Mass. Client Security Board to pay back $2M to clients

MARBLEHEAD-When the Massachusetts Clients’ Security Board reimbursed nearly $2 million stolen by unscrupulous lawyers during fiscal 2007, a disbarred Marblehead attorney led the list for most number of victims for the second consecutive year.A disbarred Gloucester attorney topped the chart for largest amount of money stolen.The board paid eight individual awards totalling $55,400 to clients of disbarred attorney John C. McBride of Marblehead, according to Attorney Karen D. O’Toole, assistant counsel to the Clients’ Security Board.The board, which was created in 1974 and functions under the auspices of the state Supreme Judicial Court, reimbursed a total of $1.9 million in stolen funds to 57 claimants during fiscal 2007, O’Toole said.According to O’Toole, among those responsible for the thefts were disbarred lawyers Jon F. Conant of Gloucester, who stole $500,000; Morris M. Goldings, formerly of Chestnut Hill, who took $489,183; Brian J. Feeney of Sandwich, who stole $261,847; and Anthony Raoul Bott of East Orleans, who took $258,069.”This was the second time in the board’s history that it paid out over $500,000 on a single claim,” said O’Toole, noting that in 2000, the board paid $695,479 to a client of disbarred attorney Walter Palmer.In the board’s 33-year history, it has reimbursed 1,535 clients a total of more than $30.6 million, according to O’Toole.”Every reimbursed dollar came from Massachusetts lawyers and went to the clients of the minute fraction of Massachusetts lawyers who stole from them,” Board Chairman Peter G. DeGelleke wrote in the organization’s annual report. “The board did this under the unswerving directive of the Supreme Judicial Court to maintain the integrity of the legal profession.”The awards to clients in fiscal 2007 ranged from $450 to $500,000, DeGelleke said. The latter award was the second highest in the board’s history.The board attempts to rectify the wrongful conduct of former attorneys who took advantage of clients, he said. The reimbursement funds are raised through registration fees paid by lawyers in Massachusetts. No taxpayer dollars or other public funds are used, DeGelleke said.