliation bank 
statements.   
¶9 
The referee also found that Attorney Edgar has been 
diagnosed as suffering from depression, for which she sought and 
has complied with treatment and remains on medication.  The 
referee found further that Attorney Edgar made full restitution 
of the loss of funds occasioned by her misconduct within one 
week after being confronted with the unexplained shortfall in 
her bank account, which was two months prior to the Board's 
initiation of its inquiry into her conduct.   
¶10 On the basis of those facts, the referee concluded 
that by converting client funds and funds belonging to an 
adverse party from an escrow account, Attorney Edgar engaged in 
misconduct 
involving 
dishonesty, 
fraud, 
deceit 
or 
misrepresentation, in violation of SCR 20:8.4(c),1 and failed to 
hold property of a client or a third party in trust, in 
violation of SCR 20:1.15(a);2 by using her business account for 
                     
1 SCR 20:8.4(c) provides: 
It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to: 
 . . .  
(c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, 
deceit or misrepresentation;  
 
2 SCR 20:1.15(a) provides: 
No. 
99-0062-D 
 
5 
the deposit and disbursement of client funds and for her 
personal expenses, she failed to hold client funds separate from 
her own funds, in violation of SCR 20:1.15(a).  The referee also 
concluded that by failing to maintain a trust account and keep 
records of that account in compliance with applicable rules and 
falsely certifying that she complied with those rules, Attorney 
                                                                  
A lawyer shall hold in trust, separate from the 
lawyer's own property, that property of clients and 
third persons that is in the lawyer's possession in 
connection with a representation or when acting in a 
fiduciary capacity. Funds held in connection with a 
representation or in a fiduciary capacity include 
funds held as trustee, agent, guardian, personal 
representative of an estate, or otherwise. All funds 
of clients and third persons paid to a lawyer or law 
firm shall be deposited in one or more identifiable 
trust accounts as provided in paragraph (c). The trust 
account shall be maintained in a bank, savings bank, 
trust 
company, 
credit 
union, 
savings 
and 
loan 
association or other investment institution authorized 
to do business and located in Wisconsin. The trust 
account shall be clearly designated as "Client's 
Account" or "Trust Account" or words of similar 
import. No funds belonging to the lawyer or law firm, 
except funds reasonably sufficient to pay or avoid 
imposition 
of 
account 
service 
charges, 
may 
be 
deposited in such an account. Unless the client 
otherwise directs in writing, securities in bearer 
form shall be kept by the attorney in a safe deposit 
box in a bank, savings bank, trust company, credit 
union, 
savings 
and 
loan 
association 
or 
other 
investment institution authorized to do business and 
located in Wisconsin. The safe deposit box shall be 
clearly designated as "Client's Account" or "Trust 
Account" or words of similar import. Other property of 
a client or third person shall be identified as such 
and 
appropriately 
safeguarded. If 
a lawyer 
also 
licensed in another state is entrusted with funds or 
property 
in 
connection 
with 
an 
out-of-state 
representation, this provision shall not supersede the 
trust account rules of the other state.  
No. 
99-0062-D 
 
6 
Edgar violated SCR 20:1.15(e)3 and engaged in conduct involving 
dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, in violation of 
SCR 20:8.4(c). 
¶11 As 
discipline 
for 
that 
misconduct, 
the 
referee 
recommended that Attorney Edgar's license to practice law be 
suspended for two years, effective the date of the temporary 
license suspension this court imposed pending disposition of 
                     
3 SCR 20:1.15(e) provides: 
Complete records of trust account funds and other 
trust property shall be kept by the lawyer and shall 
be preserved for a period of at least six years after 
termination of the representation. Complete records 
shall include: (i) a cash receipts journal, listing 
the 
sources 
and 
date 
of 
each 
receipt, 
(ii) 
a 
disbursements journal, listing the date and payee of 
each disbursement, with all disbursements being paid 
by check, (iii) a subsidiary ledger containing a 
separate page for each person or company for whom 
funds have been received in trust, showing the date 
and amount of each receipt, the date and amount of 
each disbursement, and any unexpended balance, (iv) a 
monthly schedule of the subsidiary ledger, indicating 
the balance of each client's account at the end of 
each month, (v) a determination of the cash balance 
(checkbook balance) at the end of each month, taken 
from the cash receipts and cash disbursement journals 
and a reconciliation of the cash balance (checkbook 
balance) with the balance indicated in the bank 
statement, and (vi) monthly statements, including 
canceled 
checks, 
vouchers 
or 
share 
drafts, 
and 
duplicate deposit slips. A record of all property 
other than cash which is held in trust for clients or 
third persons, as required by paragraph (a) hereof, 
shall also be maintained. All trust account records 
shall be deemed to have public aspects as related to 
the lawyer's fitness to practice. 
 
No. 
99-0062-D 
 
7 
this disciplinary proceeding.  That was the discipline sought by 
the Board and to which Attorney Edgar stipulated.   
¶12 We 
adopt 
the 
referee's 
findings 
of 
fact 
and 
conclusions of law in respect to Attorney Edgar's professional 
misconduct and impose the discipline recommended for it.  In 
addition, we require Attorney Edgar to pay the costs of this 
proceeding, as the referee recommended. 
¶13 IT IS ORDERED that the license of Jane A. Edgar to 
practice law in Wisconsin is suspended for two years, commencing 
March 22, 1999. 
¶14 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within 60 days of the date 
of this order Jane A. Edgar pay to the Board of Attorneys 
Professional Responsibility 
the costs 
of this 
proceeding, 
provided that in the event the costs are not paid within the 
time specified and absent a showing to this court of her 
inability to pay the costs within that time, the license of Jane 
A. Edgar to practice to law in Wisconsin shall remain suspended 
until further order of the court.   
¶15 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Jane A. Edgar comply with 
the provisions of SCR 22.26 concerning the duties of an attorney 
whose license to practice law in Wisconsin has been suspended. 
 
 
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