| ► Attorney Louie Wilson III of Windsor, NC; ethical elf |
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Attorney Louie Wilson III of Windsor, NC; ethical elf The state of North Carolina presented Louie Wilson III with a law license in 1998.
The Grievance Committee of the North Carolina State Bar charged Louie with the following misconduct.
Over the court of four (4) years, Louie maintained a client trust account with RBC Centura Bank. Louie used the RBC trust account as a general trust account in which he deposited and disbursed client funds.
Louie employed an assistant over whom he had direct supervisory authority. Louie delegated all aspects of use and maintenance of the RBC trust account to his assistant, including receiving entrusted funds, preparing checks and receiving monthly bank statements.
Louie never instructed his assistant regarding the proper use and maintenance of the trust account, nor did he routinely review the assistant’s activities regarding her handling of entrusted funds. Louie did not reconcile the RBC trust account at least quarterly as required.
During a 15-month period of time, Louie’s assistant received $1400 in installments ($21,000) paid by and belonging to Louie’s clients. The assistant signed receipts for the funds indicating that the funds were to be deposited into Louie’s trust account. In fact, the funds were not deposited into Louie’s trust or other bank accounts and remained unaccounted for.
As a result of Louie’s gross negligence and incompetence, his clients Mr. and Mrs. Brooks lost $21,000. Luckily for them, Louie was able to eventually reimburse them for their losses.
As a consequence of his misconduct the cheerleaders for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Grievance Committee of the North Carolina State Bar punished Louie by gifting him with a complimentary stayed 2-year suspension of his law license. In truth, the comedians sitting on the Grievance Committee of the North Carolina State Bar didn’t mete out any meaningful punishment to Louie.
As we speak (ca. January 2013) Louie practices with the Ruffin Law Firm in Windsor, North Carolina.
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