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Jeffrey A. Meehan (WSBA No. 18295, admitted 1988), of Vancouver, has been disbarred by order of the Supreme Court effective June 20, 2001, following a stipulation. The discipline is based upon his submitting documents to the bankruptcy court in 1996 that misrepresented the amount of work done.
In 1996, Mr. Meehan’s firm represented a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee. Mr. Meehan, an experienced bankruptcy attorney, was the primary attorney of record. As required by the bankruptcy code, Mr. Meehan submitted fee applications to the court for his compensation. The fee applications falsely represented to the court that work done by word processors and clerks was done by paralegals and paralegal assistants. Mr. Meehan edited the word-processor time records and changed some of their entries, for example, "transcribe" to "draft," "finalize" or "analyze." The law firm received interim fees and costs of $62,616.89. A creditor filed an objection to the final fee application, alleging work performed by word processors was misrepresented as paralegal work. The bankruptcy court held two evidentiary hearings and entered a finding that Mr. Meehan knew that word-processor work was not compensable and, therefore, made a conscious decision to request compensation for services that were not compensable.
Mr. Meehan’s conduct violated RPCs 3.3(a), prohibiting making false statements of material fact or offering false evidence to a tribunal; 3.4(b), prohibiting falsifying evidence; and 8.4(d), prohibiting engaging in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Jonathan Burke represented the Bar Association. Christopher Hardman represented Mr. Meehan.
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