Opinion ID: 2633740
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: whether disbarment is required

Text: {29} Disciplinary counsel asked this Court to review whether, under the facts found and conclusions drawn by the hearing committee, Respondent should be disbarred. In light of the conclusion that Respondent commingled by error rather than misappropriated with dishonest intent his client's funds, we consider only what discipline is appropriate in that circumstance. We note that although the charges filed by disciplinary counsel also alleged that Respondent's conduct was dishonest because he made false statements to disciplinary counsel about his intentions to leave YHA before his departure between March 31 and April 1, 2003, the hearing committee made no findings concerning Respondent's communications with disciplinary counsel, and disciplinary counsel has not argued that this alleged conduct be considered in determining intent to misappropriate funds. {30} [T]he level of discipline to impose is a matter that this Court . . . considers independently under a de novo standard of review. In re Bristol, 2006-NMSC-041, ¶ 30, 140 N.M. 317, 142 P.3d 905. In imposing discipline pursuant to Rule 17-206, this Court looks to the ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions (1991) for guidance. See In re Key, 2005-NMSC-014, ¶ 5, 137 N.M. 517, 113 P.3d 340 (per curiam). These standards serve as a model which sets forth a comprehensive system of sanctions, but which leaves room for flexibility and creativity in assigning sanctions in particular cases of lawyer misconduct. Preface to ABA Standards. The ABA Standards state: In imposing a sanction after a finding of lawyer misconduct, a court should consider the following factors: (a) the duty violated; (b) the lawyer's mental state; and (c) the actual or potential injury caused by the lawyer's misconduct; and (d) the existence of aggravating or mitigating factors. ABA Standards Ill(C)(3.0). {31} Section 4.1 of the ABA Standards, which addresses a lawyer's failure to preserve a client's property, states that if a lawyer's conduct is intentional, that is, if the lawyer knowingly converts client property and causes injury or potential injury to a client, [Wisbarment is generally appropriate. ABA Standards 4.11. If, however, the lawyer's conduct is negligent, that is, if the lawyer knows or should know that he is dealing improperly with client property and causes injury or potential injury to a client, [s]uspension is generally appropriate. ABA Standards 4.12. {32} Although we have determined that there was insufficient evidence to show Respondent's conduct was intentional, Respondent should have known that Rule 16-115(A) requires an attorney to keep client funds in a separate trust account. In addition, he should have known that if he did not file a timely notice of appeal in the matter for which he was hired, he would not have earned those funds. Under the ABA Standards, therefore, we agree with the hearing panel that suspension is the appropriate sanction. {33} This is consistent with how we have previously sanctioned attorneys who have commingled and misused client funds, but who lacked the intent to misappropriate funds. See In re Cannain, 122 N.M. at 711-12, 930 P.2d at 1163-64 (stating that misuse of client funds without the intent to deprive the client of those funds constituted misuse and warranted suspension); In re Martin, 1999-NMSC-022, ¶¶ 18-20, 127 N.M. 321, 980 P.2d 646 (per curiam) (determining that suspension was the appropriate sanction for failing to maintain a trust account, commingling, and unintentionally misusing client funds). Accordingly, we hold that under the evidence before the hearing committee in this case, suspension and not disbarment is the appropriate sanction.