Former commissioner Julia Olson-Boseman disbarred by the NC State Bar

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Former New Hanover County Commissioner Julia Olson-Boseman can no longer practice law in the State of NC.

The North Carolina State Bar disbarred Olson-Boseman on January 19, according to an order signed by A. Todd Brown, the President of the NC State Bar.

Olson-Boseman surrendered her license on November 20, 2023.

Based upon an affidavit from when Olson-Boseman surrendered her law license, the State Bar determined the former commissioner ‘misappropriated funds, grossly abdicated her trust account management obligations, made misrepresentations to the State Bar during a grievance investigation, made a misrepresentation to the court, engaged in contempt of court, engaged in a conflict of interest, collected clearly excessive fees, and neglected a client.’

In the affidavit, Olson-Boseman wrote, ‘My resignation is being submitted because I know that if charges were predicated upon the misconduct under investigation, I could not successfully defend against them.’

She is also ordered to return all files to her clients upon request.

This stems from a complaint filed in 2021, when a client accused Olson-Boseman of taking a $20,000 retainer but never filing a wrongful death lawsuit in the death of his daughter.

At the time, District Attorney Ben David wrote a letter to the SBI, saying in part, “I was notified this week of a request for an investigation filed by a citizen against Ms. Boseman with the Wilmington Police Department. Chief Donny Williams alerted me that the complaint had been filed. We are jointly requesting your assistance.”

WWAY had reached out to the SBI for an update.

“We remain in close contact with the Financial Crimes Unit for the NC Conference of District Attorneys who continues to evaluate these allegations. Currently, the SBI does not have an open investigation into this matter and we have not been requested to investigate,” an SBI spokeswoman wrote in an email.