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Rick Adams is the owner of the Allstate Law Center, P.C., a law firm specializing in bankruptcy matters. In one client matter, Adams agreed to prepare and file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. He had the client sign a flat-fee agreement stating the client’s retainer was non-returnable and earned on receipt. He placed all but $200 of the client’s fee into his operating account. After that, he failed to prepare and file a bankruptcy petition, and he abandoned the client and her legal matter by not completing tasks for which he was hired, according to a disciplinary opinion. Though Adams didn’t earn any of the funds the client paid, he failed to promptly return her unearned fees, knowingly converting her funds.
In a second client matter, Adams signed a flat-fee agreement with a client in early 2020 to handle a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The fee agreement set forth benchmarks. The client asked Adams to place the case on hold until March 2022, when she attempted to contact him to ask him to file a petition. The client also visited the firm’s physical office space, which she discovered was vacant. In June 2022, Adams and the client spoke on the phone. He informed her his license was suspended but nonetheless volunteered to file her case. The client asked for her money back. Adams didn’t communicate any further with the client and didn’t complete the benchmarks in the fee agreement. Adams hasn’t issued a refund, even though he knew he hadn’t earned a substantial amount of the client’s advance fee, according to the opinion.
In a third client matter, a client retained Adams to prepare, file, and assist with a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The agreement provided a “base portion of the fee” was a flat fee, which the agreement described as “nonreturnable” and “earned on receipt.” The fee agreement provided that fees would not be deposited into the firm’s trust account. Adams placed the client’s money — including money to cover filing fees — in his operating account, even though he hadn’t completed work required to earn the fees, according to the opinion. The client scheduled two calls for updates on his case, but no one at the firm called the client at the scheduled times. The client also emailed Adams asking for communication, but the client never heard anything further. Adams never filed a bankruptcy petition for the client and never paid a filing fee to file a bankruptcy petition, but Adams didn’t refund the client any money.
The Presiding Disciplinary Judge approved Adams’s stipulation to discipline and disbarred him effective May 24.