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Jeffrey G. Poole (WSBA No. 15578, admitted 1986), of Seattle, was suspended for six months, effective January 14, 2006, by order of the Washington State Supreme Court following a hearing. This discipline was based on his conduct in 2001 involving failure to provide an accurate accounting to a client regarding distribution of funds and misrepresentations in the preparation and backdating of an invoice. For additional information, please see In re Discipline of Poole, 156 Wn.2d 196, 125 P.3d 954 (2006).
Starting in 1999, Mr. Poole represented a client with a claim against a corporation for failure to pay for services performed. Following a trial, the superior court ruled in the client's favor. The defendant subsequently paid the judgment balance to Mr. Poole's law firm, which applied the funds in part towards unpaid legal fees and disbursed the remainder to the client. Mr. Poole's office failed to credit the client's account with a $27,675.35 fee payment, instead crediting the account with only a $20,000 payment. Consequently, from February 2001 onward, invoices sent to the client reflected an amount owing of approximately $16,000, which was $7,675.35 in excess of the actual balance. To satisfy the outstanding legal fees, Mr. Poole and the client agreed that the client would work off the remaining balance by performing trench work on a parcel of real property owned by Mr. Poole's limited liability company. Mr. Poole believed that the project would cost no more than $4,500, but he never conveyed that belief to the client.
In May 2001, after the client completed the trench work, he faxed Mr. Poole an invoice for $26,547.98. Deducting the $16,094.43, which the client believed to be the outstanding balance owing, and $500 that Mr. Poole had paid for costs, the client alleged that Mr. Poole owed him $9,953.55 for the completed work. The client also alleged that Mr. Poole was wrongfully withholding a portion of the client's judgment award in his trust account. Unable to resolve the dispute with Mr. Poole, the client recorded a mechanic's lien against Mr. Poole's property for failure to pay for services performed. Mr. Poole filed a motion for order to show cause to declare the mechanic's lien frivolous, asserting that the client had been paid in full when Mr. Poole wrote off the balance owing. The client hired a lawyer to respond to the motion. According to Mr. Poole, at this point he discovered the accounting errors, which he attributed to his bookkeeper. Mr. Poole faxed the lawyer several documents, including an invoice dated May 28, 2001, indicating that a credit had been applied on that date to the client's outstanding balance and that, accordingly, the balance owing was zero. In fact, Mr. Poole had created and then backdated an invoice in October 2001 to appear to be an invoice created in May 2001. Mr. Poole and the client's new lawyer subsequently negotiated a settlement agreement in which Mr. Poole agreed that his firm would pay the client $7,675.35 plus interest, attorney fees, and costs in exchange for the client's release of the lien against the property and a mutual release of all other claims. When Mr. Poole failed to pay in accordance with the settlement agreement, the client commenced a lawsuit. Ultimately, Mr. Poole's firm paid the client $7,675.35 plus interest and between $25,000 and $29,000 for attorney fees and costs.
Mr. Poole's conduct violated RPC 1.14(b)(3), requiring a lawyer to maintain complete records of all funds, securities, and other properties of a client coming into the possession of the lawyer and render appropriate accounts to his or her client regarding them; RPC 3.4(b), prohibiting a lawyer from falsifying evidence; and RPC 8.4(c), prohibiting a lawyer from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.
Michael D. Hunsinger and Christine Gray represented the Bar Association. Kurt M. Bulmer represented Mr. Poole. Mary H. Wechsler was the hearing officer. |