Maryland Attorney Disbarred for Misappropriating Firm’s Funds

A Maryland attorney who used client funds for personal expenses failed to convince the Maryland Court of Appeals to suspend his license rather than disbar him.

Keith Bonner, who specialized in insurance defense, formed Bonner Kiernan Trebach & Crociata LLP in the Washington, D.C., area with three colleagues in 2001. The attorneys agreed that Bonner would be listed first because of name recognition: His father had represented some of the government actors in the Watergate hearings, the court noted. In 2012, it was discovered that Bonner improperly used the firm’s credit card to pay $3,000 in hotel and restaurant expenses to take his family to Bermuda, the decision issued Thursday said.

A separate investigation revealed Bonner engaged in a “pattern of misconduct” involving improperly submitted expenses.

A hearing judge found that Bonner had wrongly spent nearly $15,000 in firm funds since the Bermuda trip.

The Court of Appeals of Maryland affirmed the uncontested findings of the hearing judge and rejected Bonner’s challenge to the discipline of disbarment, which is consistent with similar cases. Bonner admitted to the violations, but he sought suspension based on mitigating factors, including a lack of prior discipline.

“Here, we determine that Mr. Bonner’s intentional dishonest conduct involving misappropriation does not align itself with the intentional dishonest conduct in cases in which we have imposed a sanction less than disbarment,” the opinion says.

Judge Brynja M. Booth wrote the opinion, joined by Chief Judge Joseph M. Getty and Judges Robert N. McDonald, Shirley M. Watts, Michele D. Hotten, Jonathan Biran, and Steven B. Gould.

Bonner didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg Law’s request for comment Friday.

The case is Att’y Grievance Comm’n of Md. v. Bonner, Md., No. 51, 3/3/22.