Lawyer disbarred for misuse of client funds
Posted by Jane Friedmann @StarTribune.com

The Minnesota Supreme Court disbarred a lawyer who had used at least $750 in client funds to buy illegal drugs.
From March 2006 to January 2007, Juan Jesus Rodriguez worked for Centro Legal Inc., a St. Paul-based organization that provides low-cost legal services. Rodriguez told clients they owed more than their contracts stated and he diverted payments to himself. His license to practice law was suspended in 2008 by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility.

The order disbarring Rodriguez, a Minnesota attorney since 1995, was signed by Justice Alan Page. Justice Paul Anderson wrote a dissenting opinion stating that Rodriguez contacted the court, admitted his misconduct, described himself as a “devoted member of Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous,” and accepted “with gratitude the consequences of [his] addictive behavior.”
Anderson said indefinite suspension would have protected the public as effectively as disbarment and might have provided Rodriguez incentive to recover.

Read the Minnesota Supreme Court order.

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