On Thursday, September 5, 2024, the Supreme Court of New Jersey censured attorney Douglas Clay Anton for violating multiple Rules of Professional Conduct.
The case is entitled “In the Matter of Douglas Clay Anton,” with case no. 088268.
The charges cited New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct 1.8(a), 1.8(e), 1.15(a), 1.15(d), 8.1 (b), and 8.4(c).
The censure stemmed from Anton’s representation of clients and recordkeeping deficiencies. According to the Disciplinary Review Board’s May 26, 2023 letter, Anton made a $1,000 loan to a client in financial need in 2016 without following proper safeguards. In another matter, the respondent submitted a certification to a trial court purportedly completed by his legal secretary, Carol Medina. This certification was submitted in opposition to a summary judgment motion filed against the respondent’s client, which alleged that the respondent had failed to answer requests for admissions.
An audit in December 2018 found that Anton had incomplete client ledgers, debit account balances, failed to prepare attorney trust account, had inactive trust ledger balances in the ATA, failed to maintain a separate ledger for each client, had unidentified funds of at least $181,561.30, earned fees languishing in the ATA constituting commingling, failued to prepare attorney business account (ABA) receipts journal, failed to prepare ATA reconciliations, and failed to maintain ATA and ABA records for seven years.
The Review Board determined Anton violated prohibitions against improper business transactions with clients, misuse of trust funds, and dishonest conduct, as well as multiple recordkeeping and cooperation rules. However, it dismissed one business transaction charge as duplicative and considered various mitigating factors, like his clean disciplinary history spanning nearly 30 years.
Given the nature and number of ethics violations, the Review Board recommended a censure.
The Supreme Court adopted this sanction in its September 5, 2024 order along with a requirement that Anton submit monthly account reconciliations to the Office of Attorney Ethics for two years.
According to avvo.com, Mr. Anton is an entertainment attorney in Hackensack, New Jersey. He acquired his law license in New Jersey in 1995.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
