Opinion ID: 2760236
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Count II: Safekeeping

Text: Client Funds Respondent cites to our decision in State of Nebraska ex rel. NSBA v. Abrahamson8 to support his exception to a 90-day suspension. Indeed, we find our decision in that case to be helpful in considering respondent’s violations. In Abrahamson, we concluded that a 90-day suspension was appropriate for an attorney who failed to maintain complete and accurate records of client funds coming into his possession and failed to render appropriate accounts of client funds. During the hearing in that case, the attorney’s own accountant 8 State ex rel. NSBA v. Abrahamson, 262 Neb. 632, 634 N.W.2d 462 (2001). Nebraska Advance Sheets STATE EX REL. COUNSEL FOR DIS. v. CONNOR 671 Cite as 289 Neb. 660 testified that “on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being good bookkeeping practices, [the attorney’s] accounting practices merited a grade of 1.”9 As in Abrahamson, respondent’s actions in handling the estate funds were neither intentionally deceptive nor were they deliberate attempts to misappropriate client funds. Instead, we find that his actions are more adequately characterized as gross mishandling or “negligent ineptitude.” In Abrahamson, we also considered various mitigating factors, including the attorney’s cooperation during the discipli­ nary proceedings, the correction of his flawed accounting practices, and his continuing commitment to the legal profession and the community. Those mitigating factors are present in this case to an even greater extent, as noted above.