Opinion ID: 2448503
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sanctions Briefing And Hearing Committee Recommendation On Sanctions.

Text: Concurrent with the findings and conclusions, the Hearing Committee chair issued an order addressing briefing on sanctions. The order gave notice that Rice's counsel should notify the Bar office if he wished to request a sanctions hearing. The Bar timely filed a sanction brief in which it argued that the ABA guidelines for disciplinary sanctions, [2] as well as prior Alaska case law, called for Rice's disbarment. Rice did not ask for a hearing on sanctions, nor did he file a brief addressing sanctions. The Hearing Committee issued its recommendation on sanctions at the end of October 2009. It found that Rice's lack of prior disciplinary violations was a mitigating factor, but that his willful failure to cooperate with the Bar's investigation was an aggravating factor. Having considered prior disciplinary case precedent as well as the ABA guidelines, the Hearing Committee recommended that Rice be suspended for four years, with one year of the suspension stayed on the condition that Rice inform his past clients of his suspension and urge them to contact the Bar if they believed their trust funds had not been properly applied or refunded. Rice filed a motion for reconsideration of the recommendation on sanctions. He also requested a hearing and argued that he had relied on the Hearing Committee's statement in its findings and conclusions that it would hold a hearing on sanctions. The Hearing Committee denied Rice's motions for reconsideration and further hearing, explaining that the Order on Briefing on Sanctions had explicitly required Rice to notify the committee if he wanted a sanctions hearing. By failing to do so, the committee reasoned, Rice waived ... his opportunity to submit argument on sanctions.