Discipline Board Yanks Law License of Dickinson Wright Partner
A partner at Dickinson Wright has had his law license revoked after he admitted converting client funds while at a former law firm, the Grand Rapids Press reports.
The lawyer, Carl Oosterhouse, joined Dickinson Wright in 2006 as the new corporate practice director in Grand Rapids. The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board said Oosterhouse had admitted he misappropriated client and law firm funds, the newspaper reports. The wrongdoing occurred when Oosterhouse worked at Varnum Riddering Schmidt & Howlett.
The panel decision said Oosterhouse diverted more than $40,000 in clients’ attorney fees into a shell company he created and submitted invalid expense reports in an amount between $50,000 and $80,000 over a 10-year period, the story says.
Oosterhouse told the newspaper he was “surprised and disappointed” by the panel’s decision and is considering an appeal. He had maintained his actions were the result of mental disabilities that caused him to stop handling details and start referring work to others. A physician had diagnosed depression, attention-deficit disorder, sleep apnea and personality disorders.
The discipline panel acknowledged “considerable evidence” of mental problems but said Oosterhouse was unhappy with Varnum’s compensation system.
“Bonuses were an issue, the ‘socialistic’ and ‘lockstep system’ utilized regarding the partners of equal status was an issue,” the decision said. “There is too much evidence that money was on the mind of [Oosterhouse] in a conscious way, and it appears to the panel that the actions that resulted were not due solely to mental impairment.”
