MEMBERS REV. MICHAEL MURRAY CHAIRPERSON JONATHAN E. LAUDERBACH VICE·CHAIRPERSON BARBARA WILLIAMS FORNEY
SECRETARY JAMES A. FINK JOHN W. INHULSEN KAREN D. O'DONOGHUE
STATE OF MICHIGAN ATTORNEY DISCIPLINE BOARD
MARK A. ARMITAGE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
WENDY A. NEELEY DEPUTY DIRECTOR
KAREN M. DALEY ASSOCIATE COUNSEL
SHERRY L. MIFSUD OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR
ALLYSON M. PLOURDE CASE MANAGER
MICHAEL B. RIZIK, JR.
LINDA S. HOTCHKISS, MD ANNA FRUSHOUR
333 WEST FORT STREET, SUITE 1700
CETROIT, MICHIGAN 48226-3147 PHONE: 313·963·5553 I FAX: 313·963·5571
OWEN R. MONTGOMERY CASE MANAGER
JULIE M. LOISELLE RECEPTION/STISECRETARY
NOTICE OF DISBARMENT AND RESTITUTION
Case No. 17-156-GA
Notice Issued: July 24, 2019
Julian M. levant, P 16592, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, by the Attorney Discipline Board Tri County Hearing Panel #77.
Disbarment, Effective July 20, 2019
Based on respondent's default and the evidence presented at the hearing, the hearing panel found that respondent committed professional misconduct by, among other things, commingling, converting and misappropriating his clients' funds in four separate counts of the Formal Complaint.
The panel found that respondent failed to provide competent representation to his clients, in violation of MRPC 1.1; neglected legal matters entrusted to him, in violation of MRPC 1.1( c); failed to seek the lawful objectives of his clients through reasonably available means permitted by law and the rules of the court and rules of professional conduct, in violation of MRPC 1.2(a); failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing his clients, in violation ofMRPC 1.3; failed to keep his clients reasonably informed about the status of their matters and to comply prom ptly with reasonably requests for information, in violation of MRPC 1.4(a); failed to explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the clients to make informed decisions regarding their representation, in violation ofMRPC 1.4(b); failed to promptly payout or deliver funds that a third person was entitled to receive and failed to promptly render a full accounting of such funds, in violation of MRPC 1.15(b)(3); failed to promptly deliver funds to his client that the client was entitled to receive and failed to promptly render a full accounting of such funds, in violation of MRPC 1.15(b)(3); failed to appropriately safeguard client and third party funds by failing to maintain them in an IOlT A and/or client trust account, in violation of MRPC 1.15(d); converted and/or misappropriated the funds provided to him by his clients, for the purpose of paying the client's judgment owed to a third person, in violation of MRPC 1.15(d); converted and/or misappropriated the funds provided to him by his client for the specific purpose of safekeeping from a disputed creditor, in violation of MRPC 1.15(d); and held client and/or third person funds in a business operating account, not in an IOlT A or non-IOlT A client trust account, and commingled said funds with his own, in violation of MRPC 1.15(a)(3); 1.15(d); and, 1.15(f). Respondent was also found to have violated MCR 9.104(1)-(3) and MRPC 8.4(b) and (c).
The panel ordered that respondent be disbarred from the practice of law in Michigan and that he be required to pay restitution in the total amount of $75,630.00. Costs were assessed in the amount of $4,904.25. a
Mark A. Armitage Executive Director