Opinion ID: 1980664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: January 2001 through June 2001.

Text: In early January 2001, Ms. Soininen learned for certain what she should have realized from the outset, namely, that her continued practice of immigration law contravened this court's order of interim suspension. On January 11, 2001, Ms. Soininen consulted her attorney. On the following day, she received a letter from the attorney advising her that her continued practice before the INS was in apparent violation of INS regulations and that it might constitute the unauthorized practice of law. Counsel recommended that Ms. Soininen notify the INS of her criminal convictions and of this court's interim order suspending her from practice. Ms. Soininen did not, however, immediately terminate her unauthorized practice. Instead, she urged her employer, Capitol Immigration Services (CIS), to find another attorney to take over her cases. She recommended two attorneys whom she believed to be qualified, but nobody was hired to replace her. Finally, on June 13, 2001, Ms. Soininen resigned from CIS and took a position as a legal assistant with a firm in Falls Church, Virginia. During the period from January to June 2001, Ms. Soininen did not file any pleadings or other submissions on behalf of a client in any court, but she continued to work on her CIS cases. [10] On June 12, 2001, the General Counsel of EOIR issued a notice informing Ms. Soininen that disciplinary action was to be taken against her. On the next day, following her resignation from CIS, Ms. Soininen wrote letters to each of her CIS clients on the stationery of the Falls Church firm. In these letters, Ms. Soininen identified herself as Esq.  a title suggesting that she was an attorney at law  and she did not disclose that she had been suspended from practice or that she was no longer authorized to serve as the clients' attorney in pending immigration matters. Instead, Ms. Soininen informed the CIS clients that her new firm would welcome any former clients of her former employer, and that I look forward to continuing to serve your immigration needs. [11] It is thus indisputable that almost half a year after she learned that her immigration practice was contrary to the suspension order, Ms. Soininen attempted to conceal her suspended status from her clients by implying that she was still authorized to practice immigration law. All of the foregoing conduct occurred while Ms. Soininen's interim suspension in Soininen I was in effect. On October 25, 2001, however, this court decided Soininen I on the merits, suspended Ms. Soininen from practice for thirty days, stayed the suspension pursuant to Kersey, and placed her on probation for two years. The court's order ended the interim suspension that had previously been in effect as a result of Ms. Soininen's criminal convictions. Soininen I, 783 A.2d at 622. [12]