LAFAYETTE, IN — An attorney with offices in Monticello and Lafayette was suspended from practicing law last month for charging disproportionate fees and skimming funds from two clients in estate cases and lying about his misconduct, the Indiana Supreme Court found.
Christopher Paul Phillips represented heirs to two estates, a wife and a grandson, from 2021 to 2024, both without executing a written fee agreement. He charged the clients $150,000 at $500 an hour, purporting 300 total hours of work, a state supreme court ruling reads.
The decedant of one of his clients was himself an heir to another estate before his death, and Phillips collected 40% of that estate’s funds. When the client confronted him about the matter, Phillips said the 40% fee was fixed by law — a lie, the court ruling reads.
While presiding over the estates, Phillips wrote six checks to himself out of the estate values for a total of $135,375 without specifying the legal matter they were associated with. Phillips later connected the checks to specific legal services to “the best of his recollection,” according to the court ruling.
Phillips, who had served as a deputy prosecutor in Monticello, resigned from that office in 2024, according to the office.
The court decided that Phillips would be suspended from practicing law for 120 days, beginning Sept. 11, and an additional 60 days if he violates a probation of at least three years. He will also be monitored by a certified public accountant upon his return to practice.
“(Phillips’) misconduct was serious in numerous respects,” the ruling reads. “(His) dishonesty and selfish motives, the duration of his misconduct and the multiple people harmed by his misconduct are all aggravating factors.”
The court’s punishment was mitigated, however, by Phillips’ record of no prior discipline, completion of legal education pertaining to his actions and the fact he paid his clients from his personal funds, including signing his vehicle over to one of them.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette attorney suspended for overcharging, skimming clients’ funds in two estate cases
Reporting by Staff reports / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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