Opinion ID: 2314935
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Recommended Period of Suspension

Text: As noted above, the Hearing Committee majority recommended a sixty-day suspension. Applicable precedents suggest, however, that a thirty-day suspension is more appropriate. In re Chopivsky, No. 86-1538 (D.C. Jan. 29, 1987), for example, involved multiple rule violations and two clients, as does the present case. One of the violations in Chopivsky, as in the case now before the Board, was the failure to refund a fee to a client after promising Bar Counsel to do so. In Chopivsky the Court ordered a thirty-day suspension. The Hearing Committee majority stated that the pattern of conduct evidenced by Respondent warrants a longer period of suspension than in Chopivsky. However, Respondent has no history of prior discipline and the Board finds that his conduct is sufficiently similar to that involved in Chopivsky that a thirty-day suspension is required. See Rule XI, § 9(g). The Board is not persuaded by the Hearing Committee majority's reliance on In re Taylor, No. 83-1027 (D.C. Apr. 24, 1984). Taylor involved a violation of DR 1-102(A)(4) (conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation), among other violations. There is no such charge of dishonesty in the present case. Further, the respondent in Taylor had a history of prior discipline. Based on the above analysis, the Board recommends that Respondent's suspension be for a period of thirty days.