This disciplinary matter is before the court on the petition for voluntary discipline filed by Respondent Susan Michele Brown State Bar No. 090043 before the issuance of a formal complaint, see Bar Rule 4-227 b. Brown seeks the imposition of discipline for conduct involving two separate matters and although she requests a Review Panel reprimand, she agrees to accept a suspension of up to one year in length. In addition, Brown agrees to consult with the State Bar Law Practice Management Program and to follow its recommendations concerning her law practice. The State Bar has responded, indicating that while it does not oppose Brown’s petition, it believes that a six-month suspension is an appropriate discipline given Brown’s experience in the practice of law.
In her petition, Brown, who has been a member of the State Bar since 1997, admits that she represented the wife in a divorce action, that she was required to hold funds generated by the sale of property during the divorce in trust, and that, although she held the funds segregated from her own, she failed to do so within her trust account. She further admits that she delayed in distributing that portion of the funds that she held which were due to the husband at the conclusion of the divorce proceedings because her client wished to ensure that the husband fulfilled his responsibility to pay certain debts assigned to him prior to releasing the funds. The husband’s subsequent contempt action was resolved by a consent order which required Brown to disburse the disputed funds to the husband’s counsel to be held in trust until the husband complied with certain conditions. Brown promptly disbursed the amount of the disputed funds from her trust account, using money she deposited there that she had earned through fees charged to other clients. The check she used, however, failed to indicate that it was drawn on a trust account.
