ADMONITION
On January 24, 2005, the Chair of the Ethics and Discipline Committee of the Utah Supreme Court entered an Order of Discipline: Admonition against an attorney for violation of Rules 1.15(a) (Safekeeping Property) and 8.4(a) (Misconduct) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
In summary:
An attorney drew a check for the interest from the attorney’s IOLTA account to the Utah Bar Foundation. The attorney authorized the firm’s bookkeeper to write off the non-negotiated IOLTA check and write a new check against the trust account to transfer the interest to the firm’s operating account based on the misunderstanding that the money belonged to the firm. Later, the Utah Bar Foundation negotiated the check for IOLTA interest rendering the attorney’s trust account overdrawn. Upon receipt of the overdraft notice the firm transferred the funds from its operating account to the trust account to cover the overdraft.