Missing Witness

The South Carolina Supreme Court imposed a 60 day consent suspension for misconduct in connection with real estate closings:

"on approximately two to three...occasions, when another person was not present at a closing, respondent instructed a paralegal or another member of his staff to indicate on a document that they had witnessed the client’s signature when, in fact, they had not been personally present for the execution.  However, by way of affidavit in mitigation, respondent states that for over three years he has strictly required the presence of a second witness at every closing and has, in fact, refused to conduct closings on several occasions due to the lack of a second witness."

The conduct violated Rules 1.1 and 8.4(a)&(c).(Mike Frisch)