Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Suarez

In November 1994, Suarez joined the law firm of Bruce A. Burén & Associates to serve as a managing/marketing associate with signatory authority on the firm’s bank accounts. As part of her employment agreement, Suarez assigned her interest in twelve migrant workers’ personal injury cases that were eventually settled and that brought substantial sums under the Burén firm’s control. The firm retained thirty-three and one-third percent of these settlements as legal fees, deposited in the firm’s client trust account funds sufficient to cover the plaintiffs’ medical expenses, and paid to each…