enlarge 2008 Press Herald File

Former Verrill Dana attorney John D. Duncan is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 10 for stealing nearly $300,000 from the firm and clients.

TIMELINE OF A DISBARMENT EVENTS LEADING up to the permanent disbarment of lawyer John D. Duncan: 2007

MAY 29: Ellie Rommel, the legal secretary for Duncan, a partner at Verrill Dana, gives her notice of resignation.

JUNE 5: Rommel presents evidence of Duncan's alleged misconduct to another lawyer at the firm.

JUNE 13: Rommel asks to rescind her resignation and take short-term medical leave, but says that request was denied. It's her last day of employment at the firm. She says she was forced out; firm leaders say Rommel left of her own volition.

JUNE 28: Managing partner David Warren confronts Duncan, who says he improperly took funds from one client. Duncan says the money was supposed to go to the firm. Duncan repays the firm $77,500 a few days later.

JULY: According to Rommel, Warren contacts her and says the Duncan matter is being handled internally and no crimes were committed. Rommel says she was asked to return to another position with the firm. She declines.

SEPTEMBER: Rommel contacts Portland lawyer Daniel Lilley. She questions the handling of the information she provided to the firm.

OCTOBER: Two outside law firms and an accounting firm conduct an audit of Duncan's work and the handling of allegations against him. They find evidence of broader misconduct over a period of 10 years.

OCT. 5: Lilley demands that Verrill Dana preserve computers, e-mails and other evidence for a potential lawsuit by Rommel.

OCT. 22: Duncan admits to Verrill Dana's legal counsel that he had stolen from clients and the firm.

OCT. 28: The firm accepts Duncan's resignation.

NOV. 8: Verrill Dana formally expels Duncan from the firm.

NOV. 15: The firm sends letters to about 1,000 clients, notifying them of Duncan's dismissal and pledging to compensate anyone harmed by Duncan's misconduct.

NOV. 26: Three former Verrill Dana partners -- Gene Libby, Gail Kingsley and Timothy O'Brien -- open their own firm in Kennebunk. They say they left Verrill Dana because of the way the Duncan matter was handled.

DEC. 12: The outside audit of Duncan's activity is delivered to the Maine Board of Bar Overseers.

DEC. 31: Warren tells members of the Verrill Dana executive board that he will resign as managing partner.

2008

JAN. 2: Rommel files complaints with the Maine Human Rights Commission and the Board of Bar Overseers. She claims that Verrill Dana, Warren and executive board members violated the Whistleblowers' Protection Act.

JAN. 10: At a meeting of the partners, Warren announces his resignation as managing partner but says he will remain with the firm. Also that day, Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson submits information she received about the Duncan matter to the financial crimes division of the Maine Attorney General's Office.

JAN. 14: Verrill Dana sends letters to clients, announcing the news about Warren.

APRIL: Verrill Dana reaches a private settlement with Rommel. She drops her plans to sue the firm and its leaders.

JUNE 10: Duncan waives indictment and pleads guilty to two counts of felony theft. Mike Colleran, the prosecutor from the Attorney General's Office, recommends a six-year sentence with all but two-and-a-half years suspended. Duncan's lawyer also says Duncan intends to plead guilty to a federal charge of tax evasion. Sentencing is set for Sept. 10 at Cumberland County Superior Court.

JULY 1: Keith Jones takes over as managing partner for Verrill Dana.

JULY 10: Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Warren Silver issues an order that permanently bars Duncan from practicing law in Maine. Duncan is believed to be the first lawyer in this state ever to receive a lifetime ban.

A former Verrill Dana law partner will not appeal the lifetime disbarment handed down against him by Maine's highest court.

The historic ruling permanently bans John D. Duncan from practicing law in this state, and effectively ends his law career. It is the most severe professional sanction ever imposed on a Maine lawyer, according to the state Board of Bar Overseers.

"He accepts the consequences," Duncan's lawyer, Toby Dilworth, said Monday.

"From the beginning of my representation of him, he has acknowledged his misconduct and taken full responsibility."

Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Warren Silver issued the order last week against Duncan, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last month to criminal theft charges.

Duncan, 54, of Falmouth admitted to stealing $300,000 from clients and from the prestigious Portland firm from 1997 to 2007.

"Duncan is disbarred for his lifetime," Silver wrote in his order. "The long-term nature of the theft, over a 10-year period, and the size of the theft make clear to the Court that Duncan should not ever be eligible to apply for reinstatement to the Bar of the State of Maine."

Disbarred lawyers usually have the opportunity to seek reinstatement after five years. J. Scott Davis, lead counsel for the Board of Bar Overseers, had recommended a 10-year minimum before Duncan could seek reinstatement. Dilworth had asked for the standard five-year period, but realized that was unlikely.

"From the outset, Justice Silver made it clear that this was his intent," said Dilworth, partner with McCloskey, Mina, Cunniff & Dilworth in Portland. Duncan declined comment Monday.

Because all other states recognize Maine disbarments, the ruling means it would be nearly impossible for Duncan to practice law elsewhere. In order to do that, he would have to prove to bar officials in another state that his due process was violated, or that the disbarment was otherwise unwarranted.

Still unanswered is the question of whether other Verrill Dana partners will face professional sanctions for how they handled the matter. Complaints against former managing partner David Warren and the members of the firm's executive board -- filed earlier this year by Duncan's former secretary -- remain pending with the Board of Bar Overseers.

Duncan began with Verrill Dana in 1978. He primarily handled wills, estates and trusts during his 29-year career with the firm.

His misconduct began to come to light last summer, when secretary Ellie Rommel blew the whistle on his accounting irregularities. Another secretary, working while Rommel was on vacation, had previously expressed some concerns about checks signed by Duncan.

"Ms. Rommel informed and provided supporting documentation to at least two experienced attorneys at Verrill Dana," Justice Silver wrote in his order. "When initially confronted on June 28 (by Warren), Duncan then admitted only that he had diverted funds totalling $77,500 to himself from one client when those funds should have gone to the firm."

The firm accepted the explanation and a repayment check from Duncan. Rommel left the firm shortly after turning over the evidence against her boss. She and the leaders at the firm had conflicting versions of whether she left voluntarily or was forced out.

Rommel's lawyer, Daniel Lilley, served notice to Verrill Dana in early October that Rommel intended to sue the firm for wrongful termination and other claims. At that point, Verrill Dana brought in outside auditors to review Duncan's books. Their report showed a pattern of misconduct going as far back as 1997. Duncan illegally wrote checks to himself from several client accounts, totaling $109,000. A second scheme involved trustee fees that were supposed to go to the full partnership at Verrill Dana, but were instead pocketed by Duncan. The total of that scheme was $187,500.

"Duncan now agrees that his...