The matter before the Court is a lawyer disciplinary proceeding. A panel of the Board on Professional Responsibility (Board) issued its Final Report recommending that the respondent, Samuel Spiller, be disbarred from the practice of law in Delaware due to numerous violations of the Delaware Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct (DLRPC). Spiller filed a letter objecting to the Board’s recommended sanction on several grounds. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) filed a response in opposition to Spiller’s objections. After careful review, we affirm the Board’s findings and adopt its recommendation that Spiller be disbarred.
The Board’s Final Report
ODC filed a petition with the Board to discipline Spiller on eight separate, consolidated matters. Spiller admitted all 55 violations alleged in the petition. All of the allegations of the petition related to failures with respect to residential real estate settlements. A panel of the Board
Having considered the transcript of the hearing and the record below, we find the Board’s undisputed findings of fact to be supported by the record. We adopt the factual findings contained in the Board’s Final Report, which is attached to this opinion, and we incorporate them by reference. The following is a summary of the Board’s relevant findings of facts:
Spiller was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1960. At all times relevant to ODC’s petition, Spiller was a solo practitioner who limited his practice to real estate settlements. In 1997, this Court publicly reprimanded Spiller and placed him on a two-year period of disciplinary probation for failing to maintain his books and records properly.
The allegations in ODC’s petition arose from several different real estate transactions that Spiller had not properly completed. Most of the cases involved residential real estate settlements in which monies were distributed at the settlement hearing and checks were dishonored. An audit of Spiller’s books and records revealed that the complaints against Spiller were caused by: (1) Spiller’s failure to reconcile his bank accounts on a regular basis; (2) Spiller’s deposit of funds in an inactive account, which caused settlement checks to bounce; and (3) Spiller’s failure to determine whether monies had been wired into the proper account, or at all, before issuing checks dependent upon the wired monies. The receiver testified that Spiller’s practice was “organizational chaos.”
Although Spiller’s bank later honored many of the bounced checks (after several attempts, in some cases), there were a number of checks that Spiller’s bank never honored. In all, Ticor Title Insurance Company paid $337,049.56 for mortgage payoffs arising from settlements in which funds were never available from Spiller’s account. In addition to Spiller’s financial difficulties, the receiver discovered approximately 294 documents, including deeds, mortgages, and satisfaction pieces that Spiller had not recorded and many that Spiller had not notarized. Ticor also paid $59,456 for unpaid real estate document recording fees, taxes, and other transaction fees.
The total approximate shortfall in Spiller’s real estate accounts was $603,263.
After considering all of the evidence, the Board found that Spiller had violated numerous professional duties, including: (i) failing to maintain his accounts in a competent manner;
The Board found that Spiller knew or should have known that his conduct was improper and that Spiller’s misconduct had caused significant harm to his clients and the public. The Board concluded that more serious harm was averted only through the “extraordinary efforts” of the receiver.
The Board considered all of the aggravating circumstances, including Spiller’s substantial experience as a lawyer, his prior disciplinary record, and his pattern of misconduct. The Board also considered all of the mitigating circumstances, including Spiller’s lack of selfish motive, his efforts to cure his practice difficulties, and the role played by American Residential Mortgage in contributing to Spiller’s difficulties. After balancing all of the factors, the Board concluded that disbarment was the only appropriate sanction.
Spiller’s Contentions
Spiller does not dispute any of the Board’s factual findings. Spiller, however, does object to the Board’s recommended sanction of disbarment on the following grounds: (1) the Board did not give sufficient weight to the absence of a disciplinary record during Spiller’s many years of practice before his public reprimand and probation in 1997; (b) the Board did not give sufficient weight to the “severe mental stress” that he was experiencing during the relevant time period, which was caused by “inadequate staffing,” and instead gave greater weight to the “mismanagement [itself] rather than the fact that stress caused the mismanagement;” (c) the Board did not give sufficient weight to Spiller’s age, which he asserts was “a major factor in the mismanagement” of his practice; (4) Spiller’s “inadequate staffing created chaotic conditions and time pressures which [he] was, eventually, unable to cope with;” and (5) there was no “hint of impropriety” on his part, although he was “guilty of gross negligence.” For these reasons, Spiller requests to be placed on permanent inactive status with no chance of reinstatement.
Standard and Scope of Review Appropriate Sanction
Because the Board’s factual findings are undisputed, our only task is to consider the appropriateness of the Board’s recommended sanction.
In this case, we find that ABA Standard 4.41(c) compels the conclusion that disbarment is the only appropriate sanction for Spiller. Standard 4.41(c) provides that disbarment is generally appropriate when a lawyer has engaged “in a pattern of neglect with respect to client matters and [has caused] serious or potentially serious injury to a client.”
Although Spiller may not have intentionally converted the property of others, the record is clear that Spiller knew he was failing to provide the most fundamental services to his real estate clients and that his failings would result in harm to his clients and/or to others. As the Board found, Spiller “chose to continue a practice when he knew that he had inadequate staffing, inadequate time of his own, and which he certainly must have known would have caused damage to the public if all of the monies were not properly disbursed and all the documents not properly recorded.”
Furthermore, contrary to Spiller’s contentions, we find that the Board considered all of the evidence presented in aggravation and mitigation and appropriately concluded that the mitigating factors did not warrant the imposition of a lesser sanction. In Spiller’s case, the aggravating factors included Spiller’s substantial experience in the practice of law,
In mitigation, the Board found that Spiller’s misconduct was not the result of a dishonest or selfish motive.
In sum, we agree with the Board’s implicit conclusion that the mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the substantial aggravating circumstances in this case. Spiller was on probation imposed for similar disciplinary violations when he committed the numerous violations now at issue. Spiller failed to comply with the conditions of his probation and ignored his professional duties to his clients, which resulted in substantial harm to his clients and others. He has proven himself unable or unwilling to conform his conduct to the standards expected of a Delaware lawyer. This Court concludes that disbarment is the only appropriate remedy to protect the public and to preserve the integrity of the legal profession.
Conclusion
The Board’s recommended sanction is accepted. It is hereby ordered that Samuel Spiller be disbarred from membership in the Delaware Bar. His name shall be stricken immediately from the roll of attorneys entitled to practice before the courts of this State.
. In re Spiller, Del.Supr., 696 A.2d 398, Hartnett, J. (1997) (ORDER).
. The amount is approximate because Spiller's real estate settlement account could not be reconciled due to 20 missing settlement files.
.New America Financial, Inc. subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection.
. Delaware Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.1.
. Id. Rule 1.3.
. Id. Rule 1.15(a).
. Id. Rule 1.15(b).
. Id. Rule 1.15(d).
. Id. Rule 1.15(h).
. In re Dorsey, Del.Supr., 683 A.2d 1046, 1048 (1996).
. In re Mekler, Del.Supr., 669 A.2d 655, 668 (1995).
. In re Maguire, Del.Supr., 725 A.2d 417, 423 (1999).
. In re Benge, Del.Supr., 754 A.2d 871, 879 (2000).
. In re Reardon, Del.Supr., 759 A.2d 568, 575 (2000) (citing ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, Theoretical Framework (1986 and as amended 1992)).
. ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions Standard 4.41(c) (1986).
. Id. Standard 9.22(i).
. Id. Standard 9.22(c).
. Id. Standard 9.22(d).
. Id. Standard 9.22(a).
. Id. Standard 9.32(b).
. Id. Standard 9.32(h).
