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State Bar Seeks Disbarment of Girardi Keese Attorneys David Lira and Keith Griffin

The State Bar of California filed Notices of Disciplinary Charges (NDCs) Wednesday against former Girardi Keese law firm attorneys David Richard Lira (SB#134370) and Keith David Griffin (SB#204388), the Office of Chief Trial Counsel (OCTC) announced today. OCTC will seek the pair’s disbarment for what the NDCs charge are their part―along with previously disbarred attorney Thomas V. Girardi―in misappropriating funds and other violations related to the pilfering of settlement funds from families of victims of the 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610. That flight crashed shortly after takeoff in Indonesia, killing all 189 people aboard.  

According to the NDCs, Lira, who is Girardi’s son-in-law, along with Griffin and lawyers from Edelson PC, which served as the Girardi firm’s local counsel in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, reached a settlement agreement with Boeing in March 2020 for their Lion Air clients. By March 30, 2020, Boeing had wire transferred settlement funds to the Girardi firm’s client trust account, for which Lira was a signatory. Pursuant to orders issued by the court, the funds were supposed to be wired from that account to the accounts of the Lion Air clients as soon as practicable.   

The NDCs charge Lira and Griffin with misleading their clients and Edelson PC by not promptly telling them, and concealing from them, that the Boeing settlement funds had been received. The NDCs further allege that instead of paying their Lion Air clients in full, as required by court orders, Girardi Keese made only partial payments. The NDCs charge Lira with misappropriating more than $743,000 of the clients’ settlement funds by writing 270 checks from funds meant for the families of those killed in the crash to individuals and entities unrelated to the Lion Air matter.  

The NDC against Lira has 11 counts related to the Lion Air case, including charges for making false and misleading statements under oath during his testimony in an evidentiary hearing to determine whether he should be held in contempt for failing to comply with the court’s orders regarding disbursement of the settlement funds to the families of the victims. One such charge alleges that Lira stated under oath that the delay in paying the families of crash victims during his time at Girardi Keese was the only such delay he knew about, when he knew that statement was false.  

The NDC against Griffin has eight counts alleging rules violations and acts of moral turpitude related to the Lion Air case. In support of these charges, the NDC alleges that in September 2020, Griffin spoke with Girardi about wiring more settlement funds to the Lion Air clients. Girardi told Griffin that the firm had received some attorney’s fees on a settlement in an unrelated employment case that Griffin worked on and that Girardi would approve sending additional partial payments to the Lion Air clients.  According to the NDC, Griffin was aware at the time that full payments to the clients had not been made as required by the court’s orders, and that the partial payments were made using funds earned in an unrelated case.   

In a separate NDC also filed against Lira on Wednesday, he is charged with misappropriating funds from a settlement he negotiated in a 2014 collision in San Bernardino between a Caltrans dump truck and an automobile that left two young people dead and several others injured. The NDC alleges that Lira presented his clients with paperwork that he knew contained false costs or charges, and that he misappropriated more than $369,000 of the clients’ settlement funds.   

Attorney discipline matters are investigated and prosecuted by the State Bar’s OCTC, acting on behalf of the public. An NDC contains only allegations of professional misconduct. The attorney is presumed innocent of the allegations unless the State Bar Court finds the attorney culpable by clear and convincing evidence. The State Bar Court rules whether an attorney has committed professional misconduct and may recommend that an attorney be suspended or disbarred.  

The State Bar Court’s recommendation is transmitted to the California Supreme Court, which determines whether to impose the recommended discipline. See rule 9.18, California Rules of Court. 

You can search more extensive State Bar Court records and documents related to this case, or any attorney discipline matters, using the court’s Case Search feature. Input either the case number or attorney’s name (last, first middle).  

Summaries of discipline imposed on attorneys, including disbarments, suspensions, probation orders, and public reprovals are available on the State Bar’s website.  

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The State Bar of California's mission is to protect the public and includes the primary functions of licensing, regulation and discipline of attorneys; the advancement of the ethical and competent practice of law; and support of efforts for greater access to, and inclusion in, the legal system.