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Terry O. Forbes (WSBA No. 5626, admitted 1974), of Everett, was disbarred, effective March 29, 2006, by order of the Washington State Supreme Court following a default hearing. This discipline was based on his conduct between 2002 and 2004 in six matters involving trust-account irregularities and multiple other acts of misconduct.
Matter 1: In September 2002, Mr. Forbes wrote a check from his trust account in the amount of $39,000 payable to his legal assistant. His legal assistant was not a client, she had no funds on deposit in his trust account, and she was not entitled to the funds.
Matter 2: For a period of years, Mr. Forbes represented a client who was the adult ward in a guardianship case. In September and October 2002, Mr. Forbes received two checks totaling $168,709.78 on his client’s behalf, which he deposited into his pooled client trust account. Beginning in April 2003, Mr. Forbes’s trust-account balance fell below $168,000 and so remained (with the exception of a few days) until August 2004, at which time it had declined to approximately $70,500. Mr. Forbes was not entitled to remove the client’s funds from his trust account. Knowing that the client’s case was set for a hearing in August, Mr. Forbes closed his trust account and opened a new trust account into which he deposited the balance from the old account, supplemented by other deposits totaling approximately $97,000, which he obtained from his family. In August 2004, Mr. Forbes filed a declaration in superior court, stating that “the $168,709.75 [sic] he had received” on his client’s behalf in 2002 remained available for disbursement or investment as the court might direct. Upon learning that the client’s funds had been held in trust for nearly two years without interest accruing to the client’s benefit, the superior court commissioner ordered that Mr. Forbes pay the $168,709.78 into the court registry by the end of the day. That afternoon, Mr. Forbes tendered to the court a check for $168.709.78 drawn on his new trust account.
Matter 3: Mr. Forbes represented a husband and wife in a child custody matter. In June 2004, the clients paid him $1,000 as costs to be paid to a guardian ad litem appointed in the case. The clients received a receipt indicating the funds would be placed in Mr. Forbes’s trust account for the guardian ad litem. Mr. Forbes neither deposited the funds into his trust account nor paid them to a guardian ad litem. He did not have the clients’ permission to use the money for any other purpose. Mr. Forbes never rendered an accounting to the clients for the money they paid him.
Matter 4: In December 2002, a client paid Mr. Forbes an advance fee deposit of $1,000 to represent him in a dissolution case filed by the client’s wife. The fee agreement stated that Mr. Forbes’s hourly rate was $175. Mr. Forbes deposited the entire amount into his business account, even though he had only spent about 90 minutes on the client’s case at their initial meeting. Mr. Forbes did not file a notice of appearance on behalf of the client until January 2003, and he did not file an answer to the dissolution petition until the day before a default motion was to be heard. Shortly thereafter, the client reconciled with his wife and, in October 2003, the client requested that Mr. Forbes prepare a stipulation to dismiss the dissolution petition. Mr. Forbes took no further action in the case, did not return the client’s repeated calls, did not prepare a stipulation as requested, and did not sign the stipulation proffered by opposing counsel until March 2004. After the client filed a grievance with the Bar Association, Mr. Forbes responded in writing that he had refunded $590.50 to the client in September or October 2003. Mr. Forbes had not refunded any money to the client. Mr. Forbes never earned the entire $1,000 paid to him and never provided an accounting to the client.
Matter 5: In September and October 2004, Mr. Forbes received from a dissolution client a total of $39,500 in marital community funds, which he deposited into his trust account. Mr. Forbes advised the client to transfer these funds to him in order to protect them from being frozen by opposing counsel and to ensure their continued availability to her. In November 2004, the client terminated Mr. Forbes’s services, at which time her balance in Mr. Forbes’s trust account should have been $31,500. Mr. Forbes’s trust account balance was less than $19,000 at the time. Mr. Forbes did not have the client’s permission to remove any portion of the $31,500 from his trust account.
Matter 6: In November 2004, Mr. Forbes borrowed $21,500 from one client and $1,300 from a second client without fully disclosing in writing to either client the risks involved in lending him money or affording them a reasonable opportunity to seek the advice of other counsel. That same day, Mr. Forbes deposited $21,760 into his trust account.
Mr. Forbes’s conduct violated RPC 1.3, requiring a lawyer to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client; RPC 1.4, requiring a lawyer to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter, promptly comply with reasonable requests for information, and 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 1.8(a), prohibiting a lawyer from entering into a business transaction with a client or knowingly acquiring an ownership, possessory, security, or other pecuniary interest adverse to a client unless the transaction and its terms are fair and reasonable and fully disclosed and transmitted in writing to the client, the client is given opportunity to seek the advice of independent counsel, and the client consents; RPC 1.14(a), requiring all funds of clients paid to a lawyer be deposited into an interest-bearing trust account; RPC 1.14(b), requiring a lawyer to maintain complete records of client funds and properties and render appropriate accounts regarding them, and to promptly pay or deliver upon request funds or properties belonging to the client; RPC 1.15(d), requiring a lawyer to take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests upon termination of a representation; RPC 8.4(b), prohibiting a lawyer from committing a criminal act (here, theft in the first degree) that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects; RPC 8.4(c), prohibiting a lawyer from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation; and RPC 8.4(i), prohibiting a lawyer from committing any act involving moral turpitude, or corruption, or any unjustified act of assault or other act that reflects disregard for the rule of law.
Natalea Skvir represented the Bar Association. Mr. Forbes did not appear in the proceeding either personally or through counsel. Margarita V. Latsinova was the hearing officer. |