Case ID: nw2d_889/html/0289-02.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "David R. Stras Associate Justice", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

IN RE Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST John Nwabuwane AKWUBA, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 0280446.
    A15-1316
    Supreme Court of Minnesota.
    Dated: December 28, 2016
   ORDER

By order filed on November 13, 2015, we suspended respondent John Nwabu-wane Akwuba from the practice of law for a minimum of 60 days. Our order expressly stated that within 1 year of the date of the filing of the order, respondent was required to file with the Clerk of the Appellate Courts proof of his successful completion of the professional responsibility portion of the state bar examination (MPRE) and that failure to do so would result in automatic re-suspension, pending successful completion of this requirement. See Rule 18(e)(3), Rules on Lawyers Professional Responsibility (RLPR). By order filed on November 25, 2015, we amended the conditions of probation to which respondent would be bound upon reinstatement. That order again expressly stated the requirement that, by November 25, 2016, respondent comply with Rule 18(e)(3), RLPR, by filing with the Clerk of the Appellate Courts proof of his successful completion of the MPRE and that failure to do so would result in automatic re-suspension. In re Akwuba, 872 N.W.2d 523, 523 (Minn. 2015) (order).

We conditionally reinstated respondent effective January 26, 2016. In re Akwuba, 873 N.W.2d 871, 872 (Minn. 2016) (order). Our order reinstating respondent again repeated the requirement that, by November 25, 2016, respondent file with the Clerk of Appellate Courts proof of successful completion of the MPRE and that failure to do so would result in automatic i'e-suspension, pending successful completion of the examination. Id.

Rule 18(e)(3), RLPR, provides that, unless waived by this court, a lawyer who has been suspended for 90 days or less “must, within one year from the date of the suspension order, successfully complete such written examination as may be required for admission to the practice of law by the State Board of Law Examiners on the subject of professional responsibility.” Furthermore, “[ejxcept upon motion and for good cause shown, failure to successfully complete this examination shall result in automatic suspension of the lawyer effective one year after the date of the original suspension order.” Id.

Respondent did not provide this court with proof by November 25, 2016, that he successfully passed the MPRE. By order dated December 6, 2016, the court gave respondent 10 days to file proof of cause why he should not be immediately suspended pending his successful completion of the MPRE. In re Akwuba, No. A15-1316, Order at 1-2 (Minn, filed Dec. 6, 2016). This order stated that if no proof of cause was filed within 10 days, respondent “shall be immediately suspended without further notice or proceedings.” Id. at 2. Respondent did not respond to the court’s December 6 order to show cause.

Based on all the files, records, and proceedings herein,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that respondent John Nwabuwane Akwuba’s conditional reinstatement is revoked and that he is indefinitely suspended, effective 10 days from the date of the filing of this order. Respondent shall comply with Rule 26, RLPR (requiring notice of suspension to clients, opposing counsel, and tribunals). Respondent may apply for reinstatement under Rule 18(f), RLPR, by filing with the Clerk of the Appellate Courts and the Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility proof that he has received a passing score on such written examination as may be required for admission to the practice of law by the State Board of Law Examiners on the subject of professional responsibility.

BY THE COURT:

/s/_

David R. Stras Associate Justice