Evil wills lawyer disbarred for life

John D. Duncan, who formerly worked for almost 30 years for the Verrill Dana law firm in Portland, Maine, was recently disbarred for life by the Supreme Court of Maine.

The following details of this sordid tale are from Board of Overseers of the Bar v. Duncan, Order of Disbarment, Bar No. 08-3, Martha Neil, Maine Law Firm Axes Former Chair, Alleges Theft, ABA J. Law News Now, Dec. 12, 2007, and Trevor Maxwell, Lawyer who stole funds accepts lifetime disbarment, Portland Press Harold, July 15, 2008:

• Mr. Duncan graduated from the University of Virginia law school in 1978.
• Mr. Duncan worked at Verrill Dana for almost 30 years becoming a partner in 1983.
• His practice primarily focused on wills, estates, and trusts.
• Verrill Dana dismissed Mr. Duncan in December 2007 for misappropriating firm funds, misusing client funds, and billing clients improperly.
• The “whistle-blower” was his legal secretary (Ellie Rommel) who noticed that Mr. Duncan wrote himself checks totaling $77,500 from a client’s account in June 2007.  It is unclear whether after revealing the misconduct she resigned from the firm or was fired.  She recently settled with the firm for an undisclosed amount.
• Mr. Duncan tried to resign at that time but Verrill Dana refused to accept the resignation and instead allowed him to repay the misappropriated funds.
• Investigations revealed that Mr. Duncan had been stealing money since 1997 and that the total amounted to approximately $300,000.
• The Supreme Court of Maine issued an order on July 8, 2008 disbarring him for life with no chance for reinstatement.  This is the most severe professional sanction ever issued against a Maine lawyer.
• It is unlikely that Mr. Duncan would be successfully in gaining admission to a bar in another state.
• Mr. Duncan may also be heading to jail as he has plead guilty to charges of criminal theft (a state crime) and tax evasion (a federal crime).
• Verrill Dana’s other partners may also face professional sanctions for their handling of the situation.
• In an interesting omission from all reports is the reason why Mr. Duncan engaged in such behavior.