Attorney Mitchell Posin reinstated after license suspension

The Nevada Supreme Court has reinstated attorney Mitchell Posin’s law license following a one-year suspension.

Posin, 51, had his license suspended in July 2008, based on a finding that he had violated several rules of professional conduct.

Records show that a Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board hearing panel had recommended a five-month suspension, but the high court opted for a longer suspension based on the seriousness and number of violations.

Posin told the disciplinary board at a June 2007 hearing that his father and former partner, Murray Posin, stole $191,500 from the Posin & Posin attorney-client trust account on July 25, 2005.

Murray Posin died in March 2007, and his son said the money never was returned. That left the firm unable to pay clients with settled personal injury claims.

Deputy Bar Counsel David Clark, who presented Posin’s case to the disciplinary board, said at the time that the firm’s financial practices were marred by “years of sloppy accounting and years of dereliction.”

Clark also said the problems were exacerbated by Mitchell Posin’s lack of cooperation with bar inquiries into client grievances.

Mitchell Posin could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but in 2007 he said he had made up the majority of money taken by his father.

The younger Posin obtained his Nevada law license in 1986. His license was voluntarily suspended from August 2007 until January 2008, when it was returned to active status pending the Supreme Court’s decision.

At the time the high court issued its order, Mitchell Posin was representing a client in a complicated federal trial involving a scheme to embezzle $485 million from the Bank of China.

The Supreme Court allowed Posin to continue representing his client during the trial.

Mitchell Posin filed a petition for reinstatement of his law license in January, and the high court granted it July 8. Posin spent a total of 17 months on suspension, Clark said.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.