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Charles Price Helm (WSBA No. 7361, admitted 1977), of Shoreline, was suspended for six months, effective March 1, 2011, by order of the Washington State Supreme Court following approval of a stipulation. This discipline is based on conduct involving trust account irregularities.
Mr. Helm’s practice primarily involves debt collection. He maintained two trust accounts, one as the “Operations” account and the other as the “Trust” account, and also had a general business account. Mr. Helm deposited funds that clients advanced for court costs into the “Operations” trust account and deposited funds he collected on behalf of clients into the “Trust” trust account. In July 2007, the Bar Association opened a grievance against Mr. Helm after receiving three notices from his bank regarding overdrafts on the Trust account.
During their examination of Mr. Helm’s trust accounts for the period from May 2007 through August 2009, Bar Association auditors found that Mr. Helm failed to:
• Properly reconcile his trust accounts’ check register balances to the bank statement balances and to the combined total of all client ledger records as often as the bank statements were generated;
• Make reasonable efforts to ensure that his non-lawyer office manager did not mishandle or misappropriate client funds, or manage his trust accounts in a manner giving reasonable assurance that his non-lawyer assistant’s conduct was compatible with his professional obligations;
• Take reasonable steps to prevent withdrawals of client funds in excess of the amount the particular client had on deposit, or hold client funds in trust;
• Ensure that client funds remained in his trust account until clients were given prior notice of his intent to withdraw the funds; or
• Identify the client and the client matter for each receipt, disbursement, and transfer of client funds from his trust accounts.
As of February 28, 2010, Mr. Helm was still not properly reconciling his trust account check register balances to his trust account bank statement balances and to the combined total of all client ledger records. The Bar Association auditors were unable to perform a complete reconstruction of Mr. Helm’s trust accounts due to the large number of transactions and clients involved. The auditors were therefore unable to determine the exact amount of any shortages in Mr. Helm’s trust accounts.
Mr. Helm’s conduct violated 1.15A(c)(1), requiring a lawyer to hold property of clients and third persons separate from the lawyer’s own property and deposit and hold in a trust account funds subject to this Rule; RPC 1.15A(h)(3), allowing a lawyer to withdraw funds when necessary to pay client costs and withdraw earned fees only after giving reasonable notice to the client of the intent to do so; RPC 1.15A(h)(6), requiring that trust account records be reconciled as often as bank statements are generated or at least quarterly and that the lawyer reconcile the check register balance to the bank statement balance and to the combined total of all client ledger records; 1.15A(h)(8), prohibiting disbursements on behalf of a client or third person from exceeding the funds of that person on deposit and prohibiting the funds of a client or third person from being used on behalf of anyone else; RPC 1.15B(a)(1), requiring the lawyer to maintain current trust account records and, at minimum, the checkbook register or equivalent for each trust account, including entries for all receipts, disbursements, and transfers stating, at least, identification of the client matter, the date, the check number for each disbursement, the payor or payee, and the new trust account balance; RPC 5.3(a), requiring a lawyer with managerial authority in a law firm to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the firm has in effect measures giving reasonable assurance that the non-lawyer’s conduct is compatible with the professional obligations of the lawyer; and RPC 5.3(b), requiring a lawyer having direct supervisory authority over a non-lawyer to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the non-lawyer’s conduct is compatible with the professional obligations of the lawyer.
M. Craig Bray represented the Bar Association. Mr. Helm represented himself. |