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Claere Shea (WSBA No. 24938, admitted 1995), of King County, has been disbarred by order of the Supreme Court effective February 29, 2000, following a default hearing. The discipline is based upon making false statements regarding proceedings instituted for revocation of her license to practice law, providing multiple social security numbers to employers and the Bar Association, falsely representing to an employer that she had professional liability coverage, and falsely denying that she had been previously admitted to the Bar Association under another name.
On June 15, 1987, Claere Shea applied for admission to the WSBA using the name Claire Axelrad Merrit. The real Claire Axelrad Merrit was admitted to practice in another state in 1978, and has never applied for admission to the WSBA. On October 27, 1987, Claere Shea was admitted to the WSBA under the name Claire Axelrad Merrit and given the WSBA No. 17244.
In March 1990, the WSBA received information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation indicating that they believed Ms. Shea’s true identity may be Patricia A. O’Shea, who had an outstanding felony arrest warrant for larceny in Massachusetts. In May 1990, the WSBA granted Ms. Shea’s request to change her name of record to Claire O’Shea. On November 17, 1990, the WSBA filed a motion with the Supreme Court to have Ms. Shea’s credentials rescinded. The Court granted the motion.
On June 16, 1994, Ms. Shea submitted an application to take the bar examination and to be admitted to the WSBA. This application used the name Pat Shea, indicated that she had never practiced in Washington, and that proceedings had never been instituted against her for revocation of any license. Ms. Shea passed the winter 1995 bar exam, was admitted to the WSBA and assigned WSBA No. 24938. On February 11, 1997, Ms. Shea requested that her WSBA records be changed to reflect her name as Claere Shea.
Ms. Shea responded to a newspaper advertisement for a contract lawyer. She told her potential employer that she had professional liability insurance and provided the name of the company. After the employer was not able to verify the coverage, Ms Shea admitted that she did not have liability insurance.
During the investigation of this matter, Claere Shea appeared personally at the WSBA offices. Although her hair color had changed, WSBA staff members recognized her as the same person formerly known as Claire Axelrad Merrit or Claire O’Shea. Ms. Shea claimed that one of her sisters was the person who worked as the contract lawyer without liability insurance.
On February 19, 1998, Ms. Shea applied for a legal assistant position in the "D" law firm. Her résumé contained misleading and false information about her experience and education. The D law firm hired Ms. Shea on April 22, 1998. Prior to leaving the firm without notice on October 2,1998, Ms. Shea downloaded many computer files from the firm’s local area network onto a disk and then deleted the files from the network. Subsequently, the firm was able to recover the files using a computer security service. They found that some of the pleadings included a signature block for Claere P. Shea, Attorney at Law, WSBA No. 24938.
Ms. Shea’s conduct violated RPCs 8.1(a), prohibiting knowingly making a false statement of material fact in connection with a bar admission application; 8.1(b), knowingly failing to disclose a fact necessary to correct a misapprehension created in the bar application process or knowingly failing to respond to a lawful demand for information from an admission authority; RPC 8.4 (b), prohibiting committing a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects; 8.4 (c), prohibiting engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation; and RPC 7.1, prohibiting making false or misleading communications about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services.
Timothy Leachman and Maria Regimbal represented the Bar Association. Ms. Shea represented herself. The hearing officer was Jack Cullen.
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