NHC Commission chair mismanaged and lied about client funds, State Bar alleges

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A Wake County court granted the North Carolina State Bar’s petition for a preliminary injunction against New Hanover County Chairwoman Julia Olson-Boseman on Monday.

According to the Order of Preliminary Injunction, Olson-Boseman, an attorney, “mismanaged entrusted funds and discovered approximately $9,000 (at least) in entrusted funds for which she could not determine the beneficial owners while winding down her practice between January and November 2021.”

According to Boseman, this is not related to a previous complaint against her filed by a former client Gary Holyfield.

The order states that Olson-Boseman is accused of distributing those funds to her personal accounts and made “material misrepresentations to the State Bar” on Nov. 30, 2021, regarding her handling of the funds.

Olson-Boseman sent a check for what is said to be the remainder of the funds to the Wake County Clerk of Superior Court. A handwritten letter with the check invited the Clerk of Court to disburse the money.

Olson-Boseman told WECT on Wednesday that this situation is nothing but a witch hunt by Robert Weston, who is one of the attorneys at the State Bar. She says she stopped practicing law nearly two years ago and that she didn’t do anything wrong.

“I asked him numerous times to stop contacting me,” she said. “Robert Weston kept contacting me anyway, because I guess the Bar is above any other law, and he kept contacting me back. And he tried to bully me into signing a consent order into something I didn’t do.

“So he wanted me to sign this just to make it all go away because he had to file this to protect the world from an attorney who hasn’t practiced since 2020,” said Olson-Boseman. “It’s ridiculous it’s a witch hunt, and I’m embarrassed for the profession that I used to have so much respect for,” she said.

When asked about the complaint and what it means, Olson-Boseman told WECT it really won’t have any significant impacts on what she is already doing, since she has retired from law.

“It doesn’t want me to receive or disperse client funds, I’m like, well that makes — like I haven’t practiced law for like a year now. It’s so ridiculous; I am so tired of being harassed by this guy. My attorneys called him, [they] were like, ‘she’s not practicing law’. He doesn’t believe me. I’m not practicing law, still not practicing, still not practicing. It’s like fighting for custody over a dead child,” she said.

And in terms of possible consequences, the only thing the State Bar can do is strip her of her law license, again, a seemingly moot point for Olson-Boseman.

“The only thing the bar can do is take my law license, that’s it. I’m not practicing. You can have it, but they won’t let me go inactive because there’s a complaint. I’m like, okay, so basically you’re forcing me to be an attorney, you’re trying to force me to practice law and go by your rules when I said I’m done. I quit, I’m not doing this anymore,” she said.

“I believe in the judicial process and everyone is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. But no one is above the law. No one,” said State Rep. Deb Butler about the situation involving Olson-Boseman.

WECT reached out to Olson-Boseman’s fellow New Hanover County commissioners who all declined to comment at this time. A representative with the New Hanover County Democratic Party said the party is working to gather more details before making a comment.

Page 1 of Respondent's Response Letter to TCA

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