Attorney Gary Hammond of Oklahoma City; ethical leprechaun

The state of Oklahoma presented Gary Don Hammond with a law license in 1985.

The Oklahoma Bar Association found Gary guilty of the following misconduct.

While he was a shareholder in a attorney firm known as Groom and Hammond, the firm maintained a corporate client trust account. Over the period of several months, Gary wrote checks on the firm’s trust account for about $9,000.

Eighteen of the checks were made payable to Gary. One was made payable to “cash” and eight were made to grocery stores and other local businesses. In other words, Gary improperly used client funds to pay his personal expenses.

Gary had the chutzpah to blame his dishonesty on his claimed use of drugs. In fact, he testified at the disciplinary hearing that most of the money he misappropriated from the Groom firm went to buy drugs.

As a consequence of his misconduct, the cheerleaders for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Oklahoma Supreme Court punished Gary by gifting him with a complimentary 180-day suspension of his law license. 

As we speak (ca. April 2014) Gary practices with Hammond & Associates PLLC at 512 NW 12th Street in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.