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In separate disciplinary actions announced today, the Supreme Court of Ohio suspended the law licenses of attorneys Donald Lewis Walker of Akron and Thomas J. Manning of Dayton.
2007-2380. Disciplinary Counsel v. Walker, Slip Opinion No. 2008-Ohio-3321.
On Certified Report by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, No. 05-061. Donald L. Walker, Attorney Registration No. 0033764, is suspended from the practice of law in Ohio for two years, with one year stayed on conditions.
Pfeifer, Lundberg Stratton, O'Connor, O'Donnell, Lanzinger, and Cupp, JJ., concur.
Moyer, C.J., dissents.
Opinion: http://www.supremecourtofohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2008/2008-Ohio-3321.pdf
(July 8, 2008)The Supreme Court of Ohio today suspended the license of Akron attorney Donald Lewis Walker for two years, with the second year stayed on conditions, for violations of state disciplinary rules arising from Walker’s forgery of the signatures of a client’s son and two witnesses on a property deed and his conduct leading to a criminal charge of possession of cocaine.
In setting the sanction for his misconduct, the Court noted the mitigating factors that Walker’s actions in the forgery incident were not undertaken for his own personal gain, that he had paid all monies owed to the client’s son whose signature he forged, and that he had complied with the requirements of a court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment program and a sobriety contract with the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program.
Contacts
Carol Costa, 614.461.0256, for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Edward Gilbert, 330.376.8855, for Donald Walker.
2008-0037. Disciplinary Counsel v. Manning, Slip Opinion No. 2008-Ohio-3319.
On Certified Report by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, No. 07-036. Thomas Joel Manning, Attorney Registration No. 0059759, is suspended from the practice of law in Ohio for six months, and probation is imposed.
Moyer, C.J., and Pfeifer, Lundberg Stratton, O'Connor, O'Donnell, Lanzinger, and Cupp, JJ., concur.
Opinion: http://www.supremecourtofohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2008/2008-Ohio-3319.pdf
(July 8, 2008) The Supreme Court of Ohio today imposed an additional six-month suspension against the license of Dayton Attorney Thomas J. Manning, whose license has been under a two-year suspension since November 2006 for a prior incident of misconduct.
In today’s decision, the Court adopted findings by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline that Manning made improper use of a client’s funds that were on deposit in his office trust account by depleting those funds to pay Manning’s own business expenses. While Manning subsequently restored the funds to the trust account and disbursed the full amount owed to his client, the Court found that his conduct violated several state attorney discipline rules, including those that prohibit conduct involving fraud, deceit, dishonesty or misrepresentation, and require attorneys to maintain client funds in a separate and identifiable bank account and to maintain complete records of client property that is in the attorney’s possession.
The Court specified that Manning must serve the six-month license suspension imposed in today’s decision consecutively to (following the conclusion of) his earlier two-year suspension.
Contacts
Joseph Caligiuri, 614.461.0256, for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
William Knapp, 937.291.3400, for Thomas Manning.