Lawyer censured for mishandling client's retainer
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
SKOWHEGAN — The state's highest court has censured a Skowhegan lawyer for ethics violations centering on mishandling of a client's retainer.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ordered Patricia Danisinka-Washburn suspended from the practice of law for a year, but then suspended the suspension as long as she allows a fellow lawyer to monitor her law practice for a year.
In its Sept. 26 decision, the court also ordered her to attend at least five and a half credits of continuing legal education dealing with office practice management issues.
The court said Danisinka-Washburn violated conflict of interest provisions of the Maine Bar Code when she agreed to represent a woman in a parental rights case after having briefly represented the child's father in the original proceedings setting out the parents' parental rights.
Danisinka-Washburn also refused for more than three years to refund any of the woman's $850 retainer and didn't respond to the woman's request for an accounting of work done on her behalf, according to the court's decision.
Both are violations of Maine Bar Rules, the court noted.
Danisinka-Washburn eventually returned $700 of the money, but only after a Fee Arbitration Commission panel ordered it in July 2002. Even then she didn't pay up until a disciplinary hearing that November.
Danisinka-Washburn said Monday any comment on the case would have to come through her lawyer, Bill Robitzek of Lewiston. Robitzek was not available for comment.
In a decision written by Associate Justice Jon D. Levy, the court said the incident alone might not warrant the imposition of a significant sanction, except that Danisinka-Washburn has a prior disciplinary and sanction record on file with the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar involving instances of both neglect and failure to return another client's retainer.
That causes "serious concern and consideration by the Court as to Ms. Danisinka-Washburn's practice difficulties," Levy wrote.
Those "difficulties" include managing a solo practice with no office staff, "lack of objectivity about possible conflicts of interest involved in her prospective or actual clients' matters" and inadequate record-keeping of accounts, including necessary return of unearned client money.
According to the disciplinary decision, Danisinka-Washburn has "admitted her misconduct and agreed that she is capable of changing her practice habits.
Under the board's decision Danisinka-Washburn's law practice will be monitored by fellow Skowhegan lawyer Lawrence P. Bloom. Bloom will do the work as a volunteer.
Danisinka-Washburn will be required to meet with Bloom monthly and to come up with a better method of accounting for her time and client finances.
Bloom will file confidential reports with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court every three months on her progress. He is also required to report any "apparent or actual professional misconduct by Ms. Danisinka-Washburn."
Joe Rankin — 474-9534, Ext. 341
jrankin@centralmaine.com