Disbarred attorney who stole client settlement funds sentenced to time served in jail

A disbarred San Diego attorney who pleaded guilty to stealing money from her clients was sentenced Thursday to credit for time already served in county jail, plus three years of mandatory supervision.

Kelly DuFord Williams, 38 — who ran Slate Law Group in San Diego and was at one time named among San Diego Magazine’s Women of the Year Rising Stars — was arrested two years ago on allegations that she took funds her clients received in settlement agreements she reached while representing them.

Prosecutors allege that hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from as many as eight clients and that Williams forged client signatures on settlement checks she deposited. The amount of restitution to be ordered paid to the victims has not yet been calculated and will be ordered at another hearing scheduled for later this year.

Three of her former clients spoke in San Diego Superior Court Thursday afternoon of their fruitless attempts to get their settlement funds from Williams, who they said repeatedly delayed sending them their money and provided them with numerous excuses why the money hadn’t yet been sent.

Victims said they initially took up cases with Williams’ ex-husband, an attorney at what was then called DuFord Law. At some point, Williams’ ex-husband left the firm — which Williams rebranded as Slate Law — and clients were informed that Williams was taking over their cases.

The victims said Williams secured settlements that were far below what they were initially promised, then failed to turn over the funds.

Williams was disbarred about two months after criminal charges were filed against her.

She spent 10 days in county jail and 241 days on home detention prior to her sentencing, prosecutors said.

A declaration in support of an arrest warrant in the criminal case said the State Bar of California had received “numerous complaints regarding Williams” between 2020 and 2023 from both former clients and Williams’ former employees, including attorneys and paralegals.

The State Bar alleged that in addition to misappropriating funds, Williams made a pair of false police reports “about the welfare of a child because she was upset with someone she was dating” and had a person appear in court as an attorney on behalf of her law firm, despite that person not being licensed to practice law in California.