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Wade R. Dann (WSBA No. 7552, admitted 1973), of Seattle and Bellingham, has been suspended from the practice of law for one year following a Supreme Court opinion issued August 13, 1998. The discipline is based upon Dann’s misrepresentation to four different clients concerning which lawyers and firm employees worked on their cases.
In 1990, while a partner at Ulin, Dann and Lambe, Dann switched his initials on billing statements for those of an associate and claimed the associate’s work as his own on two different cases. Dann justified his actions by claiming that he had reviewed the associate’s work or had done similar work, and was saving the clients money by deleting the associate’s time. He had no contemporaneous time records supporting that he had done any work on these cases.
In 1992, while a partner at Dann Greenberg Radder, Dann switched the initials of paraprofessionals who had worked on two different cases so that the clients were misled as to who had performed the work. In one instance, a client asked that a particular paraprofessional work on his case, but the requested person was unavailable and another paraprofessional worked on the case. Dann switched the initials on the billing statements so it appeared that the person the client had requested work on the case in fact did so. In a second instance, a client asked that a particular paraprofessional not work on his case. Dann believed that that paraprofessional was the most qualified to do the work, and placed that person on the case. He switched the initials on the billing statements so it appeared that the work had been performed by one of the firm’s partners.
Dann’s conduct violated RPC 8.4(c), which prohibits dishonest conduct.
Kurt Bulmer represented Dann at the hearing, and with David Swartling before the Supreme Court. Disciplinary Counsel David Cluxton and Lisa Crawford represented the Bar Association at the hearing, and Disciplinary Counsel Joanne Abelson represented the Bar Association before the Supreme Court.
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