The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reinstated a Butler County attorney Monday after he was suspended for three years from practicing law.

In 2015, James Francis Donohue chose to accept a voluntary suspension from the Pennsylvania Bar Association, rather than fight allegations related to his accounting practice, according to court documents.

Donohue has been a lawyer since 1989, and was facing accusations of mixing his personal finances with money in a special account meant for legal business only, according to court documents from 2015. The state Supreme Court found that he had misappropriated funds totaling more than $48,000 related to four client matters.

A 24-page order from the disciplinary board of the Supreme Court related that the issue surfaced after money that should have been awarded to several of Donohue’s clients was not given promptly to them — including a $45,000 lawsuit settlement to a 17-year-old accident victim. In that case, Donohue delayed sending a check until the minor hired another attorney to take over.

Donohue couldn’t be reached in time for publication, but in his signed affidavit as part of the Supreme Court suspension, Donohue wrote that he “acknowledges the material facts set forth ... are true, and he consents because he knows that if the charges pending against him continue to be prosecuted in the pending proceeding, he could not successfully defend against them.” He also stated that personal matters had led him to become distracted and he “lost his way completely with maintaining his office records and continuing to keep track of the money, and he just got in a really bad place.”