Based on admissions made by Melvin Leon Dansby in a fee arbitration proceeding, the Investigative Panel of the State Disciplinary Board of State Bar of Georgia determined that probable cause existed to charge Dansby with violations of several Standards of Conduct and ordered the State Bar to prepare a Formal Complaint. After Dansby answered and discovery was complete, the State Bar moved for partial summary judgment regarding violations of Standards 65 A and 65 D of Bar Rune 4-102 d. Although Dansby filed a response to the motion, the response was untimely and thus not considered by the special master, who entered an order granting the State Bar’s motion and finding that Dansby violated Standards 65 A a lawyer shall not commingle his client’s funds with his own, and shall not fail to account for trust property, including money and interest paid on the client’s money, if any, held in any fiduciary capacity and 65 D every lawyer who practices law in Georgia and who receives money or property on behalf of a client or in any other fiduciary capacity, shall maintain or have available a trust account; all funds held by a lawyer for a client and all funds held in any other fiduciary capacity shall be deposited in and administered from such account of Bar Rule 4-102 d and recommended that Dansby be disbarred. As neither Dansby nor the State Bar filed a request for review by the Review Panel within 30 days of the filing of the special master’s report pursuant to Bar Rule 4-217 c, both parties are deemed to have waived any right they may have under the rules to file exceptions with or make request for oral argument to this Court.
In February 2000, in a fee arbitration dispute filed by a client, Dansby admitted that he settled a claim for the client; that he did not deposit the proceeds from the settlement into an attorney trust account because he had previously closed the account; that he did not segregate the settlement proceeds from his personal funds; and that on one or more occasions, he paid the client a portion of the settlement proceeds with checks drawn on his law office’s general operating account. We agree with the special master that Dansby, by his actions, violated Standards 65 A and 65 D of Bar Rule 4-102 d. We do not agree, however, that disbarment is warranted.
