Court suspended the license of retired attorney over client funds

The Iowa Supreme Court has suspended for 90 days the license of a Johnson County lawyer who admits he cannot properly account for his use of clients’ money.

The Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board has alleged that attorney Michael Ralph Brown admits having failed to maintain the proper client-account reconciliations, monthly lists of individual client balances, journals of receipts and disbursements, bank statements and other financial records.

Due to the lack of records, an auditor could not determine whether the more than $80,000 remaining in Brown’s client trust account consisted of money that “needed to be returned to clients” or was money representing earned fees belonging to Brown, the board alleged.

The board, in recommending that the Iowa Supreme Court suspend Brown’s license for 90 days, noted that Brown “has taken responsibility for his misconduct and fully cooperated with the board.”

However, the board added, Brown was admonished by the state’s Client Security Commission in 2021 for violations similar in nature to the more recent case, demonstrating “a failure to learn” from past mistakes.

In addition, the board said, Brown’s recordkeeping deficiencies were “so severe,” they “demonstrated a near total loss of accountability for client funds.” That situation was aggravated, the board said, by Brown’s decision to destroy files in preparation for closing his office and retiring.

The Iowa Supreme Court followed the board’s recommendation and recently ordered that Brown’s Iowa license to practice law be suspended for 90 days. The suspension may have little practical effect in that Brown retired from practice prior to the order being issued, according to state records.

The Iowa Capital Dispatch was not able to reach Brown for comment but in recent court filings, Brown stated that he has had to undergo a number of medical procedures in recent years, including a pacemaker implant, that have caused profound fatigue. He told the court that while his condition is not an excuse for his conduct, it has been a “small contributing factor to my inability to properly look after my law practice.”

Iowa Judicial Branch records currently list Brown’s 90-day suspension as stemming from both “disciplinary” action as well as a “disability.”