Opinion ID: 2506955
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Respondent's Trust Account and Payments to Assistant

Text: During Assistant's employment with Respondent, he wrote checks to her directly from his trust account on four occasions. Respondent testified one of these checks was for child support, given to him by Assistant's former mother-in-law. Assistant denies the check was for child support. Respondent's trust account records indicate two checks were for wages, and a third check was for a bonus. In his Response to Formal Charges, Respondent admitted to paying Assistant bonuses directly from his trust account, but asserted there was no meaningful difference between that needlessly convoluted process of disbursing money first to his operating account before writing a bonus check to employees and the shortcut he employed by paying Assistant directly from the trust account. At the hearing, Respondent admitted this action was an improper shortcut. Respondent further admitted he most likely gave Assistant these three checks as a share of fees from a personal injury settlement. Respondent also paid Assistant periodic bonuses based on a percentage of outstanding fees she collected or as a percentage of any retainer fees Respondent collected when Assistant referred clients.