Legal Ethics
Ex-Quarles Partner Suspended For Not Reading Partnership Fine Print
Posted Apr 22, 2008, 09:23 am CDT
By Molly McDonough
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended a former Quarles & Brady partner who kept $230,000 in trustee fees because he says he didn't realize his partnership agreement required him to turn over the money.
The nine-month suspension of Jeffrey Elverman is tougher than the one recommended by a referee, who suggested a public reprimand, the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. The NLJ notes that the court opted for a stiffer penalty because Elverman knowingly kept the money and didn't report it on tax returns.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Elverman eventually paid the taxes before he was contacted by the state Office of Lawyer Regulation.
Elverman's suspension begins May 12.
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Comments
Posted by Rock and a Hard Place - 4 months, 1 week, 3 days, 5 hours, 52 minutes ago
Interesting question—Since the law firm is barred from acting as a trustee under Wisc law, isn’t this partnership agreement provision an attempt to circumvent the restriction? What do the banking regulators think about this?
Posted by Rock and an Ethical Place - 4 months, 1 week, 2 days, 17 hours, 45 minutes ago
Ethically speaking, can’t the law firm serve as trustee if they disclose the conflict of interest and have the client sign off on it? Wasn’t there some Wisconsin caselaw on this? Obviously, I’m not a Wisconsin attorney, but maybe Rock and A Hard Place could elaborate.