In re Wathen

I respectfully dissent from the decision to disbar this attorney. Instead, I would impose a two-year suspension from the practice of law, and require him to attend ethics training and to make restitution to his former law firm which had reimbursed the client. Wathen is an attorney who settled his client’s case for $2,250 without the client’s authorization and then, instead of safeguarding his client’s property in a trust account that he had not established, he converted the settlement proceeds to his personal use. This Court unanimously has disbarred lawyers for such offenses when the lawyer…