Disbarment sought for Dublin lawyer in trust account case

A Dublin lawyer with a halfcentury of experience should be disbarred for misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars from a client trust account, a state disciplinary board has concluded.

Neal “Bud” Magee II should lose his law license, the Board of Professional Conduct recommended to the Ohio Supreme Court after a panel heard fraud and falsification charges against the 76-year-old lawyer.

Magee was charged with taking $682,821 from a client’s trust account worth about $3 million between 2009 and 2013 while also charging $148,839 in excessive trustee fees and $34,310 in legal fees.

Magee, who later returned $415,000 to the account, invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid answering questions during the investigation into his misconduct. He attempted to resign during proceedings but his resignation was rejected. He now is inactive as a lawyer.

The board ordered Magee to pay $312,899 in restitution to the trust and various parties in the case, including other law firms and accountants. The trust ultimately will provide three-fourths of its money to Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation upon its owner’s death.

In another case, the board recommended that the Ohio Supreme Court indefinitely suspend the license of Columbus lawyer David Rieser for accepting excessive legal fees of $108,000 to represent a Mahoning County psychiatrist in a workers’ compensation fraud case that resulted in a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge.

Rieser ultimately should be able to apply for reinstatement if he repays $50,000 in excessive fees to his former client, the board recommended.

The board also recommended that Columbus lawyer Bradley Keating receive a stayed six-month suspension of his law license for failing to pay $4,175 in insurance settlement proceeds to a chiropractor who had treated three clients injured in vehicle crashes.