In the Matter of Jared Michael Arrington

In 2013, a lawyer handling a residential real estate closing collected $972.50 from the buyers to buy a title insurance policy protecting the lender, BB&T. He never bought the policy. When the bank asked about it, he promised to send it but never did, and he ignored repeated follow-up requests for more than two years. The bank eventually filed a complaint with the State Bar of Georgia. The State Bar could not personally serve the lawyer with its disciplinary notice because he could not be found, so it served him by publication in a newspaper. He never responded, putting him in default and waiving his right to a hearing. Because his default meant the facts in the Bar's notice were treated as true, the Supreme Court of Georgia found he had abandoned his client's matter, failed to communicate, and improperly kept client funds instead of holding them in trust, and ordered him disbarred.

The court held that an attorney who collects client funds for a specific purpose, fails to use them for that purpose, keeps no trust account for the money, and then ignores the client and the disciplinary process has committed violations warranting disbarment, especially given aggravating factors like dishonesty and selfish motive.

The case shows how Georgia enforces trust-account rules meant to protect real estate buyers' and lenders' money during closings, and demonstrates that lawyers who go silent during Bar investigations face automatic default and the harshest sanction, disbarment.

Disbarred

1. Because the attorney failed to respond after being served by publication, he was in default under State Bar rules, meaning the factual allegations in the Bar's notice were treated as established without a hearing.
2. The court found he violated Rule 1.3 (diligence) by willfully failing to obtain the title insurance policy he was paid for and abandoning the matter and his client.
3. The court found he violated Rule 1.4 (communication) by failing to promptly and accurately tell his client that he had not obtained the title policy despite being paid to do so.
4. The court found he violated Rules 1.15(I) and 1.15(II)(a), which require lawyers to keep client funds in a separate trust account, because he never placed the $972.50 in trust and instead converted it and failed to return it or account for it when asked.
5. Weighing aggravating factors, including acting willfully and with a selfish motive, taking advantage of vulnerable clients, having experience practicing law, and ignoring the disciplinary process, the court compared the case to prior disbarment decisions involving similar client abandonment and concluded disbarment was the appropriate and consistent sanction.

• attorney disbarment
• State Bar of Georgia
• title insurance funds
• client trust account violation
• default disciplinary proceeding