(Reuters) - A Columbus, Ohio attorney this week received a one-year conditionally stayed suspension after failing to report to her law firm client engagements and a client payment, according to a Wednesday opinion from the Ohio Supreme Court.

Michelle Polly-Murphy, who worked as an associate at Ohio law firm Cooke Demers, violated three conduct rules stemming from her representation of a pair of healthcare-related companies, the majority of the court determined.

Representatives for Cooke Demers did not immediately return requests for comment and Polly-Murphy was not immediately reachable.

The opinion in proceedings first brought by the Columbus Bar Association said Polly-Murphy did not report to her firm her engagement with Advanced Health Brands, which made transdermal patches, and Nutriband, Inc., which acquired AHB. The attorney held ownership stakes in both companies, it said.

Polly-Murphy's work for the companies included an opinion in 2017 drafted for Nutriband's CEO stating Food and Drug Administration regulations were not applicable to transdermal patches, the order said. The question was viewed as "central" to a Securities and Exchange Commission probe of the company occurring at the time.

Polly-Murphy went as far as using Cooke Demers letterhead in her work for AHB and Nutriband, while still not informing the firm of the client engagement, according to the opinion, which said in May 2018 she accepted a $5,000 payment for these legal services in her personal bank account.

The court said Polly-Murphy's acceptance of payment without informing Cooke Demers was "conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation,” in violation of professional conduct rules. It also affirmed she breached another rule by failing to follow notice and consent protocols when accepting shares in the pair of client companies.

According to the opinion, Cooke Demers was not aware of Polly-Murphy’s work with Nutriband and AHB until December 2018, when it was alerted Nutriband was filing a malpractice suit based in large part on Polly-Murphy's "faulty" advice on the FDA regulation question.

The court found her incorrect assertion that the FDA did not regulate transdermal patches was a breach of a professional rule requiring competent client representation.

Cooke Demers fired Polly-Murphy in April 2019 after a detailed investigation, the opinion said.

Polly-Murphy's suspension was stayed in its entirety on conditions of no further misconduct and her footing the costs of the disciplinary proceedings. The court cited the attorney's cooperative attitude towards process as well as restitution to her firm as mitigating factors.

The case is Columbus Bar Assn. v. Polly-Murphy, Slip Opinion No. 2021-Ohio-3302.

For the defendant: Jonathan Coughlan of Coughlan Law Firm

For the Bar Counsel: Thomas Edward Zani and Kent Markus of the Columbus Bar Association