In re Foster

Summary

The South Carolina Supreme Court accepted an Agreement for Discipline by Consent and publicly reprimanded an attorney who permitted a non-lawyer employee to conduct and sign documents for real estate closings without supervision. The attorney also failed to properly supervise reconciliation of the firm’s real estate escrow account and admitted violations of specified Rules of Professional Conduct and Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement.

Holdings

1. The respondent's admitted conduct violated Rules 1.1, 1.2(a), 5.3(a), 5.3(b), 5.5(b), and 8.4(a) of Rule 407, SCACR, and Rules 7(a)(1) and 7(a)(5) of Rule 413, SCACR.
2. A public reprimand was the appropriate sanction, and the court accepted the Agreement for Discipline by Consent.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court should accept the respondent's Agreement for Discipline by Consent after his admission of violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct and the Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement.
2. What sanction is appropriate for the respondent's failure to supervise a nonlawyer employee, assistance in the unauthorized practice of law, inaccurate HUD-1 Settlement Statements, and inadequate supervision of the firm's real estate escrow-account reconciliation.

Disposition

other