Bad Lawyers

N.J. Supreme Court Disbars Attorney

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By Amanda Griffin

Posted on November 18, 2016

money

Summary: New Jersey attorney Walter N. Wilson was disbarred after 30 years as being an attorney after serious misuses of client funds were discovered.

After being in practice for nearly 30 years, a Hunterdon County attorney has been disbarred. The New Jersey Supreme Court disbarred Walter N. Wilson for misusing his clients’ funds. Wilson’s license was suspended in January 2015 for failing to supply the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics with information regarding client and attorney trust accounts.

Wilson had a law office in the Annandale section of the township. He had been practicing since 1980. He was representing Hunterdon Humane Animal Shelter Inc. in a civil lawsuit over control of the group when they suspended his license.

The state supreme court voted 8 to 1 to disbar him for an eight-count ethics complaint. The court wrote, “The record clearly establishes that respondent systemically helped himself to trust funds either to suit his own personal needs or those of other clients or third parties. What is clear is that he did so shamelessly, without authorization, and to be substantial detriment of those clients and third parties. For this, he must be disbarred.”

A client of his filed a grievance in 2012. The grievance was settled but the Office of Attorney Ethics wanted more information that they never received from him. In the original complaint there were seven reports of times when Wilson misused funds and mishandled their interests such as with property transactions and funding trust accounts.

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Wilson was serving as a trustee for the Alexandria Township animal shelter after shelter director Theresa “Tee” Carlson was charged with 18 counts of animal cruelty. The New Jersey SPCA took over temporarily and the shelter has since closed. Carlson’s charges were later dropped through a plea deal. He acted as the vice president when Carlson was president.

Do you think his punishment was fair? Tell us in the comments below.