Legal News

Minneapolis Lawyer Accused of Stealing From Clients

By Nathan Koppel

Michael Margulies, a former partner at a leading Minneapolis law firm, has agreed to be disbarred for stealing up to $2 million from clients, including by double billing and submitting false expense reports.

Margulies (pictured) was fired on March 15 by his firm, the 200-lawyer Lindquist & Vennum.

Here’s an article on Margulies’s travails in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The law firm became suspicious about the real estate lawyer after learning he had double-billed a client; it later found that he had also submitted false expense reports for dinners.

Margulies allegedly used some of the stolen client funds to renovate his home, a 4-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath historic brick mansion that is on the market for $1.75 million, according to a suit filed by one of the attorney’s former clients, the Star Tribune reports.

Margulies’ ethics lawyer, Eric Cooperstein, told the newspaper that his client is “likely” to face federal charges and agreed to the disbarment to minimize fallout on others from his behavior. “It’s very clear he was acting alone,” Cooperstein said. He said fighting disbarment would have been futile because of extensive documentation. “There’s a trail of where money went,” he said.

Margulies’ criminal lawyer declined to comment.

Daryle Uphoff, the managing partner of Lindquist & Vennum, said that Margulies’ dealings went undiscovered because they were done off of the firm’s books and didn’t show up in routine audits.

“He was extremely clever,” Uphoff said. “We are stunned, of course. Dismayed. We’re not aware of any one incident that pushed him over the edge, but apparently this has gone on for a long time.”

“He’s seeking counseling,” Cooperstein said. “He needs to figure out for himself what led to all of this.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 15, 2010 (boomark / email).