Title: STATE ex. rel. OKLAHOMA BAR ASSN. v. PATTERSON

State: oklahoma

Issuer: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Document:

STATE ex. rel. OKLAHOMA BAR ASSN. v. PATTERSON  STATE ex. rel. OKLAHOMA BAR ASSN. v. PATTERSON 2001 OK 51 28 P.3d 551 72 OBJ 1921 Case Number: SCBD-4494 Decided: 06/26/2001 STATE OF OKLAHOMA ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Association, Complainant v. WILLIAM J. PATTERSON, Respondent ¶0 The Oklahoma Bar Association brought this reciprocal disciplinary proceeding against a lawyer, William J. Patterson, after he was disbarred by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit for practising law during a period of suspension. After reviewing briefs submitted by both parties, the court concluded that the record was insufficient for the proceeding's disposition and ordered an adversarial hearing before a trial panel of the Professional Responsibility Tribunal. The trial panel recommended that respondent be disciplined by public censure and that he be assessed the costs of this proceeding. Upon de novo review of the evidence presented to the trial panel of the Professional Responsibility Tribunal, RESPONDENT IS ORDERED DISCIPLINED BY PUBLIC CENSURE AND IS DIRECTED TO PAY THE COSTS OF THIS PROCEEDING, WHICH SHALL BE DUE NOT LATER THAN NINETY DAYS AFTER THIS OPINION BECOMES FINAL. Allen J. Welch, Assistant General Counsel, Oklahoma Bar Ass'n, Oklahoma City, for Complainant. Patrick A. Williams, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Respondent. PER CURIAM. ¶1 In this reciprocal disciplinary proceeding against a lawyer, the issues to be decided are (1) Does the record submitted for our examination provide sufficient evidence for a meaningful de novo consideration of the charge against respondent and of its disposition? I INTRODUCTION TO THE RECORD ¶2 On 14 January 1998, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (the Tenth Circuit) disbarred William J. Patterson (Patterson or respondent), a lawyer licensed to practice in Oklahoma, for practising law while under an order of suspension. Respondent did not notify the Oklahoma Bar Association (the Bar or complainant) that discipline had been imposed upon him in another jurisdiction as required by Rule 7.7(a) of the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings (RGDP).2 The Bar was notified of respondent's disbarment by the Tenth Circuit Court Clerk's office. After an initial exchange of letters between respondent and the Bar, the Bar initiated this reciprocal disciplinary proceeding against respondent pursuant to RGDP Rule 7.7(b) [Rule 7.7(b) or the reciprocal disciplinary rule].3 ¶3 The court then ordered respondent to show cause why reciprocal discipline should not be imposed. Upon consideration of the[28 P.3d 554] briefs submitted by the parties, the court concluded that the record was insufficient for the disposition of the charge and ordered an adversarial hearing before a trial panel of the Professional Responsibility Tribunal. ¶4 A hearing was held on 8 February 1999, after which the trial panel issued a report containing its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a recommendation for discipline. The trial panel concluded that respondent had violated the terms of RGDP Rule 7.7(a) by failing to notify the Bar that disciplinary action had been taken against him in the Tenth Circuit, but that the violation was the result of respondent's ignorance of the rule and was therefore not a deliberate effort at concealment. The panel also concluded that respondent had practiced law during a period of suspension, but that there was "sufficient confusion surrounding the original suspension order giving rise to the subsequent disbarment order" that respondent's degree of culpability for his disbarment was difficult to assess. The panel recommended public censure as the appropriate disciplinary measure. Respondent has agreed to pay the costs of this proceeding.4 II THE RECORD BEFORE THE COURT CONTAINS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE FOR A MEANINGFUL DE NOVO CONSIDERATION OF ALL FACTS RELEVANT TO THIS PROCEEDING ¶5 The instant proceeding is predicated on misconduct previously adjudicated in another jurisdiction. Respondent is therefore subject to the reciprocal disciplinary procedure set forth in Rule 7.7(b).5 That rule authorizes the Bar to initiate disciplinary proceedings in this state whenever discipline has been imposed upon a lawyer by another state's highest court or by a federal court. The reciprocal disciplinary process is commenced when the Bar forwards to the Chief Justice a certified copy of the other jurisdiction's disciplinary order. Rule 7.7 (b) states that the foreign order: ". . . shall constitute the charge and shall be prima facie evidence the lawyer committed the acts therein described. The lawyer may submit a certified copy of the transcript of the evidence taken in the trial tribunal of the other jurisdiction to support his/her claim that the finding therein was not supported by the evidence or that it does not furnish sufficient grounds for discipline in Oklahoma." (emphasis added) ¶6 The above-quoted portion of Rule 7.7(b) delimits the extent to which a respondent may challenge the adjudication of the other jurisdiction. A bar disciplinary proceeding is sui generis.6 Because it is not civil in nature, neither the full faith and credit doctrine, which affords preclusive effect to the judgments of our sister-state courts,7 nor any related doctrine giving similar preclusive effect to the judgments of federal[28 P.3d 555] courts8 requires us to accord interjurisdictional preclusion to the Tenth Circuit's adjudication of misconduct. A bar disciplinary case is more in the nature of a penal proceeding to which the rules governing interjurisdictional preclusion in civil cases do not apply.9 The extent to which interjurisdictional preclusion is afforded in the context of a reciprocal disciplinary proceeding is mandated by the reciprocal disciplinary rule alone, which limits the respondent's attack on the other jurisdiction's fact-finding to the evidence contained in a certified copy of the transcript of the other jurisdiction's proceedings. Hence, the facts that resulted in the imposition of discipline by the other jurisdiction cannot be relitigated, but only reviewed within the context of the evidence previously presented in the other jurisdiction.10 Respondent's failure to respond in this case to the Tenth Circuit's show-cause order preceding his disbarment leaves him without a transcript to submit for our consideration. He is therefore bereft of any basis upon which he may challenge the prima facie evidence of misconduct provided by the order disbarring him. ¶7 Beyond this rather limited scope of attack on the other jurisdiction's adjudication, the range of permissible inquiry in a reciprocal disciplinary proceeding stands confined to issues that are germane to the mitigation or severity of the bar disciplinary sanction which is to be visited upon the respondent.11 ¶8 Having initially found the record to be insufficient for a determination of the appropriate disciplinary sanction, we returned this matter to a trial panel of the Professional[28 P.3d 556] Responsibility Tribunal with directions to conduct an adversarial hearing at which respondent's misconduct could be thoroughly explored and his explanations and defenses aired.12 The record of that hearing is now before us and we find that it is adequate for our de novo consideration of the appropriate measure of discipline to be imposed upon respondent for his professional misconduct. III FACTUAL BACKGROUND ¶9 In 1993, respondent came to represent two clients before the Tenth Circuit, Lloyd Michael Reid and David Kirkland Deanovich. Because an issue in both clients' appeals was the adequacy of respondent's representation below, respondent attempted to withdraw from both cases. He was not permitted to do so, and the conflict kept him from submitting appellate briefs for either client. The Tenth Circuit eventually removed him from both cases and ordered him to show cause why he should not be disciplined for his neglect. Patterson did not respond to the court's show-cause order, relinquishing the opportunity to explain his failure to prosecute the appeals. The Tenth Circuit suspended respondent from the practice of law. ¶10 In 1997, respondent represented a tax protester named Ralph Bailey before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. Although Bailey filed his notice of intent to appeal pro se, the Tenth Circuit Court Clerk's office began corresponding with respondent as Bailey's attorney. Upon receiving letters from the clerk's office that certain documents had to be filed or Bailey's appeal would be dismissed, respondent chose to file those documents despite his suspended status. ¶11 During the pendency of Bailey's appeal, respondent became involved in the Tenth Circuit with a second appellant named Dennis Eidson. Having been pressed by the clerk's office to proceed with Bailey's appeal, and having received no indication from the Tenth Circuit that there would be negative consequences for having done so, respondent says he mistakenly believed that he could go ahead and handle Eidson's appeal as well. ¶12 He was wrong. In October 1997, the Tenth Circuit ordered respondent to show cause why he should not be disciplined for practising law during a period of suspension. Patterson did not respond to the court's order and on 14 January 1998 he was disbarred by the Tenth Circuit. IV PATTERSON'S RESPONSE TO THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM ¶13 Under RGDP Rule 7.7(a),13 a lawyer must inform the Bar whenever discipline has been imposed upon him in another jurisdiction. Respondent acknowledges having received contemporaneous notice of his disbarment, but claims he was unaware of his notification obligation. Consequently, he did not advise the Bar that the Tenth Circuit had suspended him in 1994, nor did he apprize it of his disbarment in 1998. Respondent's failure on two occasions to notify the Bar of the Tenth Circuit's actions is itself grounds for discipline.14 ¶15 Respondent testified that from April 1998 until he learned otherwise from the Bar in April 1999 he believed that Seger had filed a motion in[28 P.3d 557] theTenth Circuit for a reconsideration of his disbarment. Respondent testified that Seger repeatedly told him that they were waiting for a response from the Court to the motion. Seger denies ever saying or implying that he had filed a motion. Seger claims that when he stated to respondent throughout 1998 and early 1999 that he was waiting to hear from the Tenth Circuit, he was only referring to a response from the Tenth Circuit to the copy he had sent of the 24 April 1998 letter to the Bar. ¶16 Respondent testified that on or about 12 January 1999 Seger came to his office and told him that they had heard nothing from the Tenth Circuit because they had failed to include a verification with the "motion." He presented a verification form to respondent who signed it despite never having seen the motion to which the verification referred. ¶17 On 1 March 1999, after being admitted to practice in the Tenth Circuit, Seger filed a motion for reconsideration of respondent's disbarment. It, too, contained inaccuracies and misrepresentations. It was promptly denied. V STATEMENTS MADE BY RESPONDENT THAT WERE MISLEADING OR INCONSISTENT ¶18 The trial panel report points out that three statements made by respondent, two in his initial brief to this court and one in the motion to reconsider filed on 1 March 1999 by Mr. Seger in the Tenth Circuit, were not supported by the record. The trial panel gave respondent an opportunity to explain these statements. After hearing the evidence and reviewing documents, the trial panel concluded that respondent had satisfactorily explained all three inaccuracies and stipulated to the facts that gave rise to that conclusion. We agree that respondent has satisfactorily explained two of the three. ¶19 When a stipulation is offered to this court in a bar disciplinary proceeding, it is incumbent upon us to determine if it accords with the applicable law and with the record in the case. ¶20 Respondent asserts that he was never told that he had to have an application on file before resuming practice. Instead, he contends that a Deputy Court Clerk told him that "he should have had an Application to be Reinstated on file before representing clients in that Court." The record supports respondent's claim that this statement was made to him, but not in the mid-April conversation. Rather the record reflects that the statement by the Clerk that respondent should have had an application on file was made to him in the last conversation he had with the clerk's office, which took place in mid-May (or later) after respondent had filed Bailey's appellate brief. Hence, that statement could have no bearing on what respondent reasonably believed about the necessity of reinstatement before he filed documents in Bailey's appeal. Neither the timing nor the contents of any other contacts respondent had with the clerk's office about reinstatement are presented in the record and we will not speculate on what might have been said in any such conversations. ¶21 Because we are not here relitigating the facts underlying respondent's disbarment, it is not absolutely necessary that we decide whether respondent had or did not have a reasonable belief that reinstatement did not have to precede the resumption of practice. It is enough for our purposes that respondent has failed to explain fully to us the circumstances by which he says he came to hold this belief. Without that elucidation, we cannot give much weight to this explanation in assessing an appropriate discipline. VI CIRCUMSTANCES TO BE CONSIDERED IN MITIGATION OF THE CHARGES A. Mitigating Factors Submitted by Stipulation Which Are Supported by the Record ¶22 On or about 1 September 1993, the date the Tenth Circuit ordered respondent to show cause for his failure to proceed with the Reid and Deanovich appeals, respondent's law partner was hospitalized. ¶23 In a letter to the Tenth Circuit after he received the show-cause order, respondent set out his partner's health problem and asked for additional time to respond. The Court granted him a two-week extension. At no time after obtaining this extension did respondent either submit a response or seek an additional extension of time. Respondent attributes his noncompliance with the show-cause order to the overwhelming work load that his partner's illness shifted to him. While the demands of respondent's active[28 P.3d 559] practice on behalf of two lawyers do not excuse his failure to either respond to the show-cause order or communicate to the Tenth Circuit his reasons for being unable to respond, they do operate to mitigate his culpability for this dereliction during the period of his partner's absence. ¶24 Although respondent's partner returned to the practice in December 1993, ¶25 In mitigation of his unauthorized practice of law in the Tenth Circuit in 1997, respondent asks us to consider his daughter's premature birth, which coincided with the inception of the Bailey appeal. The record shows that respondent's daughter was born prematurely on 7 March 1997. Respondent informs us in his brief and in his testimony that the care required by his premature baby left him exhausted. ¶26 The trial panel also accepted the parties' stipulation in mitigation that respondent has fully cooperated with the Office of the General Counsel, notwithstanding three "misrepresentations or inconsistencies" appearing in various documents prepared by respondent or on his behalf. B. Additional Mitigating Factor Raised by The Trial Panel ¶27 The trial panel in its report points out that the Tenth Circuit's order suspending respondent in 1994 failed to designate the length of respondent's suspension. This omission, says the trial panel, made it impossible for respondent to know how to comply with the Tenth Circuit's rule on reinstatement, which ties the appropriate procedure to the length of a suspension. C. Other Mitigating Factors ¶28 In addition to the agreed factors in mitigation, the record contains numerous affidavits from respondent's colleagues attesting to his honesty, integrity, and competence. We have duly noted the esteem in which many of respondent's peers hold him. Respondent has also pointed out that none of his clients was harmed by his misconduct in the Tenth Circuit. While this may be true, its mitigating effect is minimal for the reason that respondent's conduct exposed his clients to the risk that their right to appeal could be adversely affected. Moreover, while no client may have been harmed, respondent's repeated disregard of court rules and orders was detrimental to the administration of judicial process. Finally, we acknowledge that respondent has never before been disciplined by this court and that he has exhibited remorse for his conduct. VII RESPONDENT'S MISCONDUCT WARRANTS A PUBLIC REPRIMAND TOGETHER WITH PAYMENT OF THE COSTS OF THIS PROCEEDING ¶29 A license to practice law is not conferred for the benefit of the licensee, but for that of the public. The disciplinary process, including the imposition of a disciplinary sanction, is designed not to punish the delinquent lawyer, but to safeguard the interest of the public, the judiciary, and the legal profession. ¶30 The trial panel recommended that respondent be publicly censured. We agree. Respondent's failure to inform the Bar on two occasions that he had been disciplined by the Tenth Circuit, while sanctionable, was not a deliberate effort at concealment, but rather occurred as the result of ignorance. Under these circumstances, this dereliction does not warrant a severe sanction. That respondent's discipline in this case is in part attributable to his failure to notify the Bar of the Tenth Circuit's action stands as warning enough for other practitioners that they must familiarize themselves with their obligations under Oklahoma's disciplinary regime. ¶31 The Tenth Circuit's disbarment order is prima facie proof that respondent engaged in the unauthorized practice of law during a period of suspension. Disregard of a suspension order is a serious matter and for that disregard the Tenth Circuit has imposed the ultimate disciplinary sanction on respondent. Respondent twice failed to respond to the Tenth Circuit's show-cause orders, depriving himself of the opportunity to explain his conduct and mitigate the disciplinary sanctions visited upon him in that jurisdiction. He has taken advantage of that opportunity before this court, which as a result views his disciplinary problems in the Tenth Circuit as warranting a less severe discipline than that meted out by the other court. ¶32 Having considered all the circumstances surrounding respondent's misconduct, including the wilfulness and seriousness of the violations, extenuating and mitigating factors, respondent's lack of ethical violations both before and after the commencement of[28 P.3d 561] this proceeding, his cooperation with the Bar's disciplinary process, and his obvious remorse for his conduct, we conclude that public censure together with the imposition of the costs of this proceeding is the appropriate disciplinary measure. VIII SUMMARY ¶33 In a reciprocal disciplinary proceeding, it is within this court's discretion to visit the same discipline as that imposed in the other jurisdiction or one of greater or lesser severity. The discipline imposed by the Tenth Circuit -- disbarment -- is too severe. Public censure is sufficient to satisfy the legitimate goals of administering professional discipline to errant lawyers and of deterring similar conduct by others. We hence conclude that respondent is to be publicly censured and ordered to pay the costs of this proceeding. ¶34 RESPONDENT IS ORDERED DISCIPLINED BY PUBLIC CENSURE AND IS DIRECTED TO PAY THE COSTS OF THIS PROCEEDING, WHICH SHALL BE DUE NOT LATER THAN NINETY DAYS AFTER THIS OPINION BECOMES FINAL. ¶35 HARGRAVE, C.J., WATT V.C.J., and HODGES, LAVENDER, KAUGER, SUMMERS, BOUDREAU and WINCHESTER, JJ., concur; ¶36 OPALA, J., dissents in part. FOOT