Matter of James

This disciplinary proceeding arose out of a 1984 audit of respondent’s accounts pursuant to the Random Audit Program. Respondent is charged with nine counts of ethical violations, including failure to maintain required records, failure to safeguard client funds, failure to pay promptly funds to a client, gross negligence in accounting for client funds, and misappropriation.

The District XIV Ethics Committee (the Ethics Committee) returned a presentment, charging that respondent misunderstood the purpose of a lawyer’s trust account, used his trust account as a second business account, used…