Lawyer Claiming to Lose Records While Fleeing Protests Suspended
The Supreme Courtroom of Ohio nowadays suspended a Lorain County attorney for two a long time, with just one year stayed, for mishandling clients’ resources even though on probation from a prior charge of mishandling customer funds.
In a unanimous per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court docket suspended Kenneth Nelson II of Avon Lake from the follow of regulation. The suspension is partly connected to Nelson’s failure to produce data about costs he billed shoppers. He claimed his authorized assistant lost the documents following the two were being pressured to flee their Cleveland office all through the Might 2020 nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd’s demise.
The Court ruled that if Nelson is reinstated to the follow of regulation, he must provide a two-calendar year time period of monitored probation with an attorney who will oversee Nelson’s economical preparations with purchasers.
This is Nelson’s 3rd sanction given that 2015. The Court publicly reprimanded him in October 2015 for committing various ethics violations when representing a one client. In December 2017, the Courtroom suspended him for two many years, with 18 months stayed, for quite a few moral violations, like failing to deposit and hold client charges in a shopper believe in account until finally the fees have been attained.
In this case, the Court noted the 2017 sanction “was insufficient to prevent Nelson from engaging in additional misconduct.”
Lawyer’s Participation in Bar Association Method Raises Concerns

Pursuing Nelson’s reinstatement to the exercise of law in July 2018, he was positioned on one 12 months of probation and noted to a checking legal professional centered on “trust-account and document-preserving requirements relating to expenses and other shopper elements.”
Though below supervision, Nelson sought to take part in the Lorain County Bar Association’s “Modest Means Method.” That method aimed to offer very affordable legal illustration to clients who could not pay for attorneys at neighborhood sector fees. Lawyers participating in the Modest Implies Method would acknowledge a $500 retainer and invoice shoppers $75 for each hour. Bar affiliation govt director Jeannie Motylewski testified that she talked about the software with Nelson by cell phone and emailed him copies of the sample cost agreements to explain the application terms to clientele.
Between early 2019 and early 2020, Nelson acknowledged 18 referrals from the Modest Suggests Application. In February 2020, the bar affiliation commenced investigating Nelson’s compliance with the phrases of his monitored probation and his handling of the retainers compensated by his Modest Means Plan clientele. Two months later, the bar affiliation notified Nelson that he experienced violated the program’s procedures. The bar affiliation explained to him it supposed to revoke his probation and ask for the Supreme Courtroom reinstate his suspension.
The bar association submitted a grievance with the Board of Skilled Conduct, boasting Nelson was failing to hold the retainer costs in a shopper have faith in account until finally they have been attained and that he manufactured a false assertion to the Supreme Court docket when attempting to terminate the oversight of the monitoring legal professional. The bar affiliation also claimed Nelson failed to cooperate with the disciplinary continuing pertaining to his violations.
Legal professional Questioned About Price Agreements

At the disciplinary hearing, Motylewski developed a duplicate of the electronic mail and cost agreement she sent Nelson to demonstrate the Modest Indicates System participation procedures. Nelson objected, boasting he did not remember talking to Motylewski and did not obtain the paperwork.
Nelson testified that he made use of his own agreement type and that he misunderstood the phrases of the software. Relatively than acquiring a $500 retainer and charging $75 for each hour, Nelson claimed he considered the application permitted him to charge a $500 flat rate. Due to the fact he charged a flat payment, he believed that all those cash had been deemed “earned on receipt” and that he did not have to deposit the retainers into his customer believe in account.
The board pointed out the regulations make it possible for an legal professional to charge a flat fee and take into consideration the money earned on receipt. A lawyer using that tactic, even so, ought to notify the consumer in producing that the client may well be entitled to a refund of all or section of the payment if the lawyer does not entire the illustration.
The bar association experienced pressed Nelson for copies of the cost arrangement he applied with the 18 clients to determine if he thoroughly notified them of their refund rights. At the disciplinary hearing, Nelson developed one particular copy and claimed the other 17 were lacking. The duplicate he delivered complied with the principles, but the view pointed out the agreement was signed by a consumer four days right after the bar association notified Nelson he was less than investigation.
Protests, Assistant Blamed for Lacking Agreements

The board pointed out that the bar affiliation commenced asking about the fee agreements in February 2020 and asked for he develop them in Oct 2020 as section of the discovery method linked to the grievance. Nelson two times asked for extensions of time to comply and did not produce the files. He argued in January 2021 that the files did not want to be turned in excess of simply because they had been protected by lawyer-customer privilege.
When requested by the chair of the board’s a few-member disciplinary-hearing panel to change around the agreement, Nelson first admitted the files were being misplaced.
He testified that he and his authorized assistant fled his downtown Cleveland offices in the course of the protests, and he imagined his lawful assistant had taken a box residence that contained the payment agreements. He mentioned his assistant later on instructed Nelson she was unable to track down the box and was even now looking for the agreements.
When asked why he did not offer the bar association with the agreements in February 2020, months in advance of the protests, he claimed the affiliation did not ask for the documents.
“The board observed that Nelson’s steps throughout the disciplinary approach rendered his testimony and protection suspect,” the viewpoint stated.
Nelson waited virtually a calendar year to assert the files ended up lacking, the board observed, and he did not demonstrate why he did not simply call his lawful assistant to testify at the listening to about how the agreements went missing. The board pointed out he did not get in touch with any of his consumers to testify about the conditions of the agreements, and he did not receive any copies of the arrangement from his shoppers.
The board uncovered Nelson violated the ethical procedures demanding him to hold client cash secured and not choose them until he did the do the job to get paid the dollars.
Lawyer Lied When Attempting to End Probation

In Could 2020, Nelson sought to terminate the monitored probation from his 2017 sanction. He filed the software four days right after assembly with the bar association’s ethics committee, which satisfied to go over his compliance with the Modest Suggests Plan. But on the application to the Court docket, he submitted a sworn assertion indicating he complied with all disorders of his probation and that no disciplinary proceedings were being pending in opposition to him.
Nelson claimed this statement was legitimate because he “believed” he was not topic to a disciplinary proceeding as he considered he was complying with the Modest Usually means System policies. Regardless of no matter if he was complying, Nelson admitted he was being investigated at the time. And the board concluded that he produced a false statement when he claimed he no investigation was pending.
The Courtroom mentioned that Nelson violated the notification policies with regards to the probable return of the deposits, but it identified no evidence that the Modest Indicates Plan shoppers gained anything considerably less than diligent and specialist representation and that Nelson did not inappropriately income from his misconduct.
The Courtroom stayed the second yr of Nelson’s suspension and said he will be necessary to serve the complete suspension if he commits any supplemental misconduct. If reinstated, he should post all customer price agreements and consumer-have faith in-account records to his checking legal professional month-to-month for two several years. The Courtroom also purchased Nelson to pay out the costs of the disciplinary proceedings.
2021-0759. Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Nelson, Slip Viewpoint No. 2022-Ohio-1288.
Look at oral argument online video of this circumstance.
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