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Mary Anne Betker (WSBA No. 30429, admitted 2000), of Washougal, resigned in lieu of disbarment, effective February 16, 2006. This resignation was based on her conduct between 2002 and 2005 in multiple matters.
Ms. Betker operated a law firm that focused on employment law and personal injury. Between 2002 and 2005, Ms. Betker had taken on more legal matters than she was capable of handling. Although she was aware that she had accepted too many matters and made some effort to decrease her caseload, Ms. Betker did not substantially decrease the number of legal matters she was handling. Ms. Betker's lack of legal experience and knowledge substantially contributed to her failure to diligently and competently represent clients in eight matters. Ms. Betker repeatedly missed filing deadlines, failed to perform sufficient review and research of legal matters, and failed to communicate with clients and opposing counsel regarding legal matters being handled by her. Ms. Betker's conduct establishing grounds for discipline included the following:
• Failing to commence a lawsuit on behalf of a client prior to the expiration of the statute of limitations, failing to effect timely service of process, failing to timely respond to a summary judgment motion, and failing to comply with court-ordered deadlines.
• Failing to be aware of or comply with a statutory pre-filing notice-of-claim requirement prior to filing a lawsuit in a personal injury claim against a local government.
• Advising a client to release all claims in an employment matter and later commencing a lawsuit against the employer without a legal basis to challenge the enforceability of the release.
• Failing to be aware of or comply with statutory exhaustion-of-remedies requirements before initiating a federal lawsuit alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Depositing an advance payment of fees and costs into a general account instead of a trust account and using the funds to pay her business and personal expenses before providing legal services to the client.
• Representing a client in a bankruptcy proceeding while also being a creditor of the client, preparing a loan agreement that included provisions that favored the lender to the detriment of the client, and filing a UCC lien on behalf of a lender against the proceeds of the settlement of the client's claim.
• Commencing an unlawful termination claim on behalf of a client during the pendency of the client's bankruptcy proceeding without the knowledge, consent, or authority of the bankruptcy court or trustee.
• Assisting her nonlawyer assistant in the unauthorized practice of law and failing to supervise the nonlawyer assistant in the preparation of legal documents in a bankruptcy matter.
• Entering into a contingent fee agreement requiring the client to pay a contingent fee on any offer of settlement if the client terminated her services prior to resolution of the matter, which unfairly affected the client's right to terminate Ms. Betker's services, and charging a fee for reviewing a bankruptcy petition that was never reviewed.
• In three instances, failing to inform clients that their lawsuits had been dismissed.
• Failing to respond to client requests for information about the status of their cases, failing to comply with a former client's request to transmit the client file to a new lawyer, and providing a former client with an incomplete file (in which documents filed after a certain date indicating the case had been dismissed were missing).
Ms. Betker's conduct violated RPC 1.1, requiring a lawyer to provide competent representation to a client; RPC 1.2(a), requiring a lawyer to abide by a client's decisions concerning the objectives of representation; RPC 1.3, requiring a lawyer to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client; RPC 1.4(a), requiring a lawyer to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and to promptly comply with reasonable requests for information; RPC 1.4(b), requiring a lawyer to explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the client to make informed decisions regarding the representation; RPC 1.5(a), requiring a lawyer's fee to be reasonable; RPC 5.5(b), prohibiting a lawyer from assisting a person who is not a member of the Bar in the performance of activity that constitutes the unauthorized practice of law; RPC 1.7(b), prohibiting a lawyer from representing a client if the representation of that client may be materially limited by the lawyer's responsibilities to another client or to a third person or by the lawyer's own interests, unless the lawyer reasonably believes the representation will not be adversely affected and the client consents in writing after a full disclosure of material facts; RPC 1.14(a), requiring all funds of clients paid to a lawyer or law firm be deposited in one or more identifiable interest-bearing trust accounts; RPC 3.4(c), prohibiting a lawyer from knowingly disobeying an obligation under the rules of a tribunal except for an open refusal based on an assertion that no valid obligation exists; RPC 5.3(b), requiring a lawyer with direct supervisory authority over a nonlawyer to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the nonlawyer's conduct is compatible with the professional obligations of the lawyer; RPC 5.3(c), holding a lawyer responsible for the conduct of a nonlawyer assistant that would be a violation of the RPCs if engaged in by a lawyer in circumstances where the lawyer orders or ratifies the conduct or fails to take reasonable remedial action; and RPC 8.4(c), prohibiting a lawyer from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.
Jonathan H. Burke represented the Bar Association. Ms. Betker represented herself. |