Defense attorney suspended three years for spending clients’ cash

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The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel is an independent office of the Colorado Supreme Court, whose building is seen here. (Denver Post file photo)

A Denver defense attorney will soon lose his law license for three years after admitting that he used more than $70,000 in client cash to pay his bills and those of his law firm.

Adam Tucker, a Sturm College of Law alum who has been practicing in Colorado for 22 years, has until June 13 to wrap up dozens of client matters and begin his suspension.

“The sanction was unnecessary and was excessive based on his conduct,” his attorney, David Kaplan with the Denver firm Stimson LaBranche Hubbard, said of the punishment.

Tucker spent time as a public defender and at Springer & Steinberg before starting his own law firm in Denver in 2013. Tucker Legal Group later became Tucker Grosgebauer.

As 2023 turned to 2024, both Tucker and his firm were stressed financially, according to an agreement that he signed with the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation on April 7. Tucker had gone through a divorce and was trying to grow his firm with experienced lawyers.

So, he began spending money that wasn’t his. Clients paid him $69,000 in December 2023 and he earned $32,375 of that, meaning there should have been $36,625 in the firm’s trust account on New Year’s Day. Instead, there was only $1,000, Tucker admitted last week.

The next month, another $21,000 went missing. All told, more than $70,000 was mishandled.

Adam Tucker (Tucker Grosgebauer)

“(Tucker) admits that he knowingly took unearned funds out of the firm’s trust account to satisfy law firm and personal expenses. His withdrawals were based on his financial needs and the financial needs of the firm, rather than what funds were earned,” he acknowledges.

He later replenished the trust account in January of this year, before any clients noticed but after the Office of Attorney Regulation, which investigates lawyers here, was made aware.

“(Tucker) was unusually candid in describing his misconduct and his motivation,” according to the April 7 agreement, which notes his “strong reputation in the criminal defense community” and lack of prior discipline. “(Tucker) is remorseful for his conduct and recognizes that while no clients noticed any missing funds, he placed client funds and client trust at risk.”

Disbarment is the most common punishment when Colorado lawyers spend client funds, the agreement notes. But the Office of Attorney Regulation urged a lighter punishment.

“While (Tucker)’s misconduct is serious, no clients suffered actual harm,” the office wrote.

State Disciplinary Judge Bryon Large agreed and handed down a suspension on April 11.

“Mr. Tucker is an excellent lawyer, well thought of for his legal abilities,” said Kaplan, “and the allegations have nothing to do with the quality of his representation — that was always top grade — and nothing to do with any of his clients receiving less than excellent service for the money that they provided. There were no allegations that he did not fulfill all of his obligations to each of his clients. Each of his clients got the representation that they contracted for.”