Court: Lawyers violated ethics rule
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that six attorneys at Portland law firm Verrill Dana violated a state ethics rule in connection with the John Duncan case.
According to yesterday's ruling, the six members of the firm's executive committee did not do enough to deter unethical behavior at the firm, violating an ethics rule that requires partners to make reasonable efforts to enact policies to ensure lawyers act responsibly, the Portland Press Herald reported. Duncan, who had been a lawyer at Verrill Dana since 1978, was sentenced in 2008 to two years in a federal prison and disbarred for life for stealing approximately $300,000 from clients and the Portland firm. David Warren, the firm's managing partner, and James Kilbreth III, Eric Altholz, Mark Googins, Roger Clement Jr. and Juliet Browne made up the executive committee at the time of Duncan's thefts.
The ruling is in response to an appeal by the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar of a lower court's decision that cleared the six lawyers of wrongdoing. Yesterday's ruling remands the case for judgment and unspecified sanctions. Despite the court's ruling that the Verrill Dana lawyers violated an ethics rule and its procedures were insufficient, Keith Jones, Verrill Dana's managing partner, said the company is"pleased" the court did not find that the lawyers violated the more serious offense of not reporting Duncan's conduct more quickly.
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