| ► Attorney Robert Naughton of Burlington, MA; ethical goblin |
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Attorney Robert Naughton of Burlington, MA; ethical goblin 
The state of Massachusetts presented Robert G. Naughton with a law license in 1953.
The Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers found Robert guilty of the following misconduct.
In one matter, Robert and two other persons were appointed successor trustees of seven trusts under the will of Lotta M. Crabtree who died in 1924. The largest trust was known as the Lotta Agricultural Fund.
The purpose of the agricultural fund trust is to provide loans to graduates of the Univ. of Massachusetts, as well as financial assistance to needy and meritorious students for their studies at the university. As of early 2000, the assets of the trust had a value of over $4 million. The other trusts were valued at $3.9 million.
Robert and the other trustees didn’t itemize record of the time they spent on trust business. They were not paid on time spent, but on a percentage of principal under management. Under the formula Robert, et al. adopted, each trustee was paid a flat fee of $3,500 a month, plus another $1,000 per quarter.
Robert and his co-trustees breached their fiduciary duty to the trusts by paying themselves solely from the agricultural fund rather than from all eight funds as required. Robert, et al. charged fees and expenses to Ms. Crabtree’s trusts that were clearly excessive and substantially exceed the range of fees that other Boston area trust management entities charged for managing accounts similar in size.
Subsequently, a probate judge ordered the Robert, et al. to file a detailed written statement of time spent administering the trusts and to explain the basis of their fees. Based on a report the court received by a court appointed guardian, the judge ordered Robert, et al. removed as trustees for breaches of their duties as fiduciaries. The judge then required that Robert repay the amounts of excessive fees received by him and two other trustees over and above the amounts calculated by the court as reasonable.
As a consequence of his misconduct, the enablers for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Board of Bar Overseers punished Robert by gifting him with a complimentary reprimand.
As we speak (ca. May 2013) Robert practices at 44 Hill Circle in Burlington, Massachusetts.
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