State ex rel. Nebraska State Bar Ass'n v. McConnell
| Citation | 313 N.W.2d 241,210 Neb. 98 |
| Decision Date | 04 December 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 43994,43994 |
| Parties | STATE of Nebraska ex rel. NEBRASKA STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, Relator, v. Mac H. McCONNELL, Respondent. |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
Paul L. Douglas, Atty. Gen., and Mel Kammerlohr, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lincoln, for relator.
Toney J. Redman, Lincoln, for respondent.
Heard before KRIVOSHA, C. J., and BOSLAUGH, McCOWN, CLINTON, BRODKEY, and HASTINGS, JJ.
This is a disciplinary action brought under the rules of this court against the respondent, Mac H. McConnell, a lawyer licensed by this court to practice law in this state. Respondent is charged with violation of DR 1-102(A)(4) of the Code of Professional Responsibility. The rule in question defines as misconduct the action by a lawyer involving, among other things, dishonesty, deceit, or misrepresentation. The referee appointed by the court recommended that the respondent be disbarred. There is no dispute in the evidence and the only issue before us is whether the recommended discipline of disbarment is excessive and some other sanctions should be imposed.
The evidence shows that on January 4, 1977, when the respondent was the secretary-treasurer of the Madison County Bar Association he, without authorization, withdrew the sum of $1,500 from the library fund of the association and converted the money to his own use. The conversion was not discovered until March 1980, after the association made a purchase of books in the sum of $1,400 and the check given in payment thereof resulted in an overdraft of the account at the bank. When McConnell had turned over the association's checkbook to his successor in office about 3 years before the purchase, it showed a balance in the account of over $2,000. The account had been inactive for 3 years until the books purchase was made. When the overdraft appeared it was discovered that McConnell had made a cash withdrawal on January 4, 1977, which had not been recorded in the checkbook or otherwise shown in the records of the association. When called upon for an explanation, McConnell at first said he could not remember the transaction. Sometime later he presented to his successor in office a check dated March 17, 1980, drawn upon a savings and loan association in the amount of $1,722.30, and stated that he had deposited the money so it would draw interest and that he had forgotten about the matter. Investigation, however, indicated that the savings and loan account had been opened on March...
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...disbarred after he withdrew $1,500 from the association's library fund without authorization. See State ex rel. Nebraska State Bar Assn. v. McConnell, 210 Neb. 98, 313 N.W.2d 241 (1981). However, neither of these cases concerning nonclient funds related to misappropriation of funds from the......
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...Neb. 902, 806 N.W.2d 879 (2011) ; State ex rel. NSBA v. Rosno, 245 Neb. 365, 513 N.W.2d 302 (1994) ; State ex rel. Nebraska State Bar Assn. v. McConnell, 210 Neb. 98, 313 N.W.2d 241 (1981).17 State ex rel. Nebraska State Bar Assn. v. Michaelis, 210 Neb. 545, 560, 316 N.W.2d 46, 54 (1982).18......
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...(1982). While we have previously held that conversion of a client's funds requires disbarment, State ex rel. Nebraska State Bar Assn. v. McConnell, 210 Neb. 98, 313 N.W.2d 241 (1981); State ex rel. Nebraska State Bar Assn. v. Bremers, 200 Neb. 481, 264 N.W.2d 194 (1978); State ex rel. Nebra......
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