Opinion ID: 2276550
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Respondent's level of cooperation

Text: The Board argues that the first Cater factor weighs against the imposition of a fitness requirement because during the investigation Ms. Lea telephoned Bar Counsel, provided Bar Counsel with the Pennsylvania address, and testified at the hearing. We find it difficult to regard Ms. Lea's telephone calls as cooperative efforts when, during the call on September 18, 2001, she promised to file a response but then failed to do so, and when, during the call on February 4, 2003, she refused to give Bar Counsel an address at which she could be personally served. Similarly, the hearing committee was not required to credit Ms. Lea for giving Bar Counsel her mother's address in Pennsylvania because she either ignored the mail sent to that address or failed to ensure that it reached her in a timely manner. Moreover, although Ms. Lea participated in the disciplinary hearing by telephone, her level of participation is undercut by the hearing committee's credibility findings, which we shall discuss more fully later in this opinion. Indeed, the committee discredited any testimony which suggested that Ms. Lea intended or tried to cooperate with Bar Counsel. Moreover, as far as the record shows, Ms. Lea has never responded substantively to Bar Counsel's underlying complaint, which was based on the Superior Court's Rule 11 sanction.