North Carolina State Bar v. Leonard

632 S.E.2d 183, 178 N.C. App. 432, 2006 N.C. App. LEXIS 1573
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJuly 18, 2006
DocketNo. COA05-1411.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 632 S.E.2d 183 (North Carolina State Bar v. Leonard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
North Carolina State Bar v. Leonard, 632 S.E.2d 183, 178 N.C. App. 432, 2006 N.C. App. LEXIS 1573 (N.C. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

ELMORE, Judge.

Robert K. Leonard (Leonard) appeals from an order of the Disciplinary Hearing Commission of the State Bar of North Carolina (DHC) barring him from practicing law in this state. He also appeals from an order of the DHC denying his motion for a new *185trial. For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decisions of the DHC.

Leonard was investigated by the State Bar for violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct on the basis that he failed to properly maintain his trust account, commingled trust account and operational funds, and was negligent in the representation of several clients. Specifically, the DHC concluded Leonard had violated Rules 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.15-2, 5.3, 5.4, and 8.4 of the Rules of Professional Conduct based on evidence submitted regarding several clients. The relevant evidence supporting these facts is laid out below.

I.

Leonard was admitted to the State Bar in 1970. Since then he has served as an assistant county attorney and a district court judge, but has chiefly maintained a general practice in and around Winston-Salem. During that time he has represented thousands of clients, both civilly and criminally, including several facing capital murder charges. The State Bar put on evidence covering Leonard's handling of several clients, all of which together the Bar contends, makes its case for disbarment. These client matters can be broken down into four categories: Leonard's handling of Betty Wilson's funds, his work with Olin C. Robinson's divorce, his interactions with clients associated with Richard Mears, and his management of traffic clients' funds.

Betty Wilson

At some point prior to July 1999 Betty Wilson hired Leonard to represent her in a personal injury claim. Leonard contracted for a twenty-five percent fee, and on 1 July 1999 Wilson's claims were settled for $52,000.00.

Leonard deposited the funds into his trust account at BB&T that same day. Several days later, on 6 July 1999, Leonard paid himself $13,000.00, an amount constituting his entire fee. On 28 January 2000, over six months later, Leonard disbursed nearly $22,000.00 of the remaining $39,000.00 to Wilson. As of 26 December 2000 the parties have stipulated that $16,584.00 should have been held in the trust account for Wilson's benefit. Thirty-six months later, Leonard paid $2,840.31 to Medicare on behalf of Wilson. Three months after that payment, on 22 April 2003, he disbursed the remaining money to Wilson. In May 2002, mid-way through the thirty-six months Leonard was to be holding at least $16,584.00 for Wilson, his trust account balance fell to $110.20. This was followed by a deposit of personal funds in June 2002 totaling $19,750.00, thus restoring the trust account to at least the minimum necessary. The State Bar alleges that Leonard's prolonged default in the trust account constituted embezzlement, due to his intentional withdrawals and disbursements to himself or others of money held in trust for Wilson.

Olin Robinson

In April 1996 Leonard contracted to represent Olin C. Robinson in a domestic relations case. An equitable distribution hearing occurred on 26 January 1999 that led to an 18 April 2000 order in which Robinson's wife received most of the marital property. The State Bar contends Leonard's lack of preparation for the hearing led to the imbalanced order. On 28 December 2001 Leonard filed an appeal of that order and collected $2,650.00 from Robinson for the appeal. Leonard failed to perfect the appeal and ultimately withdrew the appeal without Robinson's consent. Robinson only found out about the appeal's dismissal after discharging Leonard and receiving a copy of his file. Leonard denied Robinson's claim for a refund of the $2,650.00 fee for the appeal. When Robinson filed a grievance with the State Bar, Leonard apprised it that he would resolve the issue on 17 October 2003. It was not until a year later, after a small claims suit and an appeal to district court, that Leonard refunded Robinson the money.

Richard Mears

In 1997 or 1998 Leonard began to work on post-conviction cases with Richard Mears, a convicted felon. From this time until early 2001, Leonard worked with Mears on 15 to 20 cases. Leonard and Mears rarely met to discuss a case. Further, Leonard failed to supervise Mears or inquire into his methods of acquiring clients and collecting fees.

*186Mears has since been convicted of illegally scheming money from the relatives of prisoners during this time frame; he apparently was promising them that their loved one would be released from prison through his political connections. Leonard continued to work with Mears on post-conviction cases even after Mears approached him with an offer to join the lucrative scheme.

The State Bar brought forth evidence of three cases involving Leonard and Mears: Johnny Chatham, Clifton Ferrell, and Larry Allred. On 12 May 1999 Leonard signed a contract with Rev. D.L. Chatham in which Leonard agreed to seek post-conviction relief for Rev. Chatham's brother, Johnny Chatham. Leonard collected a $5,000.00 fee that he paid half of to Mears. A year later in May 2000 Leonard filed a motion for appropriate relief in Chatham's case and attended a hearing on the matter in 2001. The motion was denied in January 2002. Leonard did not pursue the matter further or refund any money to Rev. Chatham.

In February 2001 Leonard undertook representation of Clifton Ferrell in his motion for appropriate relief, for which Clifton's brother paid Leonard $3,500.00 of a $5,000.00 fee. Leonard paid $1,500.00 to Mears. Leonard filed nothing on behalf of Ferrell and never met with him, nor did he refund any part of the collected fee.

Also, in March 2001, Mears collected a $15,500.00 fee from Carolyn Stover, on behalf of her son Larry Allred. Mears promised he would seek clemency for Allred and if that was unsuccessful, refund the money. In January 2002 Stover contacted Leonard, who agreed to file several motions on Allred's behalf. Later, in April 2002, Leonard filed a motion for appropriate relief that was prepared by Mears. The motion was lacking supporting documents and was facially denied as insufficient. Leonard took no other action with regard to the Allred matter.

Traffic Clients

As of January 2000, Leonard opened a separate "trust" account at Piedmont Federal designated as a "cost account." He deposited money from numerous unidentified traffic clients he was representing on a flat fee basis. The fee charged to the client included Leonard's fee and any court costs the client might have to pay. On seventeen occasions between January 2000 and July 2001 Leonard paid his personal American Express bill from the funds in the "cost account" without his clients' consent.

DHC Conclusions

Based on this evidence, the DHC concluded that Leonard had violated each of the Rules of Professional Conduct the State Bar claimed. First, his actions with Wilson's entrusted funds violated Rules 1.15-2(a) and (m) regarding trust accounts. The DHC also concluded that since these actions were knowing and intentional "and therefore were criminal acts that reflected adversely on his fitness as a lawyer" Leonard also violated Rule 8.4. Second, with regard to Leonard's actions with Robinson, the DHC concluded he violated Rules 1.1, 1.3, and 1.4, regarding competence, diligence, and communication.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
632 S.E.2d 183, 178 N.C. App. 432, 2006 N.C. App. LEXIS 1573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/north-carolina-state-bar-v-leonard-ncctapp-2006.