Pennsylvania Code › Title 204 - JUDICIAL SYSTEM GENERAL PROVISIONS › Part V - PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND CONDUCT › Subpart C - DISCIPLINARY BOARD OF THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA › Chapter 89 - FORMAL PROCEEDINGS › Subchapter F - REINSTATEMENT AND RESUMPTION OF PRACTICE › REINSTATEMENT OF FORMERLY ADMITTED ATTORNEYS › Section 89.277 - Abbreviated reinstatement procedure

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a)
Scope.
This section is
						applicable to formal proceedings for reinstatement of formerly admitted
						attorneys who have been on inactive status and who have never been on
						administrative suspension, retired status or suspended for disciplinary reasons
						or disbarred.
See
89.273(b)(4)
						(relating to hearing before a single senior or experienced hearing committee
						member). This section shall not be available at any hearing conducted after
						review by a designated Board Member pursuant to
						89.273(b)(6)(i)
						(relating to hearing scheduled at the direction of the designated Board
						Member).
(b)
General
						rule.
The formerly admitted attorney and staff counsel in the manner
						provided by subsection (c) may agree to waive the preparation of a transcript
						and the filing of formal findings and recommendations. In such situations,
						unless the Board directs otherwise, the hearing committee member may submit to
						the Board a summary determination of the hearing committee member.
(c)
Procedures.
(1) Immediately after the conclusion of the
						hearing the hearing committee member shall, if practicable and if neither the
						formerly admitted attorney nor staff counsel object thereto, determine the
						findings and recommendations of the hearing committee member.
(2) The hearing committee member shall
						deliver to the participants Form DB-46 (Hearing Committee Determination Under
						Abbreviated Reinstatement Procedure) setting forth in summary the findings and
						recommendations of the hearing committee member. The official reporter shall be
						directed by the hearing committee not to prepare a transcript until receipt
						from the hearing committee member of specific instructions to do so.
(3) The participants shall be conclusively
						deemed to have accepted and to have stipulated that the Board shall recommend
						to the Supreme Court the findings and recommendations of the hearing committee
						member unless either the formerly admitted attorney or staff counsel shall,
						within five days after receipt of the Form DB-46 as provided in paragraph (2)
						file a copy of such Form DB-46 with objections to the findings and
						recommendations of the hearing committee member.
(4) If a timely objection is made as provided
						in paragraph (3) the participants may file briefs, the official reporter shall
						be directed to prepare a transcript and the hearing committee member shall
						submit to the Board formal findings and recommendations in the manner and
						within the time otherwise provided by these rules.
(5) If no timely objection is made no briefs
						shall be filed, no formal findings and recommendations shall be prepared by the
						hearing committee member and the official reporter shall not prepare a
						transcript. The hearing committee member shall, however, prepare and file a
						brief summary of the case, in the form of a letter to the Board, which summary
						ordinarily should not exceed two pages in length, and the record of the
						proceedings shall forthwith be transmitted to the Board Prothonotary which
						shall serve upon the formerly admitted attorney and staff counsel copies of the
						brief summary of the case filed by the hearing committee member.
(6) Thereafter the Board shall either:
(i) recommend to the Supreme Court the
						disposition stipulated by the participants; or
(ii) remand the record to the hearing
						committee member with instructions to fix a briefing schedule and to proceed as
						provided in paragraph (4), if for any reason the disposition stipulated by the
						parties is not accepted by the Board.
(7) Where the proceeding is disposed of as
						provided by paragraph (6)(i) of this subsection, the official reporter shall
						preserve the untranscribed notes or recording of testimony in the manner and
						for the duration specified by the Executive Office.