Warren Attorney Suspended
2010-0316. Disciplinary Counsel v. Shaw, Slip Opinion No. 2010-Ohio-4412.
On Certified Report by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, No. 08-091. Kenneth Norman Shaw, Attorney Registration No. 0005525, is suspended from the practice of law in Ohio for two years, with one year stayed on conditions.
Brown, C.J., and Pfeifer, Lundberg Stratton, O'Donnell, Lanzinger, and Cupp, JJ., concur.
O'Connor, J., dissents and would suspend respondent from the practice of law in Ohio for two years.
Opinion: http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2010/2010-Ohio-4412.pdf 
View oral argument video of this case.
(Sept. 23, 2010) The Supreme Court of Ohio has suspended the license of Warren attorney Kenneth N. Shaw for two years, with the second year of that term stayed on conditions, for professional misconduct in his handling of legal matters entrusted to him by two sets of clients and for failing to promptly cooperate with disciplinary authorities investigating the grievances filed against him.
In a 6-1 per curiam opinion announced today, the Court adopted findings by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline that Shaw obtained and then defaulted on a $13,000 personal loan from an elderly client of his law practice, and drew up a trust agreement for the same client that named Shaw’s five children as beneficiaries of the trust in violation of disciplinary rules that bar an attorney from accepting employment or entering into a business transaction with a client in which the lawyer’s and client’s interests may conflict.
The Court also found that in a separate case Shaw collected legal fees from two clients for whom he had prepared a guardianship application without first obtaining the approval of the local probate court. Shaw was subsequently found by the probate court to have engaged in concealment of assets in the case, and ordered to refund $1,200 of the legal fees he had improperly collected from those clients.
The majority decision was joined by Chief Justice Eric Brown and Justices Paul E. Pfeifer, Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Terrence O’Donnell, Judith Ann Lanzinger and Robert R. Cupp. Justice Maureen O’Connor dissented, stating that she would impose a two year suspension with no portion stayed.
Contacts
Jonathan E. Coughlan, 614.461.0256, for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Richard S. Koblentz, 216.621.3012, for Kenneth N. Shaw.
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