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By stan_sipple

Chief Disciplinary Counsel for the Missouri Supreme Court seeks disbarment for Clayton attorney who was active in Christian public service work for misappropriating client funds. ST Louis Today. Former Supreme Court Justice Ann Covington represents Attorney Belz. Attorney Belz turned himself in nearly five years ago.

"A veteran Clayton attorney who has been active in area religious affairs could lose his law license after the Missouri Supreme Court hears arguments in his case today.Mark Belz admits he took more than $175,000 of his clients' money from 1998 to 2002. He says he was suffering from a mental illness and has made full restitution.

Attorneys from the state Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, which investigates complaints against lawyers, said in legal briefs that they will seek his disbarment. They said standards of the state and the American Bar Association leave no other choice when client money is stolen.

"I self-reported this five years ago to the chief disciplinary counsel," Belz said Wednesday in a brief telephone interview. "We are waiting for the outcome from the court."The proceedings were delayed several times through the years.

Ann K. Covington of Jefferson City, a former judge on the state Supreme Court, and St. Louis attorney R. C. Wuestling represent Belz in requesting probation.

They said in briefs that Belz has the moral support of lawyers with whom he has practiced, two judges, and religious and civic leaders. Moreover, after Belz told families that he stole some of their trust funds, they continued to use him as their lawyer.

Belz, 64, of Kirkwood, has resigned all his positions in the Presbyterian Church in America, a conservative branch of the denomination. He was once its national elected leader, a founder of Westminster Christian Academy in Creve Coeur, a founder of New City Fellowship to improve race relations and a board member of Covenant College.

He has publicly confessed to his congregation members and asked their forgiveness.

But that's not good enough to keep his law license, say Alan D. Pratzel, the chief disciplinary counsel, and Sam S. Phillips, the deputy chief. Since 1985, they said, every lawyer in missing-money cases has been disbarred.

In their briefs, they said Belz "admitted intentionally taking and using over $175,000 in client funds to pay his personal mortgage and office overhead, on more than 30 occasions over a four-year period, knowing it was wrong."

Belz has practiced law in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa for 30 years, specializing in personal injury, probate and trust administration. Court records show he has also represented anti-abortion activists and helped churches in civil disputes with local governments.

His lawyers say he is the attorney of record in 35 opinions from appellate courts, and that he has tried 50 jury trials and 75 bench trials. Martindale-Hubbell, a company that evaluates lawyers, gave him its highest rating.

Covington and Wuestling said Belz has had only three minor complaints, quickly resolved, in his years practicing law.

From 1998 through 2002, however, Belz took money from one estate he managed to make the mortgage payments on his home in Kirkwood, and used money from a second estate to pay the overhead of the Clayton law firm where he was the sole owner and managing partner.

In December 2002, from a hospital bed where he thought he was close to death, Belz told a family member of his misdeeds. He recovered and later admitted the thefts to the half-dozen lawyers in his firm, which was disbanded two months after he reported the matter to the chief disciplinary counsel. No criminal charges were filed.

According to court records, a psychiatrist testified at hearings in 2006 that Belz suffered from the manic stage of bipolar disorder when he took the funds, was continuing to get treatment and is unlikely to do it again.

Pratzel and Phillips said that testimony is not good enough. In a prior case, they said, the high court ruled "that lawyers do not qualify for probation when they misappropriate client funds, even if they successfully recover from a disease that caused the misappropriation."

They concluded that "disbarment is the only sanction adequate to protect the public and maintain the integrity of the legal profession."

Full post as published by Showmeblawgs on April 25, 2008 (boomark / email).