In the Matter of Lawrence R. Mehl

SUMMARY²

On December 5, 2017, the respondent, Lawrence R. Mehl, submitted to the Board of Bar Overseers an affidavit of resignation from the practice of law pursuant to Supreme Judicial Court Rule 4:01, § 15. In his affidavit, the respondent admitted that, bar counsel could prove by a preponderance of evidence that he had knowingly misused $20,100 in trust funds.

Between January 2011 and March 2015, while acting as trustee of a trust, the respondent knowingly misused trust funds in the total amount of $20,100.00. The beneficiaries were temporarily deprived of that amount.

In July 2016, the trust beneficiary, who was also respondent’s client, sought information regarding the balance in the trust account. A colleague prepared and provided a financial report to the client that was incorrect and misleading. The trust funds had been considerably depleted over the years through checks to the respondent and the colleague. The financial report did not accurately show how the funds had been disbursed. When he later learned that the report delivered to the client was incorrect and misleading, the respondent did nothing to inform his client that the financial report was misleading; nor did he correct the information provided.

The respondent eventually restored all funds that he took from the trust/client prior to the client filing a complaint with bar counsel. However, when the respondent distributed all remaining trust funds to the client, he failed to provide a full and accurate written accounting of the trust account.

By intentionally misusing his trust funds for his own personal use the respondent violated Mass. R. Prof. C. 1.15(b). By those acts, and by failing to correct a misleading financial accounting to the client by his colleague, the respondent engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, in violation of Mass. R. Prof. C. 8.4(c), and conduct adversely reflecting on his fitness to practice law in violation of Mass. R. Prof. C. 8.4(h). The respondent also violated Mass. R. Prof. C. 1.15(d) by failing to provide an accurate account of the trust when he made the final distribution of the trust property.

On December 11, 2017, the board voted to accept the respondent’s affidavit of resignation as a disciplinary sanction. The matter came before the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County, Gaziano, J. On January 10, 2018, the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County entered a judgment accepting the affidavit of resignation as a disciplinary sanction retroactive to July 11, 2017.

¹ The complete order of the Court is available by contacting the Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County.

² Compiled by the Board of Bar Overseers based on the record filed with the Supreme Judicial Court.