Opinion ID: 2317331
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: immunity from disciplinary complaint

Text: D.C.App.R. XI, § 9 sets forth an immunity from suit for the members of the Board, members of hearing committees and Bar Counsel, etc., and procedures for handling complaints against such persons arising from activities other than those performed within the scope of their duties. The Board found, and Bar Counsel urges here, that this general grant of immunity, coupled with the presence of explicit procedures for handling complaints involving activities outside the scope of his duties as Bar Counsel, and the failure to provide any such procedures for handling complaints arising from activities within the scope of his duties, evidences the intention of this court that he be immune from such complaint. [13] Bar Counsel also asserts that the same reasons which justify the immunity from suits and actions also justify immunity from disciplinary complaints. [14] On the other hand, Nace correctly points out that neither judges of the District of Columbia courts nor prosecutors are immune from complaints to and discipline by the District of Columbia Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure or the Board, respectively. We further note that if Bar Counsel were convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude for activities within the scope of his duties as Bar Counsel, his permanent disbarment would be mandated by statute. D.C.Code § 11-2503(a) (1981). In re Kerr, 424 A.2d 94 (D.C.1980); In re Colson, 412 A.2d 1160 (D.C.1979). Although the matter is not free from doubt, we think the better reading of our rule, as it currently stands, does provide Bar Counsel the immunity from disciplinary complaint given him by the Board's ruling. Affirmed.