Opinion ID: 1921960
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Mitigating and Aggravating Factors.

Text: The Board recognizes that Respondent's misconduct was not self-serving. Respondent's primary goal was to help a friend; she never intended or wanted to cause harm to E.Y. Respondent initially disregarded the conflict of interest rules and dishonesty rule thinking that writing a will for E.Y. and naming herself as the executor of J.C.'s will would be quick fixes to her client/friend J.C.'s problem. In mid-1987, that problem appeared correctable in the near future: J.C. would obtain a divorce from his first wife and then inform E.Y. of this fact. Unfortunately for Respondent, J.C. could not follow through. He did not finalize his divorce from L. F-C. for seven years and he had a baby by his legal wife, L.F-C., in the interim. What started out as a small lie to help J.C. and to give protection to E.Y. and her child mushroomed into a mountain of ethical problems, which Respondent compounded by not withdrawing from the representation each time the ethical warning lights flashed. Indeed, Respondent contributed to the emotional harm caused in this case by J.C., by assisting and allowing J.C.'s deception to continue for over six years. We also take into account the fact that this is Respondent's first brush with the disciplinary system. She practiced law without discipline for 12 years before drafting the will; she has practiced for 11 years since that time without problems concerning any other client or matter. Respondent, like other respondents in recent disciplinary cases, argues that the publicity this case has received is somehow punishable enough and mitigates in favor of a reduced sanction. The Board disagrees. With the adoption of amended Rule XI, § 17(a), effective on January 1, 1995, the Court opened the disciplinary system to public scrutiny from the time a petition is filed by Bar Counsel. Petitions and Hearing Committee actions naturally lead to press attention. The Board does not view such publicity as having any significance in the sanction process. Respondent also argues that the Board should consider the passage of time as a mitigating factor. The Board recognizes that a number of years have passed since Respondent first became involved with J.C. and E.Y. However, in order for the Court to consider delay as a mitigating factor, it must be sufficiently unique and compelling to justify lessening what would otherwise be the sanction necessary to protect the public interest. In re Fowler, 642 A.2d 1327, 1331 (D.C.1994). Respondent has not cited any circumstances that meet the Fowler test and we do not see any evidence of such circumstances on this record.
There are several aggravating factors that must be considered in assessing Respondent's misconduct. First and foremost, Respondent's conduct unquestionably caused pain on an emotional level to E.Y. E.Y.'s bitterness was plainly evident at the hearing. Indeed it appeared that E.Y. held Respondent more accountable than J.C. because Respondent did not have the significant emotional problems that affected J.C.'s judgment. In E.Y.'s view, Respondent could have halted the harm to E.Y. and her two children years before Respondent finally told her the truth. Under these circumstances, E.Y.'s bitterness is completely warranted. Respondent's conduct also created significant potential harm to E.Y. and her children. E.Y. did not know that J.C. was not legally divorced from his first wife and had not reached an agreement on how to settle all outstanding property issues; consequently she did not know that J.C.'s first wife continued to have a superior claim to a portion of J.C.'s property and stood in a legal position to inherit a portion of J.C.'s estate should J.C. predecease her. These harms did not come to pass, but only because E.Y. was able to revoke the will after she had full disclosure of the facts. Similarly, E.Y. suffered potential harm when, on Respondent's advice she did not challenge the overdue bank loan taken out by J.C. that contained her forged signature, leaving her potentially exposed to the bank's collection efforts and leaving her credit status tarnished. Again, intervening circumstances, in the form of J.C.'s father's offer to cure the default on this note, prevented E.Y. from suffering actual harm. [8] Finally, we consider as an aggravating factor, Respondent's lack of remorse and her failure to acknowledge the nature of her conduct. Throughout this proceeding, Respondent maintained that there was no conflict of interest, that E.Y. was not her client with respect to the Riggs loan, and that her actions were consistent with the rules. Even allowing for the fact that some of the arguments advanced were done on Respondent's behalf as a matter of legal advocacy, we are troubled by the fact that the record shows little or no remorse on the part of Respondent and we consider this to be an aggravating factor. [9]