Opinion ID: 2165046
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: disciplinary violation

Text: Hearing Committee Number Five found that Respondent's conduct in his representation of the Wilkinses by the preparation of their 1987 and 1988 tax returns violated DR 1-102(A)(4), which provides that a lawyer shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. The Hearing Committee found that the evidence is uncontroverted that Respondent claimed substantial amounts of business deductions for the Wilkinses with full knowledge that there was no documentation to justify these deductions. This finding is consistent with that of Judge Jackson, in the civil suit brought by the Wilkinses, who described the returns prepared by Respondent as fraudulent and intended to deceive the Wilkinses, and if their luck and his held, the IRS. Respondent filed a general exception to the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the Hearing Committee and continued to assert at the oral argument that another interpretation of the facts, as stated in Respondent's Proposed Findings, was possible. Essentially, that version is that the Wilkinses did not supply detailed information and that Respondent justifiably relied on the information and characterization of the expenses that he was supplied. The Board adopts the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the Hearing Committee. Respondent has failed to demonstrate that these findings are based on insufficient evidence. Moreover, the full record of the disciplinary hearing, including Bar Counsel's exhibits, and the opinion of Judge Jackson in Wilkins v. Jackson, Civil Action No. 91-2911 (D.D.C. August 20, 1992), all fully support the factual findings of the Hearing Committee. Moreover, as the Hearing Committee noted, even accepting Respondent's position that his clients were not fully cooperative with him in supplying tax information and documentation, Respondent remains in violation of DR 1-102(A)(4). Respondent was fully aware that even if it existed, no one had been able to supply him with documentation of the various deductions claimed in the returns. Whether the justifications were derived only from Respondent's imagination (as Judge Jackson concluded) or fictions created by others, Respondent knew that he did not have any documentation to support the characterization of the significant deductions claimed in the returns. The elements of DR 1-102(A)(4) have been analyzed in In re Shorter, 570 A.2d 760, 767-68 (D.C.1990), a case also involving tax issues. Respondent's conduct in preparing the tax returns without adequate documentation, indeed without any documentation in some instances, certainly constitutes dishonesty. It is not necessary to determine whether it also falls within one of the other categories covered by this disciplinary rule.