Larry David Routtenberg

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Larry D. Routtenberg admitted professional misconduct under a Rule 3-7.1 consent agreement for, in September 2019, on 19 occasions improperly withdrawing residual client trust balances totaling $1,055.12 ($5 to $250 each) to clear aged trust balances before a compliance audit, and for withdrawing trust funds without first delivering bills to clients. He acted in haste and without proper understanding of trust rules, did not personally benefit, and returned the funds when alerted. No express finding of dishonesty was made. He agreed to a 10-week suspension and a two-year undertaking not to handle trust money or transactions.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Prior professional conduct record (2013 conduct review for failing to properly dispose of confidential files)
• Nineteen instances of improper trust withdrawals

Mitigating factors:

• Did not personally benefit from the misconduct
• Immediately returned funds to trust when alerted during compliance audit
• Remorseful and apologized
• Acknowledged misconduct early and cooperated with investigation
• Suffering from health issues at the time, scheduled for surgery
• Lacked proper understanding of trust accounting rules at the time