Belmont, CA 94002-2786
5 December 1999 | Active (24 years, 4 months ago) |
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18 September 1999 | Discipline w/actual suspension 98-C-00012 (24 years, 6 months ago) |
5 December 1998 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (25 years, 4 months ago) Interim suspension after conviction 98-C-00012 |
5 October 1998 | Conviction record transmitted to State Bar Court 98-C-00012 (25 years, 6 months ago) |
6 June 1991 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (32 years, 10 months ago) |
September 17, 1999 BARBARA JEAN KUEHN [#152283], 47, of Burlingame was suspended for three years, stayed, placed on three years of probation with a one-year actual suspension, and was ordered to take the MPRE. Credit toward the actual suspension will be given for an interim suspension which began Dec. 5, 1998. The order took effect Sept. 17, 1999. Kuehn represented a woman in a dissolution in which the family home was sold, profits were to be split 50-50 after payment of debts, and Kuehn was entrusted with the proceeds of the sale. She distributed more than $6,000 of the entrusted funds to herself without obtaining the court’s authorization. As a result, she was charged with, and pleaded no contest to, embezzlement. She agreed to cease practice for one year, home detention for six months, a fine of $3,750, three years of probation and 200 hours of community service.Kuehn was placed on interim suspension last December.In mitigation, she and her bookkeeper assert that the client gave them permission to take the legal fees from her share of the funds. Slightly more than one-half was taken through oversight and a failure to carefully supervise. Kuehn believed at all times that she was acting with her client’s authority to pay her fees.The bar received more than 75 letters attesting to Kuehn’s good character. She was a recipient of a bar pro bono award, and has been an active leader in local and state bar associations.There were claims, supported by witnesses, that a criminal prosecution for a minor embezzlement that would otherwise have been addressed in civil court, was highly unusual. |