Atlanta city councilman Lamar Willis has been accused by the State Bar of Georgia of a variety of serious ethics charges in his law practice, including depositing $30,000 meant for a young client into his own bank account.
The Georgia bar said Willis violated rules pertaining to reasonable diligence in representing his client, failed to safeguard property or promptly notify clients that they were entitled to property, and violated rules against “dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
The maximum penalty for each of the allegations is disbarment, meaning Willis will be fighting in the coming weeks for his professional life.
The formal complaint stems from a personal injury lawsuit filed in 2009 on behalf of a minor identified in state bar documents as V.S.U. Willis represented the minor in the lawsuit, which he said was filed after a fence fell on and injured the young child.
The defendant settled the lawsuit for $30,000, and the settlement funds were supposed to be deposited in an attorney trust fund — standard practice to help guard against loss of the money in the event of an attorney’s bankruptcy.
But the state bar said Willis did not disburse the funds.
In an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Willis said the problems arose partly because he was distracted by his own divorce proceedings. He said he did not steal the money but admitted to not dispersing the funds in a timely manner.
“The basis of the complaint is that Lamar Willis dropped some balls,” he said. “I’ve acknowledged that. … The reason was, I was going through a very difficult time personally.”
Willis has not been charged with a crime. He said he will not resign from his at-large City Council post and plans to run for re-election in November.
But the formal complaint is the latest and potentially most serious in a string of controversies surrounding Willis, who has been a member of the state bar since 2006 and a member of the City Council since 2001.
In 2009, the Fulton County Superior Court fined him $25,000 for not registering his foundation as a charitable organization and not properly maintaining financial records for it.
In 2011, Atlanta’s ethics board fined him $3,500 for accepting money for his foundation that was provided by companies and people doing business with the city.
Last year, Matthew Cardinale, editor of Atlanta Progressive News, accused Willis of having an improper interest in a company trying to secure a no-bid contract to convert grease into bio diesel fuel. The city’s ethics officer cleared Willis of any wrongdoing.
In the matter of the $30,000, the state bar found “probable cause” of wrongdoing after an investigative panel of the state disciplinary board — a grand jury of sorts for lawyers — looked into the matter.
Lawyers for the defendant mailed a check to Willis on July 11, 2011. By agreements approved by courts in Gwinnett and Clayton counties, $15,716.55 was to go to the child’s conservator, Tammy Stanley. The child’s medical expenses would account for another $2,791.54. Marlena Middlebrooks, Willis’ co-counsel at the time, would get $3,000. And Willis was to receive the remainder, about $8,500.
Among the state bar’s accusations against Willis:
- Willis never paid the parties according to court order. He deposited the money into his personal or business account, instead of a protected trust account.
- Because Willis did not disperse the funds — either to the child's conservator, to medical providers or to his law partner — the Probate Court of Clayton County directed the defendant to pay Stanley and Middlebrooks directly — in effect, to pick up the tab for that $18,716 portion.
- Willis "converted all of the settlements funds to his own personal use."
The complaint is being reviewed by Joseph Szczecko, a Decatur attorney appointed as “special master” by the Georgia Supreme Court.
If proven, theft and use of client funds “is absolutely one of the things that will make you lose your law license quicker than anything I know, said Lester Tate, former president of the state bar. “If it’s not theft, even intermingling can get you in trouble.
“It’s certainly at a serious stage” if the state bar has filed a formal complaint, said Tate, who sits on Georgia’s Judicial Qualifications Commission.
In documents filed with the state Supreme Court, the state bar said Willis had admitted violating several rules when he deposited the money into his firm’s account, which could be accessed with a debit card. But Willis denied fraud and deceit.
“The funds just sat there, but they weren’t in the proper account,” Willis said. “I dropped the ball.”
Paula J. Frederick, general counsel for the State Bar of Georgia, told the AJC that Willis did not respond to the complaint, and that the case is “in default,” meaning Willis technically admitted to the allegations by not defending himself against them.
Willis told the AJC that he had, in fact, responded recently in writing to the state bar, but he refused to provide the document.
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