No. BD-2015-090
S.J.C. Judgment of Disbarment entered by Justice Botsford on March 2, 2017, retroactive to October 8, 2015.
Justice Botsford on March 2, 2017, retroactive to October 8, 2015.[1]
SUMMARY[2]
The respondent, Andrew M. Porter, resigned from the practice of law pursuant to S.J.C. Rule 4:01, § 15, and was disbarred. In his affidavit of resignation, dated January 30, 2017, the respondent acknowledged that bar counsel could establish by a preponderance of the evidence at a disciplinary hearing that the respondent had committed numerous acts of financial misconduct against his former law firm and clients. The misconduct included the improper billing of the law firm and clients for the respondent's own personal expenses unrelated to the practice of law; the respondent's intentional misuse of client funds from client trust accounts; and his personal receipt and retention of a retainer paid by a client for legal services, which payment belonged to his firm. The respondent acknowledged that the foregoing acts of fraud, deception, and misuse of funds totaled over $400,000 in the aggregate. By his conduct, the respondent violated Mass. R. Prof. C. 1.15(b), 1.15(c), 8.4(c), and 8.4(h).
The respondent was admitted to the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on December 14, 1988. On October 8, 2015, the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County entered an order of temporary suspension of the respondent based on his above-described misconduct. On February 13, 2017, the board voted to recommend that the respondent's affidavit of resignation be accepted and that an order of disbarment enter, retroactive to October 8, 2015, the date of his temporary suspension. On March 2, 2017, the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County so ordered.
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