Opinion ID: 2165046
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Conduct Involving Dishonesty/Misrepresentation

Text: The Board notes that the Court has imposed sanctions in cases involving dishonesty or misrepresentation ranging from a public censure to a suspension for a year. Public censure was ordered for false statements on a resume. In re Hadzi-Antich, 497 A.2d 1062 (D.C.1985). A thirty-day suspension was ordered for making three separate misrepresentations to a court, In re Rosen, 481 A.2d 451 (D.C.1984), and for falsification of travel expenses by a law firm associate, In re Schneider, 553 A.2d 206 (D.C.1989). A sixty-day suspension was ordered for misrepresentation to a court to avoid disqualification for conflict of interest. In re Waller, 573 A.2d 780 (D.C.1990). A ninety-day suspension was ordered for lying about salary on an application for a bank loan, In re Kennedy, 542 A.2d 1225 (D.C.1988); for a false interrogatory answer and lying at a deposition by an attorney acting pro se, In re Thomas, No. M-94-81 (D.C. March 1, 1982) (unpublished); and for helping a divorce client hide assets via a false interrogatory answer, In re Sandground, 542 A.2d 1242 (D.C.1988). A six-month suspension was ordered for forging a client's signature on a complaint and then having it notarized, In re Reback, 513 A.2d 226 (D.C.1986), and for making false statements to a bank on behalf of a client and lying under oath regarding the conduct, In re Greenspan, 578 A.2d 1156 (D.C.1990) (fitness requirement also imposed due to significant record of prior discipline). A one-year suspension was imposed for false, sworn testimony to the government regarding an attorney's role in a stock purchase, In re Hutchinson, 534 A.2d 919 (D.C.1987); for assisting a client to make false statements on an immigration application, In re Thompson, 538 A.2d 247 (D.C.1985); and for making illegal campaign contributions, In re Wild, 361 A.2d 182 (D.C.1976) (respondent also convicted of misdemeanor violation based on same conduct). In this case, Respondent's conduct would appear roughly equivalent to other violations resulting in a six-month suspension. In light of the facts that Respondent was not charged with a criminal violation and does not have a history of disciplinary violationsas did the attorney in In re Thompson, who knowingly assisted in presenting a false statement to the Immigration and Naturalization Servicethe Board believes that this case most closely parallels the Reback and Greenspan cases. The case can be distinguished from Hutchinson on the basis that Hutchinson was also convicted of a misdemeanor violation and the circumstances in that matter also involved disciplinary violations of three different disciplinary rules.