MEMBERS LOUANN VAN DER WIELE CHAIRPERSON REV. MICHAEL MURRAY VICE-CHAIRPERSON DULCE M. FULLER SECRETARY JAMES A. FINK JOHN W. INHULSEN JONATHAN E. LAUDERBACH BARBARA WILLIAMS FORNEY
KAREN D. O'DONOGHUE MICHAEL B. RIZIK, JR.
STATE OF MICHIGAN ATTORNEY DISCIPLINE BOARD
211 WEST FORT STREET, SUITE 1410 DETROIT, MICHIGAN 48226-3236 PHONE: 313-963-5553 I FAX: 313-963-5571
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
OWEN R. MONTGOMERY CASE MANAGER JULIE M. LOISELLE RECEPTIONISTISECRETARY
NOTICE OF SUSPENSION (By Consent)
Case No. 17-56-GA Notice Issued: July 10, 2017
Dirk Marinus Roskam, P 62988, Celebration, Florida, by the Attorney Discipline Board Kent County Hearing Panel #5.
Suspension - 179 Days, Effective July 7,2017. The respondent and the Grievance Administrator filed a stipulation for a consent order of discipline, in accordance with MCR 9.115(F)(5), which was approved by the Attorney Grievance
Commission and accepted by the hearing panel. The stipulation contains respondent's admission that he committed acts of professional misconduct by engaging in various IOlTA violations and by failing to ensure that an employee's conduct, a non-lawyer who later became a lawyer, conformed to the Rules of Professional Conduct.
Based upon respondent's admissions and the stipulation of the parties, the panel found that respondent withdrew and disbursed funds from his IOlTA on behalf of clients that were in excess of said client's funds deposited in the IOlTA, in violation of MRPC 1.15(b)(3); failed to identify and appropriately safeguard the funds of clients on deposit in his IOlTA from other client's disbursements, in violation of MRPC 1.15(d); failed to keep the funds of clients and/orthird persons held in his IOlTA in connection with a representation separate from his own, in violation of MRPC 1.15(d); maintained on deposit in an IOlTA his own funds in an amount more than reasonably necessary to pay financial institution charges or fees, in violation of MRPC 1.15(f); having direct supervisory authority over an employee who was initially a non-lawyer, but who eventually became one, failed to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the employee, first as a non-lawyer, and then
later as a lawyer, conformed to the Rules of Professional Conduct, in violation of MRPC 5.1 (b) and/or 5.3(b); and ordered, or with knowledge of the relevant facts and actions of the subordinate non-lawyer who eventually became a lawyer, ratified the conduct involved, orfailed to take remedial
action notwithstanding having knowledge of the conduct at the time when its consequences could have been avoided, in violation of MRPC 5.1(c)(1) and (2) and MRPC 5.3(c)(1) and (2).
Respondent was also found to have violated MCR 9.104(2)-(4).
In accordance with the stipulation of the parties, the hearing panel ordered that respondent's license to practice law in Michigan be suspended for 179 days effective July 7,2017.
~re;e~tof$1'177.54.
Mark A. Armitage Executive Director