A Southern California attorney faces disbarment after the California State Bar filed disciplinary charges against him alleging he misappropriated up to $282 million in client fees from up to 60,000 clients.
Mr. March, who started practicing law in the state in 1982, owns and operates a practice that specializes in debtor rights. The group gets flat fees from clients for services.
The State Bar filed disciplinary charges against Mr. March in February, claiming he entered into agreements with up to 60,000 clients, charging them a flat fee to be paid in monthly installments. Each fee agreement promised clients a refund if their debts were not canceled.
The State Bar claims Mr. March collected $78 million to $282 million in advanced fees as a result of the agreements. Mr. March is accused of not keeping the fees in a trust account.
“Advanced fees were either not deposited in a trust account, or were held in trust for approximately one day,” the State Bar wrote in the disciplinary filing. “Respondent had not earned the fees when he collected the fees or removed them from a trust account.”
Mr. March testified in his own bankruptcy proceedings that his firm did not hold money on behalf of clients.
In March 2023, Mr. March filed for bankruptcy and declared under oath that his firm had taken in $282 million in revenue and currently had cash assets of $4,500, according to the State Bar. One of his trust accounts showed a balance of $1,500 and the other was $986 in debt.
Failing to keep the client funds in a trust was a “willful violation of Rules of Professional Conduct,” according to the State Bar. The violation could meet the bar’s standard of grossly negligent conduct.
Mr. March was charged with committing an “intentional misappropriation,” the bar wrote in the disciplinary filing.
Many of Mr. March’s clients submitted their flat fees through a debit card. The debits were handled by automated clearinghouse providers—or batches of electronic debit transfers. The transfer service was owned and controlled by Mr. March’s employee, attorney Tony Diab, who was previously disbarred, according to the State Bar.
The State Bar alleges Mr. March’s failure to hold $78.8 million in the trust account from March 2020 to September 2021 violated the bar’s business and professions code.
Mr. March was admitted into the State Bar in 1982 and was the CEO, treasurer, sole board member, sole shareholder, and managing partner of Litigation Practice Group, according to the state bar.
His clients have included AllState Insurance Company, national restaurant chains, and movie studios, according to the bio.
Mr. March did not return a request for comment.
