Committee on Legal Ethics of the West Virginia State Bar v. Hess

MILLER, Chief Justice:

In this disciplinary proceeding, the Committee on Legal Ethics of the West Virginia State Bar (Committee) asks us to suspend Richard Hess’s license to practice law for a period of two years and charge him costs of $694.41 for the expense of conducting the disciplinary proceedings. For the reasons stated below, we accept this recommendation of the Committee.

In 1985, Mr. Hess was a partner in the law firm of Lewis, Ciccarello & Friedberg in Charleston, West Virginia. In August of that year, unknown to his firm, he opened a settlement account for his real estate…