Opinion ID: 1304358
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Stroh's attitude, conduct, and reformation subsequent to disbarment.

Text: The majority of the Board of Governors found Mr. Stroh's general attitude, conduct and reformation subsequent to disbarment have been of a level and quality to support reinstatement. Finding of fact 5. Testimony of witnesses familiar with Stroh's business conduct after disbarment supports this finding. Stroh's friends assert that he was not bitter about his disbarment, despite the hardship and embarrassment it caused him. Nevertheless, the dissents to the Board of Governors' ruling point to incidents which, viewed cumulatively, might cast doubt as to Stroh's attitude, conduct and reformation. 1. Holding himself out as an attorney. Stroh was very careful not to perform the functions of an attorney after disbarment. However, his name continued to appear in the Directory of Attorneys of King County, published by the Daily Journal of Commerce, including the 1986 directory. Apparently he told his secretary to remove his attorney listing from the telephone company phone book, but he did not follow up on this matter to ensure that his name was actually removed from the directory. In addition, Stroh continued to write checks imprinted with his name and the words Attorney at Law after his disbarment until some time in 1984. Furthermore, Stroh displayed for some time his license to practice law in his private brokerage office, albeit on a wall not visible to visitors. We agree with the dissents to the Board's recommendation that Stroh's conduct was improper. After disbarment, Stroh should have scrupulously avoided giving any impression that he was a licensed attorney. Nevertheless, we find that the foregoing incidents reveal carelessness rather than any conscious attempt to deceive. We find that at no time did Stroh attempt to practice law or profit from giving the impression that he was a lawyer. 2. Nondisclosure of conviction. In his applications for real estate salesperson's and broker's licenses, Stroh answered no to the question, Have you ever been convicted of a crime? However, in his petition for reinstatement, Stroh stated that he had fully disclosed his conviction, sentence and disbarment. In support of this assertion, Stroh attached a copy of a letter he had written to the Department of Licensing on January 27, 1983. That letter not only fails to reveal the fact of conviction (calling the conviction a mere allegation), but also wrongly states that Stroh was disbarred for a period of three years because he had merely technically violated the code of ethics. The letter further wrongly states that Stroh would be entitled to practice law after May of 1985, and that the hearing examiner had found that Stroh's conduct was within the scope of plea bargaining. In sum, the letter is characterized by understatement and innuendo, and is in fact false in several respects. Stroh testified, however, that he had orally corrected and clarified the letter, and had fully informed the Department of Licensing of his conviction and disbarment. We defer to the Board of Governors' factual determination that Stroh did in fact reveal his conviction and disbarment as he asserted in his petition for reinstatement that he did. [2] We note that Stroh was entitled to keep confidential the fact of his conviction to the Department of Licensing after he obtained the Order of Dismissal of his conviction executed by Judge James Noe on July 12, 1982. The express language of RCW 9.95.240 entitles Stroh to assert that he has never been convicted. The statute states: Every defendant who has fulfilled the conditions of his probation for the entire period thereof, or who shall have been discharged from probation prior to the termination of the period thereof, may at any time prior to the expiration of the maximum period of punishment for the offense for which he has been convicted be permitted in the discretion of the court to withdraw his plea of guilty and enter a plea of not guilty, or if he has been convicted after a plea of not guilty, the court may in its discretion set aside the verdict of guilty; and in either case, the court may thereupon dismiss the information or indictment against such defendant, who shall thereafter be released from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense or crime of which he has been convicted. The probationer shall be informed of this right in his probation papers: Provided, That in any subsequent prosecution, for any other offense, such prior conviction may be pleaded and proved, and shall have the same effect as if probation had not been granted, or the information or indictment dismissed. (Italics ours.) RCW 9.95.240. We find that the evidence supports the Board's determination that Stroh's general attitude, conduct and reformation subsequent to disbarment have been of a level and quality to support reinstatement.