Title: Board of Professional Responsibility, Wyoming State Bar v. McLeod

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

Board of Professional Responsibility, Wyoming State Bar v. McLeod1991 WY 2804 P.2d 42Case Number: D-89-17Decided: 01/08/1991Supreme Court of Wyoming
BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY, WYOMING STATE BAR,

Petitioner,

 

v.

 

Nadine 
McLEOD,

 

 Respondent.

 

 
 
ORDER 
IMPOSING PUBLIC CENSURE AND ASSESSING COSTS

 

[¶1]  The Board of Professional Responsibility 
of the Wyoming State Bar on September 
15, 1989, presented 
this Court its Report charging respondent, an attorney regularly admitted to the 
practice of law in the State of Wyoming, with 
professional misconduct. Respondent stipulated and consented to the imposition 
of a formal discipline of public censure. Pursuant to Rule VI of the 
Disciplinary Code, on September 
26, 1989, this 
Court remanded the cause for completion of formal disciplinary proceedings, 
granting respondent leave to withdraw the stipulation and admissions and to 
answer and defend as appropriate.

 

[¶2]  Formal disciplinary proceedings were 
commenced, and, following negotiations between bar counsel and respondent, a 
Stipulation of Facts was entered and thence adopted by the Board of Professional 
Responsibility wherein respondent stipulated to the following acts:

 

"2. 
Respondent altered the date of execution on a document entitled RELEASE OF 
CUSTODIAL RIGHTS AND CONSENT TO GUARDIANSHIP and said altered document was filed 
with the district court.

"3. 
Respondent altered the date of execution on a document entitled ACCEPTANCE OF 
SERVICE and said altered document was filed with the district 
court.

"4. 
Respondent misrepresented the date of the execution of the ACCEPTANCE OF SERVICE 
in an AFFIDAVIT which accompanied a MOTION FOR JUDGMENT and said AFFIDAVIT with 
the misrepresentation was filed with the district court.

"5. 
Respondent misrepresented the date of the execution of the ACCEPTANCE OF SERVICE 
in a document entitled PRAECIPE FOR DEFAULT and ENTRY OF DEFAULT and said 
PRAECIPE FOR DEFAULT and ENTRY OF DEFAULT [were] filed with the district 
court.

"6. 
Respondent misrepresented the date of the execution of the RELEASE OF CUSTODIAL 
RIGHTS AND CONSENT TO GUARDIANSHIP in a document entitled APPLICATION FOR 
APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIAN and said APPLICATION FOR APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIAN was 
filed with the district court.

"7. In her 
capacity as notary public Respondent notarized the documents entitled RELEASE OF 
CUSTODIAL RIGHTS AND CONSENT TO GUARDIANSHIP and ACCEPTANCE OF SERVICE 
indicating that the referenced documents were signed in her presence on October 
28, 1988 rather than October 18, 1988,"

 

all in 
violation of Rule 3.3(a)(1), (4) and 8.4(c) of the Rules of Professional Conduct 
for Attorneys at Law of the State of Wyoming:

 

"(a) A 
lawyer shall not knowingly:

"(1) make a 
false statement of material fact or law to a tribunal;

* * * * * 
*

"(4) offer 
evidence that the lawyer knows to be false. If a lawyer has offered material 
evidence and comes to know of its falsity, the lawyer shall take reasonable 
remedial measures." Rule 3.3(a), Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys at 
Law.

"It is 
professional misconduct for a lawyer to:

* * * * * 
*

"(c) engage 
in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation." Rule 8.4, 
Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys at Law.

 

The Court, 
having carefully considered the file and record submitted herein, hereby adopts 
as a part of this Order, and attaches hereto, the Report of the Board of 
Professional Responsibility, and finds that the public censure as recommended by 
the Board is appropriate. It is, therefore,

 

[¶3]  ORDERED that the Report of the Board of 
Professional Responsibility of the Wyoming State Bar be, and it is hereby, 
approved; and it is

 

[¶4]  FURTHER ORDERED that Nadine McLeod be, 
and she is hereby, publicly censured for professional misconduct in violation of 
Rules 3.3(a)(1), (4) and 8.4(c) of the Rules of Professional Conduct; and it 
is

 

[¶5]  FURTHER ORDERED that the costs of the 
Board of Professional Responsibility of the Wyoming State Bar incurred in 
connection with the investigation and disciplinary proceedings in this instance 
in the amount of $383.36 be, and they hereby are, assessed against the 
respondent, Nadine McLeod, to be paid to the Wyoming State Bar Board of 
Professional Responsibility pursuant to Rule XXIII of the Disciplinary Code for 
the Wyoming State Bar; and it is

 

[¶6]  FINALLY ORDERED that the clerk of the 
Court docket the Report and all supporting papers of the Board of Professional 
Responsibility of the Wyoming State Bar, as well as this order, as a matter 
coming regularly before this Court as a public record.