Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Prominent Muskegon attorney faces discipline over thousands kept from former firm

Prominent Muskegon attorney faces discipline over thousands kept from former firm


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Shawn P. Davis in court in 2012. (MLive file photo)
John S. Hausman | jhausman@mlive.com By John S. Hausman | jhausman@mlive.com
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on September 30, 2013 at 7:28 AM, updated September 30, 2013 at 8:16 AM
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MUSKEGON, MI – Shawn P. Davis, a prominent Muskegon criminal-defense and divorce attorney, faces possible disbarment for misappropriating thousands of dollars from the law firm for which he used to work.
The conduct, which Davis has admitted, lasted at least from 2007 until his partners confronted him and terminated him from Nolan & Nolan & Shafer PLC in August 2011. Since then, Davis has continued to practice law in Muskegon in a solo practice.
Davis admitted intentionally keeping cash and checks that many of his clients paid him, money he was supposed to turn over to the firm.
After his partners confronted him, he agreed to leave the firm and eventually admitted to taking a total of at least $14,060 on at least 22 separate occasions that he or his partners documented.
In September 2011, Davis paid the firm $50,000 as part of an agreement that severed his connection with his former partners and settled all claims between them, without admitting that he took more than $14,060. He had earlier repaid $6,150 of the misappropriated money.
According to documents obtained by the Muskegon Chronicle from the Attorney Grievance Commission, Davis attributed his behavior to financial pressures. In his defense he asserted his conduct was caused by a “temporary mental disability” – a “very high level of stress and depression he was undergoing as the result of facing serious financial difficulties.”
He was never prosecuted. But his license to practice law is in jeopardy.
A three-attorney panel Thursday, Sept. 26, held a day-long disciplinary hearing on a formal complaint against Davis filed earlier this year by the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission.
The hearing panel, acting for the State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, will issue an opinion on Davis’ case “some weeks” from now, according to its chairman, Muskegon attorney David L. Bossenbroek.
The panel’s options range from doing nothing to disbarment, with other options including temporary suspension of Davis’ license or a reprimand. An attorney who is disbarred in Michigan may petition for reinstatement after five years.
The hearing panel’s decision will be final unless one of the two parties – Davis or the Attorney Grievance Commission – appeals to the full Attorney Discipline Board. If that happens, the board could reverse the hearing panel’s decision.
The Attorney Grievance Commission, which filed the formal complaint against Davis in February 2013 after an 18-month investigation, investigates complaints against attorneys and sometimes files formal complaints based on that. The Attorney Discipline Board decides on what sanctions, if any, to impose on attorneys cited by the Attorney Grievance Commission.
According to the grievance commission’s complaint against him, Davis admitted to his partners that he had “intentionally misappropriated funds due to the firm” in at least three different ways:
• Taking cash from a client, putting some of it into his pocket and giving the rest to the firm’s bookkeeper along with a statement that his client had paid in full. In his response to the complaint, Davis admitted this.
• Taking cash from a client – say, $500 -- who had not yet been criminally charged in exchange for advice and the understanding that he would handle the client’s case if the client was charged. He would then pocket the money and not open a file on the client. In his response to the complaint, Davis admitted this in part, adding, “files for some clients would be opened.”
• Having a client write a check payable to Davis, which the lawyer would deposit into his personal account. He would then either keep all the money and not open a file or keep some of it and open a file with the rest. Davis admitted this in his response to the complaint.
Patrick J. Nolan, the firm’s managing partner, wants and expects Davis to lose his license.
“I believe he should be disbarred, and I believe he will be disbarred, which means that he can reapply in five years,” Nolan said in an interview Thursday.
Asked why the firm did not seek criminal prosecution of Davis, Nolan said, “I’m not vindictive, and I don’t mind giving someone a second chance after the proper punishment. But not in my office – not to come back and work for us.”
Davis declined to comment when asked last week about the case against him.
Davis, after earlier working in the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office and for another Muskegon firm, began working for the Nolan firm in 1999. He became a partner in 2002, heading the small firm’s criminal-defense and divorce section.
He was president of the Muskegon County Bar Association in 2003-04.
Over the years, Davis has been the defense attorney in a number of high-profile Muskegon County criminal cases. Those have included former county drain commissioner Jeffrey Hepler and, currently, Anthony Casanova, who is charged with murdering his 10-week-old son.
In a similar case recently, the Attorney Discipline Board in May 2013 disbarred Mt. Pleasant attorney Mark J. Tyslenko, reversing a decision by a hearing panel to merely suspend him for 45 days.
In Tyslenko’s case, the attorney kept $9,200 in client fees paid that was supposed to go to the law firm that employed him. Tyslenko, too, asserted a mental disability defense based on financial and other stresses.
John S. Hausman covers courts, the environment and local government for MLive/Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at jhausman@mlive.com  and follow him on Twitter.

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