In the Matter of William Keith McGowan

An attorney's client was injured in a car accident and hired him because he was a longtime friend of her husband. He settled her case for $30,000 and deposited the money into his trust account, but then transferred nearly all of it into his own operating account without her knowledge, falsely telling her he was negotiating with her health insurer over a lien on the money. After the client tried repeatedly to get her share, including sending a certified letter McGowan refused to accept, she filed a complaint with the State Bar. McGowan never filed a proper response to the Bar's investigation or a formal answer to the resulting complaint, so he was found in default, meaning the allegations against him were treated as true. A special master recommended disbarment, and the Supreme Court of Georgia agreed, ordering him removed from the practice of law in Georgia.

An attorney who intentionally converts a client's settlement funds for personal use, misleads the client and disciplinary authorities about it, and fails to respond to the Bar's investigation violates multiple rules of professional conduct, including the duty to safeguard client funds, warranting disbarment.

The ruling reinforces that Georgia lawyers who take client settlement money for themselves and mislead clients and the State Bar face permanent removal from practice, protecting clients who trust attorneys to safeguard settlement funds owed to them and to third parties like medical insurers.

Disbarred

1. Because McGowan defaulted by failing to answer the Bar's formal complaint, all the factual allegations against him, including that he secretly transferred his client's $30,000 settlement into his own account, were deemed admitted.
2. The Special Master applied the ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, a framework courts use to weigh the duty violated, the lawyer's mental state, the harm caused, and any aggravating or mitigating factors in choosing discipline.
3. Under that framework, the court found McGowan acted knowingly and intentionally, caused significant financial harm by leaving his client to drain her own savings for medical bills, and undermined public trust in the legal profession.
4. The court identified multiple aggravating factors, including a dishonest motive, a pattern of misleading the client, false statements made during the disciplinary process, refusal to admit wrongdoing, substantial experience practicing law since 1992, and no restitution paid, against only one mitigating factor, his lack of prior discipline.
5. Comparing this case to prior Georgia disbarment decisions involving attorneys who similarly converted settlement funds and misled clients or the Bar, the court concluded disbarment was the consistent and appropriate sanction here.

• attorney disbarment
• settlement funds
• trust account violations
• State Bar complaint
• default judgment