Opinion ID: 2087719
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Complaint of Morris Gary

Text: Upon our consideration of the facts as found by the hearing judge we cannot conclude as a matter of law that, in respect to the complaint of Morris Gary, respondent violated MRPC 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, or 1.16, i.e., they do not indicate how respondent violated the scope of his representation, failed to perform with diligence or communicate with his clients, or that his representation had ever been terminated. The findings of fact do not indicate occurrences involving respondent that implicate any of the provisions of MRPC 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, or 1.16. Judge Strausberg found that respondent received funds from the mother of Morris Gary who had retained him to perform certain services for Morris Gary. Respondent deposited the funds in his business account and then applied the funds, without the mother's permission, to an outstanding account allegedly owed to him by a brother of Morris Gary. At the time, respondent maintained no other accounts, including trust accounts. Additionally, Judge Strausberg found that respondent had failed to cooperate with Bar Counsel and petitioner in its investigation of his alleged violations. We conclude from these undisputed factual findings of Judge Strausberg, that respondent has violated the provisions of MRPC 1.15 and Maryland Rules 16-603 and 16-604, in that he maintained no separate accounts for the deposit of money advanced on behalf of his clients for future representation of those clients, and no trust accounts. See Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Adams, 349 Md. 86, 94-97, 706 A.2d 1080, 1084-85 (1998) (holding that attorney's act of writing check to repay client's delinquent taxes from office account, and depositing client's reimbursement check into that account, violated Rule 16-604 and MRPC 1.15); Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Awuah, 346 Md. 420, 697 A.2d 446 (1997) (sanctioning attorney, in part, for violating the requirement of Rule 16-603 (then Rule BV3) that he maintain a separate client trust account); Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Glenn, 341 Md. 448, 472, 671 A.2d 463, 475 (1996) (Rule 1.15(a) requires an attorney to keep clients' funds in a separate account and `to ensure that client funds are used only on the client's behalf and not for the lawyer's personal or business purposes.' Failure to maintain integrity of client funds violates the requirements of [MRPC] 1.15. (quoting Model Rules of Professional Conduct 1.15 cmt.)); see also Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Kemp, 303 Md. 664, 678-79, 496 A.2d 672, 679 (1985); Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Velasquez, 301 Md. 450, 454-55, 458, 483 A.2d 354, 356-57, 358 (1984); Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Boehm, 293 Md. 476, 478-81, 446 A.2d 52, 53-54 (1982). Additionally, we conclude that Judge Strausberg's findings that respondent had failed to cooperate with petitioner and Bar Counsel supports the conclusion that respondent violated MRPC 8.1(b), which provides that an attorney must not fail to respond to a lawful demand for information from [a] ... disciplinary authority.... See Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Brown, 353 Md. 271, 286-87, 290, 294, 725 A.2d 1069, 1076, 1078, 1080 (1999) (holding that repeated failures to answer Bar Counsel's requests for information violated MRPC 8.1(b)). We conclude that, as to the Morris Gary complaint, the findings of fact do not support that respondent has violated MRPC 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, or 1.16, but they do establish that he has violated MRPC 1.15 and 8.1(b), and Maryland Rules 16-603 and 16-604.