JEFFERSON CITY (St. Louis Record) — Kansas City attorneys, Jason M. Pottenger and Michael T. Yonke have successfully completed their probation following separate Aug. 15 Missouri Supreme Court orders after commingling allegations lead to their discipline about two years ago.
The court terminated probations of Pottenger and Yonke following motions by both attorneys for order of successful completion and after receiving an apparently positive response to the motions by the Missouri Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, according to the separate orders. The high court also ordered the attorneys to pay costs.
Pottenger was admitted to the bar in Missouri on Oct. 2, 1992, while Yonke was admitted to the bar in Missouri on Sept. 30, 1994, according to their separate profiles at the state bar's website. Yonke & Pottenger was founded by the two attorneys in January 2000.
In fall 2011, Yonke & Pottenger expanded its personal injury representation beyond Kansas City to serve residents in St. Joseph, Joplin, Springfield, Lenexa, Kansas, Leavenworth, Kansas, Independence and Overland Park, Kansas, according to a news release at the time. The firm sought to increase its availability to individuals who had been hurt in an accident caused by the negligence of another party.
Yonke and Pottenger were placed on probation following separate Aug. 15 Missouri Supreme Court orders after it was found that while representing 18 clients between 2008 and 2015, the two commingled personal funds with property belonging to clients.
In similarly worded orders, the two were alleged to have violated professional conduct rules "by commingling personal funds with property belonging to clients, by depositing personal funds (including earned legal fees), into the trust account in excess of paying bank service charges, by failing to promptly deliver client or third party funds, and by failing to maintain complete trust account records."
In addition to placing the two on probation, the state Supreme Court also ordered the two each to pay a fee of $1,500 to be given to the advisory committee fund.
Pottenger maintains The Pottenger Law Firm in Kansas City while Yonke is the principal attorney at Yonke Law, also in Kansas City.