Opinion ID: 2448503
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Appeal To Disciplinary Board.

Text: The Bar appealed the Hearing Committee's recommendation, arguing that Rice should be disbarred rather than suspended. Rice cross-appealed on the appropriate sanction but also appealed on a number of other grounds. Among other things, he argued that the recommended four-year suspension was too harsh in light of his cooperation with the Hearing Committee and maintained that he did not act dishonestly, keep client funds, or harm any clients. Rice also contested the Hearing Committee's conclusion that he violated Bar Rule 15(a)(4), arguing that he had eventually provided all requested information and had only delayed doing so because he was waiting for the Hearing Committee to rule on his motions for protective order and to quash the subpoena. Pursuant to an order from the Disciplinary Board, the Bar and Rice each submitted opening briefs to the Board, followed by simultaneous opposition briefs. In his opposition brief, Rice raised the issue of due process for the first time, arguing that the Hearing Committee: (1) denied him due process by truncating its formal hearing before Rice put on his defense; and (2) converted the Bar's status report into a motion for summary judgment without giving him notice of its intent to do so and allowing him to respond to new evidence. The Disciplinary Board convened on January 29, 2010. Bar Counsel reiterated his argument that the ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions justified disbarment in this case. Rice's counsel acknowledged that the issue before the Board was the appropriate sanction for Rice's misconduct, but contrasted Rice's situation with that of other Alaska attorneys who received multi-year suspensions for what he argued were more serious offenses. Rice's counsel also argued that it should be considered a mitigating factor that Rice provided the data with which the Bar built its case and repeated the due process argument raised in Rice's opposition brief. The Disciplinary Board issued an order allowing Rice to submit any new documentary evidence he wished the Board to consider regarding the Hearing Committee's findings and sanction recommendation, and allowing him to request a hearing before the Disciplinary Board to present sworn testimony. Rice timely filed an affidavit, copies of trust account and general account checks, and a request for a hearing before the Board at its regular April meeting. The Disciplinary Board reconvened on April 26, 2010. The Board first addressed Rice's objection to the participation of two Board members who had not been present at the first hearing and decided to allow those members to participate. Rice's attorney then corrected a misstatement he had made at the previous hearing to the effect that Rice did not keep individual ledger cards for his clients; he stated that Rice did keep individual ledger cards and sought to withdraw the suggestion that discipline [was] appropriate because of the admission that [he] should not have made. Rice's attorney acknowledged that the individual client ledgers had not been produced to the Board, contending that it was not within the scope of the authority of the [D]isciplinary [B]oard to conduct a plenary evidentiary hearing because its purpose was to serve as a reviewing court. Instead, Rice requested remand for a full evidentiary hearing before the Hearing Committee. Rice's counsel also argued that Rice's testimony itself served as adequate proof that he had maintained individual client ledgers, even though those ledgers had not been produced. Rice testified on his own behalf. In response to questions from members of the Board and his own counsel, he attempted to explain the circumstances behind each of the NSF notices issued by Wells Fargo. He cited various causes for the overdrafts, including an allegedly unauthorized withdrawal by GCI for a telephone bill and that an associate accidentally drafted a check out of Rice's client trust account rather than his business account. Rice stated that he had closed his client trust account shortly after July 30, 2009, and had stopped taking clients who requested that he hold money for them in trust. The Bar did not present evidence or argument at this hearing. On April 27 the Board issued a final order adopting the Hearing Committee's recommendations regarding sanctions. Rice appeals the Board's decision.