Columbia attorney disbarred

Attorney: Fulton Casey Dale Cornwell

Location: Columbia

Bar membership: Member since 2005

Disciplinary action: Disbarred on Feb. 27

Background: Cornwell’s order of disbarment notes 12 separate matters, mostly related to his work representing clients in post-conviction relief matters. In November 2015, Cornwell’s bank informed the state’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel that a check was presented against insufficient funds on his trust account. After Cornwell failed to provide a substantive reply in a timely fashion, the ODC subpoenaed his bank for copies of bank statements relating to his trust account. The ODC discovered that the trust account contained withdrawals for several items made payable to cash, and payments for personal expenses. Cornwell asserted the trust account was set up only for the deposit of a settlement for one case and any additional deposits into the trust account were from earned fees, but admitted to improperly using his trust account and could demonstrate that the funds in his account were handled properly because he did not maintain accurate records as required by the rules for financial recordkeeping. Cornwell also failed to timely respond to allegations in other cases and failed to keep some of his clients reasonably informed about the status of their matters or reply to their reasonable requests for information.

Previous discipline: Cornwell had been on interim suspension since Feb. 17, 2017.