Indiana Supreme Court disbars Kokomo lawyer who moved abroad

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana Supreme Court has disbarred a Kokomo attorney who is accused of moving to Australia and leaving dozens of his clients bankrupt and without a lawyer.

Bradley Hamilton collected about $58,000 in legal fees from his clients and didn’t tell them he was moving abroad in 2013, according to court records. He did little or no work after receiving retainer fees, and then ignored or lied to some clients about the progress of their bankruptcy cases, the documents show.

Hamilton enlisted another attorney to take over the cases just two day before he left the U.S., bringing most of the money he received from clients with him, and leaving only about $2,000 without indicating which clients the remaining money belonged to, court documents say.

Eleven counts of misconduct were filed against Hamilton by the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.

His license was suspended last year for failing to cooperate with the commission’s disciplinary investigation after he didn’t respond to the action and didn’t appear at any hearings.

Attempts to reach Hamilton weren’t successful, The Indianapolis Star (https://indy.st/1GAw7rT ) reported.

“For a variety of reasons, an attorney may be faced with the need or desire to wind down his or her law practice,” according to the Supreme Court opinion issued Wednesday. “Whatever the reason, the attorney’s ethical obligation to protect clients’ interest is clear.”

An attorney’s obligations to clients include reconciling fee issues, keeping clients up to date on their cases and arranging plans for transferring cases to another attorney.

Hamilton “did virtually none of these before absconding to Australia,” the opinion states. “He did not reconcile his trust account; he looted all but a small portion of it and left behind no records indicating to which client(s) that remaining sum belonged.”

Hamilton began practicing law in 1984, according to the state’s roll of attorneys.

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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, https://www.indystar.com