Atty. Joan M. Boyd represented Mr. and Mrs. John Arndt, Sr. in a chapter 13 bankruptcy case. The matter was converted to a chapter 7 petition midway through the case. Consequently, the trustee was left holding funds that had been paid by the Arndts that could no longer be distributed to creditors. In late May, 1999, the trustee returned the funds by sending to Boyd a check for $1,013.06 that was made payable to the Arndts.

Atty. Boyd left several messages with the Arndts that she was holding the refund check, pending the settlement of her attorneys fees, and she asked them to come in and pick up the check. Boyd had charged a $1,000 fee for the bankruptcy case. The Arndts had paid only $500. Mr. Arndt left several strongly-worded messages with Boyd's staff that he was not going to pay her any more money. Boyd indicates that she and her staff were afraid of Mr. Arndt.

On June 9, 1999, Atty. Boyd signed the Arndts' endorsements on the back of the trustee's check and arranged to deposit the funds into a checking account that is administered by an accounting firm on Boyd's behalf. Boyd did not maintain a trust account. From June 9, 1999 through July 28, 1999, when Boyd returned the funds to the Arndts, there were nine days in which the checking account balance was below the amount of the trustee's check. Boyd's account was overdrawn on July 18 and July 20, 1999; the highest overdraft reached almost $400.

Atty. Boyd continued to represent the Arndts in the chapter 7 case. At a meeting of creditors in late June, 1999, Mr. Arndt inquired about the chapter 13 funds. Boyd replied that it would be taken care of with the attorney fees.

On July 28, 1999, the Arndts asked the trustee's office about the chapter 13 funds and were told that the refund check had been endorsed and cashed in June. When Mrs. Arndt denied having endorsed the check, the trustee's staff member called Atty. Boyd and asked if the debtors had, in fact, signed the back of the check. Boyd replied that the Arndts had signed the check and that the matter was taken care of.

That same day, the Arndts contacted Atty. Boyd, who admitted that she had written their names on the back of the check. Boyd immediately issued a check to the Arndts for the full amount of $1,013.06. The Arndts' bankruptcy was completed in September, 1999.

Atty. Boyd acknowledged her misconduct. Boyd suffers from a cyclothymic disorder, which is similar to bi-polar or manic depressive disorder. She had discontinued taking anti-depressant medication during the time period when she was representing the Arndts. Boyd believes the absence of medication contributed to an over-reaction on her part to Mr. Arndt's refusal to pay the remainder of her fee.

The Board concluded that by signing her clients' names and making an endorsement payable to herself on the check that was payable to her clients and by depositing the funds into a personal checking account, all without the knowledge or consent of the clients, Atty. Boyd violated SCR 20:8.4(c), which proscribes dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. The Board found that Boyd failed to hold in trust, separate from her own property, that property of clients and third persons that was in Boyd's possession in connection with a representation or when acting in a fiduciary capacity, contrary to SCR 20:1.15(a). The Board also found that in spending the entire proceeds of the check that she had received on behalf of her clients, Boyd violated SCR 20:1.15(d), which provides that when a lawyer is in possession of property in which both the lawyer and another person claim interests, the property shall be treated by the lawyer as trust property until there is an accounting and severance of their interests. Finally, the Board found that Boyd engaged in misrepresentation, contrary to SCR 20:8.4(c), when she told the trustee's staff member that the debtors had endorsed the trustee's check and that the matter had been taken care of, when, in fact, Boyd had signed the debtors' names on the check and made the endorsement payable to herself.

Atty. Boyd was an inexperienced sole practitioner, and she had not maintained a trust account because she believed her areas of practice did not require one. Ms. Boyd has recently opened a client trust account.

In accordance with SCR 21.09(2), the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility does hereby publicly reprimand Atty. Joan M. Boyd of Shawano, Wisconsin, with the conditions that Ms. Boyd be required to maintain a client trust account as long as she is in private practice; that she continue to use an accounting firm to handle her finances; that she continue with a treatment regimen as prescribed by her physician; and that she attend a continuing legal education seminar on the use and requirements of trust accounts within six months of imposition of the public reprimand.