Opinion ID: 2284393
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Equating the inequatable: corrupt intent makes a difference.

Text: In Buckley, the majority rejected as rather imprecise and unhelpful the Board's view that it was proper, for purposes of determining what discipline should be imposed, to differentiate between corrupt and non-corrupt misappropriations. 535 A.2d at 866. Citing In re Harrison, 461 A.2d 1034, 1036 (D.C.1983), the court effectively held that there was no difference for purposes of sanction between a lawyer's temporary use of his client's funds on the one hand and outright theft on the other. Id. This apparently means that a lawyer who, awaiting receipt of a government check on Tuesday, borrows $100 on Monday from a client's account and returns that sum on Tuesday, should be subject to the same sanction as a practitioner who steals $50,000, spends it to support an extravagant lifestyle, and thereafter covers his tracks. The basic purpose of disciplinary proceedings is to protect the public, the courts, and the legal profession from the depredations of unethical practitioners. See, e.g., In re Haupt, 422 A.2d 768, 771 (D.C.1980). [2] Sanctions are also designed to deter other attorneys from engaging in similar misconduct. In re Reback, 513 A.2d 226, 231 (D.C.1986) (en banc) . Even temporary misappropriation of a client's funds is a very serious matter, but it surely cannot be gainsaid that the public needs greater protection from the corrupt thief than from the non-corrupt but culpable cutter of corners who never intended to steal. That is why, in selecting the proper sanction for other violations of the Code of Professional Conduct, we have found the presence or absence of a fraudulent intent or state of mind to be so important. See, e.g., In re Hutchinson, 518 A.2d 995, 1000 (D.C.1986). Our purpose in imposing discipline is not to visit punishment upon an attorney. In re Kersey, 520 A.2d 321, 327 (D.C.1987); In re Hutchinson, 518 A.2d 995, 1000 (1986). Nevertheless, in determining what sanction is appropriate, we must consider the moral fitness of the attorney, to the extent that we can discern it. Hutchinson, supra, 518 A.2d at 1000. Although the unauthorized short-time borrower who intends to return what he borrowed is no paragon of virtue, the moral gravity of his conduct obviously pales in comparison to the wickedness intrinsic in outright theft from a client who has placed his trust in his treacherous attorney. The majority in Buckley probably did not mean to suggest that temporary and non-corrupt misappropriation is just as bad as its permanent and corrupt counterpart. It did hold, however, that the former ought to be punished just as harshly as the latter; that taking property without right will incur the same consequences as grand larceny. I cannot agree that violations so lacking in moral equivalence may properly be treated as one and the same. I have no problem with applying a rebuttable presumption of disbarment even in a temporary borrowing case, but I think that the presence or absence of an intent to steal is an important factor in determining whether the presumption has been rebutted. [3]