Opinion ID: 2021106
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: B.B. Matter

Text: Redburn agreed to represent B.B. in a bankruptcy matter in January 2005 and charged B.B. a $1,000 retainer fee. There was no written fee agreement. Redburn advised B.B. that, before filing a bankruptcy petition, B.B. should transfer assets to his wife, open a separate bank account in his wife's name and transfer the couple's tax refund, other jointly held funds, and his paychecks into this account. Redburn also advised B.B. to transfer $10,500 from a bank account in his wife's name to an account in her father's name. [1] Redburn then filed a voluntary bankruptcy petition for B.B. The bankruptcy trustee requested B.B.'s bank statements and B.B. gave those records to Redburn to forward to the trustee. But Redburn did not provide the statements to the trustee, and the trustee was forced to secure B.B.'s bank records through court order. When the bankruptcy court later sent B.B. a Discharge of Debtor, B.B., trying to discover the meaning of the Discharge, was unable to reach Redburn on several occasions. At no point in his representation did Redburn inform B.B. that he was suspended from the practice of law in August 2005. In March 2006, the bankruptcy court, acting on the request of the bankruptcy trustee, ordered B.B., his wife and his father-in-law to appear for examination under Bankruptcy Rule 2004. [2] B.B. then retained new counsel. In the petition for disciplinary action the Director alleges that Redburn's actions in representing B.B. violated Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 1.4(a) and (b), 1.5(a), 1.16(d), and 8.4(c). The Director also alleges that Redburn violated the mandate of Rule 26 of the Rules on Lawyer's Professional Responsibility (RLPR) that a suspended lawyer inform his clients and the court of a suspension.