Montana Lawyer February/March 2024

ATTORNEY DISCIPLINE

Doud disbarred for misappropriating $1.4M in a case COP calls the most egregious it’s seen

The Montana Supreme Court on Feb. 14 adopted the recommenda tions of the Montana Commission on Practice and disbarred Helena attorney Meghan Doud, ordering restitution and/or disgorgement of fees in the amount of $1,366,133.19. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel in 2021 filed a formal complaint against Doud and her father, Timothy McKeon, alleging the misappropriation of client funds. McKeon was later transferred to disability/inactive status after he asserted a disability resulting in his inability to assist in his defense of the disciplinary proceedings. The complaint against Doud proceeded and was heard before the Commission on Practice on November 7-8, 2023. The Commission concluded that Doud had violated M. R. Pro. Cond. 1.4, 1.15(a), 1.15(b), 1.15(d), 1.18(c),1.18(e), 1.5(a)-(c), 5.1(c), and

way in which jurors find these kinds of shortcuts is by finding symbols in the case that unlock some greater mean ing that brings clarity to the issues. Consequently, rather than focusing on the quantity of the evidence, litigators should instead focus on identifying evi dence that symbolizes key components of their larger themes and narrative. This may sound obvious, but it is much more difficult than one might think. Mock jury research routinely highlights how jurors attach importance to evi dence in a case that none of the attor neys thought was significant going into the mock trial. The art of trial strategy development and persuading jurors is 8.4(c). It recommended that she be disbarred from the practice of law in Montana. In restating the findings of the Commission, the Montana Supreme Court noted that under Doud’s sign ing authority, the law firm she oper ated with McKeon “transferred funds on an almost daily basis from its trust accounts to its operating account, other firm accounts, and Doud’s and McKeon’s personal accounts.” The court further observed that “The trans ferred amounts were almost always in even amounts that were not consistent with earned contingency fees or cost reimbursements related to a particular client’s case.” The firm also was alleged to have a practice of charging clients for inap propriate costs in addition to the firm’s contingency fee: “In addition to the account irregularities, as part of

identifying the symbols in your case and weaving them together to tell a compel ling story that is consistent with the kind of world jurors want to believe in. American poet Maya Angelou once unintentionally gave incredible jury strategy advice when she said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” At trial in front of a jury, it is not about proving you are right; instead, it is about making jurors feel you are right.” Thomas M. O’Toole, Ph.D. is President of Sound Jury Consulting in Seattle. Kevin R. Boully, Ph.D. is Senior Consultant at Perkins Coie in Denver. its regular billing practices, the firm charged clients an hourly rate for ser vices performed by the firm’s employ ees.” The court noted that Commission found that practice to be “a deceptive scheme designed to generate profits greater than the firm’s contingent fee agreements allowed or are ethically permitted.” In ultimately adopting the recom mendation of the Commission and disbarring Doud, the Montana Supreme Court observed that, “In recommending disbarment, the Commission asserted that the scope and magnitude of Doud’s ethical failures were “unequaled in the Commission’s collective experience, and this case proved the most egregious and extensive trust violation and misap propriation/commingling case to ever come before it.”

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influencing what jurors remember most and, if everything is important, nothing is important. Good evidence is symbolic of some thing larger. When making complex decisions, the research makes it clear that people look for shortcuts, often without realizing what they are doing. We have often cited Daniel Kahneman’s famous quote about the “essence of in tuitive heuristics,” which is that, “When faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.” One

When faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution. — Daniel Kahneman “ ”

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