A former Aurora attorney has lost his law license for three years and opted for retirement following revelations that he spent more than $28,000 of a client’s money.
Paul Amundson, who had practiced law since 1983 and done so in Colorado since 1996, lost his license Tuesday as part of an agreement with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel.
Amundson was hired by a Castle Rock man, Christopher Read, in 2019 to handle Read’s divorce. The Reads had agreed to sell their house and split the money, about $77,000. With the divorce case pending, that money was placed in a bank account by Amundson.
Paul Amundson has retired after his law license was suspended for three years. (Photo via Avvo)
When the divorce was finalized in September 2020 and it came time for Amundson to pay the Reads, it was revealed that he had been taking money from the account to pay himself and cover his law firm’s bills. Read’s ex-wife was given her half but Read was not.
“I confess to everything. I owe him the money. I confess to that,” Amundson said during a hearing in June before the state’s disciplinary judge.
Amundson claims that he didn’t know attorneys are prohibited from spending clients’ money being held in trust accounts. He called it “bad bookkeeping” and said he didn’t realize he was draining the account dry. At that time, he still owed Read $21,500.
“I’m retiring from the practice of law,” Amundson said then. “I knew that I would ultimately get disbarred. I accept that I will eventually be disbarred for this.”
Amundson explained that his business struggled before he took the Read case. He bounced some checks and banks closed his accounts. So, he used his clients’ trust account as his firm’s operating account, depositing and withdrawing accordingly.
Investigators determined that Amundson wrote himself 43 checks and made 59 withdrawals from the trust, which held the money of Read and other clients, between April 2020 and February 2022. Amundson testified that he used it to pay for office supplies, advertising, phone bills and internet service at his small, single-lawyer law firm.
Read was fully repaid this July, nearly two years after he was supposed to be paid his half of the divorce settlement. Read had hired Amundson because the two knew each other from Boy Scouts in the early 2000s. Read was friends with Amundson’s son.
During the divorce, Read made plans to buy a home with his half of the money. Instead, without the money, he moved in with his parents and watched helplessly as housing prices soared. He testified in June that Read’s misdeeds limit his odds of ever owning a home.
Reached by phone Thursday, Amundson said that he has retired and closed his law firm.
“I would reiterate that nobody lost any money,” Amundson said in his defense. “I did not take anybody’s money. Everyone got what they were entitled to get back.”
Though he predicted he would be disbarred, Amundson was instead suspended for three years. Prosecutors noted it was Amundson’s first rule violation in his long career, that he had cancer at the time, that he was remorseful and had repaid Read.
“It was bad business,” Amundson said at the June hearing, “but it wasn’t a deliberate attempt to simply take all his money and deprive him of it. It was just a mistake. I honestly admit the mistake and I should be punished for it. I will take that punishment.”
A former Aurora attorney has lost his law license for three years and opted for retirement following revelations that he spent more than $28,000 of a client’s money.
Paul Amundson, who had practiced law since 1983 and done so in Colorado since 1996, lost his license Tuesday as part of an agreement with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel.
Amundson was hired by a Castle Rock man, Christopher Read, in 2019 to handle Read’s divorce. The Reads had agreed to sell their house and split the money, about $77,000. With the divorce case pending, that money was placed in a bank account by Amundson.
Paul Amundson has retired after his law license was suspended for three years. (Photo via Avvo)
When the divorce was finalized in September 2020 and it came time for Amundson to pay the Reads, it was revealed that he had been taking money from the account to pay himself and cover his law firm’s bills. Read’s ex-wife was given her half but Read was not.
“I confess to everything. I owe him the money. I confess to that,” Amundson said during a hearing in June before the state’s disciplinary judge.
Amundson claims that he didn’t know attorneys are prohibited from spending clients’ money being held in trust accounts. He called it “bad bookkeeping” and said he didn’t realize he was draining the account dry. At that time, he still owed Read $21,500.
“I’m retiring from the practice of law,” Amundson said then. “I knew that I would ultimately get disbarred. I accept that I will eventually be disbarred for this.”
Amundson explained that his business struggled before he took the Read case. He bounced some checks and banks closed his accounts. So, he used his clients’ trust account as his firm’s operating account, depositing and withdrawing accordingly.
Investigators determined that Amundson wrote himself 43 checks and made 59 withdrawals from the trust, which held the money of Read and other clients, between April 2020 and February 2022. Amundson testified that he used it to pay for office supplies, advertising, phone bills and internet service at his small, single-lawyer law firm.
Read was fully repaid this July, nearly two years after he was supposed to be paid his half of the divorce settlement. Read had hired Amundson because the two knew each other from Boy Scouts in the early 2000s. Read was friends with Amundson’s son.
During the divorce, Read made plans to buy a home with his half of the money. Instead, without the money, he moved in with his parents and watched helplessly as housing prices soared. He testified in June that Read’s misdeeds limit his odds of ever owning a home.
Reached by phone Thursday, Amundson said that he has retired and closed his law firm.
“I would reiterate that nobody lost any money,” Amundson said in his defense. “I did not take anybody’s money. Everyone got what they were entitled to get back.”
Though he predicted he would be disbarred, Amundson was instead suspended for three years. Prosecutors noted it was Amundson’s first rule violation in his long career, that he had cancer at the time, that he was remorseful and had repaid Read.
“It was bad business,” Amundson said at the June hearing, “but it wasn’t a deliberate attempt to simply take all his money and deprive him of it. It was just a mistake. I honestly admit the mistake and I should be punished for it. I will take that punishment.”
