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Keenan Powell (WSBA No. 38059, admitted 2006), of Anchorage, Alaska, was suspended for six months, effective May 4, 2012, by order of the Washington State Supreme Court imposing reciprocal discipline in accordance with an order of the Alaska Supreme Court. Ms. Powell will serve 90 days of the suspension and have 90 days of the suspension stayed pending successful completion of a two-year probation period that will start when she returns to practice after serving the 90-day suspension. This discipline is based on conduct involving failure to supervise a non-lawyer assistant and fee sharing. In late 2007, Ms. Powell discovered that a contract employee, Ms. M, had embezzled in
excess of $7,000 from her law firm’s petty cash account. Ms. Powell filed a report with the Anchorage Police Department. Second-degree theft and second-degree forgery charges were filed against Ms. M as a result of the alleged embezzlement; a warrant was issued in April 2008, but was later dismissed in July 2008. In May 2008, Ms. M filed a complaint with the Alaska Bar Association against Ms. Powell. The investigation found that Ms. Powell had a reasonable basis to report her suspicions. It also revealed that Ms. Powell hired Ms. M in the late 1990s as a contract employee. Ms. M worked the hours she chose, provided her own office space, and paid the salaries of persons who occasionally worked for her. Ms. Powell provided letterhead and paid for copier and postage costs. Ms. M never submitted timesheets and Ms. Powell never paid Ms. M a separate salary; rather Ms. Powell generally paid Ms. M at the conclusion of a case from profits. The percentage of profits assigned to Ms. M varied on a file-by-file basis. Ms. Powell would discuss with Ms. M her decision about how much to pay on a particular case. It was an informal arrangement that took into account the financial needs of running the office and paying case costs as the first priority. In 2007, Ms. Powell discovered that Ms. M was working for another attorney. In October 2007, Ms. Powell fired Ms. M because of a pattern of neglecting clients and files, lying to cover up poor performance, and extending unauthorized settlement offers. Ms. Powell discovered the alleged embezzlement from her petty cash account approximately one week later. Ms. Powell’s conduct violated Alaska’s RPC 5.3(a)(2), requiring a lawyer to make reasonable efforts to ensure that her non-lawyer employee’s conduct was compatible with the professional obligations of a lawyer; Alaska’s RPC 5.4, prohibiting a lawyer from sharing legal fees with a non-lawyer except in limited exceptions; Alaska’s RPC 5.4(a)(3), prohibiting a lawyer from including a non-lawyer in a compensation or retirement plan based in whole or in part on a profit-sharing arrangement if the non-lawyer is not an employee; and Alaska’s RPC 5.4(b), prohibiting a lawyer from forming a partnership with a non-lawyer if any of the activities in the partnership consist of the practice of law. Joanne S. Abelson represented the Bar Association. Ms. Keenan represented herself. |