Former general counsel of LeClairRyan agrees to disbarment
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Bruce Matson, the former general counsel of the disbanded law firm LeClairRyan, has been disbarred in Virginia after he was accused of misappropriating money from a bankruptcy trust account.
Matson was accused of withdrawing $2.8 million from a wind-down account for LandAmerica and putting the money in personal accounts for himself and another lawyer who assisted with the liquidation. Matson was the trustee for the bankruptcy wind-down.
The Richmond BizSense, Bloomberg Law and Law360 have coverage.
Matson consented to the Nov. 16 disbarment. In an affidavit, Matson said his position is that he disbursed $1 million to himself and $1.5 million to the other lawyer as personal bonuses. He also said he preserved another $341,000 in an escrow account in his name.
The transfers were made last year in January, February and April. LeClairRyan’s partners voted to dissolve the firm in August 2019.
According to Richmond BizSense and Law360, the other lawyer who received the money is a former adviser at Protiviti, a company working on the bankruptcy case that discovered that the money was missing.
