True Confessions

An attorney (by the name of True) was suspended for three months by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, with the suspension stayed in favor of probation. The attorney had overbilled and made false billing statements to the clients (an estate and two beneficiaries) in a transaction involving the sale of 54,000 acres of timberland valued at $25 million. Other charges relating to the operation of his escrow account and conflicts of interest were dismissed with a caution . The court appears to have given considerable weight to the fact that the attorney had self-reported the misconduct to his firm and, in turn, to Bar Counsel. (Mike Frisch)