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Clayton C. Patrick (WSBA No. 10298, admitted 1972) of Portland, Oregon, was suspended for 30 days by order of the Washington State Supreme Court imposing reciprocal discipline in accordance with an order of the Supreme Court of the State of Oregon following a stipulation. This discipline is based on his conduct in 1997 involving conflicts of interest.
Mr. Patrick was close friends with an individual who had formed a trust that produced income by making loans. In two instances, Mr. Patrick referred potential borrowers to the trust and actively facilitated loan transactions from the trust by performing a number of legal services on behalf of each of the participants in the transaction.
In one matter, Mr. Patrick negotiated and secured the loan on a friend’s behalf and signed the promissory note as a guarantor. Mr. Patrick did not recognize that his judgment as a lawyer could have been affected by his own interests as guarantor of the loan and failed to make appropriate disclosures and obtain the borrower’s consent to the continued representation. Mr. Patrick also acquired a special power of attorney from the lender to allow him to conduct business on the lender’s behalf and to close the transaction in the lender’s absence.
In a second matter, Mr. Patrick represented a client in negotiating, securing, and facilitating a loan from the trust. Mr. Patrick also reviewed draft documents in connection with the transaction sent to him by the lender and was aware that the lender was looking to him to ensure that the trust’s interests were protected.
Mr. Patrick’s conduct violated Oregon DR 5-101(A), prohibiting a lawyer, except with the consent of the client after full disclosure, from accepting or continuing employment if the exercise of the lawyer’s professional judgment on behalf of the lawyer’s client will be or reasonably may be affected by the lawyer’s own financial business, property, or personal interests; and DR 5-105(E), permitting a lawyer to represent multiple current clients in instances otherwise prohibited when such representation would not result in an actual conflict and when each client consents to the multiple representation after full disclosure.
Felice P. Congalton represented the Bar Association. Mr. Patrick represented himself. |