Florida attorney suspended five years in N.C.

Attorney: Patrick Michael Megaro

Location: Orlando, Florida

Bar membership: Member since 2013

Disciplinary action: Suspended from the practice of law for five years on April 27. After three years, Megaro may apply for a stay of the remainder of the suspension.

Background: Megaro represented Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, intellectually disabled half-brothers who spent 31 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted in the 1983 rape and murder. Megaro entered into a representation agreement with the brothers when he knew they did not have the capacity to understand the agreement, represented to a court that McCollum had signed off on a settlement agreement when he knew that McCollum did not have the capacity to do so, collected one-third of the brothers’ Industrial Commission award when his work on the case was minimal, facilitated the brothers getting loans at high rates of interest when they were not competent to understand the terms of those loans, directly lent money to his clients, misused client funds, misrepresented the extent of his litigation costs to a tribunal, and failed to properly maintain and disburse fiduciary funds. In an attempt to protect his fee, Megaro argued that McCollum was competent to enter into a retainer agreement, despite the fact that this argument would potentially harm McCollum in his then-pending civil suits.

Previous discipline: Megaro was reprimanded in November 2016. In 2013, Megaro agreed to work for Brownstone PA, an out-of-state law firm not authorized to practice law in North Carolina. While working in this capacity, he aided Brownstone in providing legal services to North Carolina residents, thereby assisting the firm in the unauthorized practice of law.

All information contained in the Bar Discipline Roundup is compiled and edited by Lawyers Weekly editor-in-chief David Donovan. He can be reached at [email protected].