Opinion ID: 2600199
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Authority of the Bar to Impose Administrative Suspensions

Text: ¶ 16 Utah has an integrated bar, which is an association of attorneys in which membership and dues are required as a condition of practicing law in a[s]tate. Keller v. State Bar of Cal., 496 U.S. 1, 5, 110 S.Ct. 2228, 110 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990). See In re Integration and Governance of the Utah State Bar, 632 P.2d 845, 846 (Utah 1981) (adopting the Utah State Bar Rules of Integration and Management). According to the Utah State Bar Rules of Integration and Management (RIM), [6] [a]ll persons licensed in Utah to practice shall be members of the Utah State Bar in accordance with the rules of the Court. RIM A.1. To obtain membership in the Bar, a person must first meet the [q]ualifications and requirements for admission to the practice of law ... as set forth in the Rules of the Utah State Bar for Admission to the Utah State Bar. RIM C.10(a). If a person meets these requirements, with [t]he approval by the [Supreme] Court ... any person ... shall [be entitled] to be enrolled in the Bar upon his taking an oath to support the Constitutions of the United States and of this state and to discharge faithfully the duties of an attorney to the best of his knowledge and ability, and payment of the fee fixed by the Board of the Bar with the approval of the Court, and thereafter to practice law upon payment of the license fees herein provided. Id. (emphasis added); accord Utah Code Ann. § 78-51-10 (1996) (repealed). With regard to the annual fees, the RIM require [e]very person practicing, or holding himself out as practicing law within this state... prior to so doing ... [to] pay to the Bar a license fee. RIM C.16; accord Utah Code Ann. § 78-51-21 (1996) (repealed). The payment of the annual licensing fee is also required by rule 8 of the RLDD, which provides that [e]very lawyer admitted to practice in this state shall pay to the Bar on or before July 1 of each year an annual license fee for each fiscal year. Thus, the rules repeatedly and clearly require Bar members to pay their annual licensing fee as a condition of continuing to practice law. ¶ 17 Notwithstanding this clear requirement, Sonnenreich questions the Bar's authority to administratively suspend attorneys for failing to pay the annual licensing fee. Although the Bar has not been given the express power, via rule, to impose such suspensions, the power to do so is necessarily implied by the rules. At the very outset, RIM A.1 states, Under the power vested to it by the Constitution and laws of the State of Utah[,] the Utah Supreme Court hereby creates and perpetuates under its direction and control an organization known as the Utah State Bar.... The purposes, duties[,] and responsibilities of the Utah State Bar include, but are not limited to, the following:... (d) to regulate and to discipline persons practicing law. (Emphasis added.) Further, RIM C.20 provides that [n]o person ... whose right or license to... practice has terminated either by disbarment, suspension, failure to pay his license fee or otherwise, shall practice or assume to act or hold himself out to the public as a person qualified to practice law or to carry on the calling of an attorney within the state. Accord Utah Code Ann. § 78-51-25 (1996) (repealed). Where the RIM and RLDD indicate that attorneys cannot practice law without paying the required dues, and RIM C.20 states that attorneys who fail to pay the fee will be temporarily disqualified from practicing law, the Bar has the implicit authority under RIM A.1 to administratively suspend attorneys who fail to comply with these requirements. ¶ 18 Contrary to the district court's interpretation, we implicitly upheld this authority in In re Crandall, 784 P.2d 1193 (Utah 1989). That case involved a recommendation for an interim suspension, based on an attorney's failure to file required probationary reports after being administratively suspended for failure to pay his bar fees. Id. at 1195. Although we ultimately refused to accept the Bar's recommendation of discipline because the Bar's interpretation of rule XX [7] essentially allowed the Bar, after placing an attorney on administrative suspension for failing to pay bar dues, to continue the suspension for unrelated reasons after the attorney tendered his or her delinquent fee, we never questioned the Bar's ability to administratively suspend Crandall for his initial nonpayment. Id. at 1196-97. Rather, we objected to the Bar's discipline of Crandall for claimed unprofessional behavior caused by his continued suspension after he tendered his dues. Thus, we explained that it is inappropriate that the Bar should be able to refuse reinstatement after the delinquent fee is paid for a reason unrelated to the initial suspension. Id. at 1196. Moreover, our holding relied heavily upon the close nexus between the Bar's ability to continue Crandall's suspension for failure to pay his dues after dues were tendered and the subsequent complaints brought against him for failing to file probationary reports caused by the Bar's refusal. Id. at 1197. Crandall did not purport to prohibit the Bar from administratively suspending those attorneys who fail to pay their annual licensing fees. ¶ 19 In sum, given the distinction between administrative and disciplinary suspensions and the clear requirement that attorneys who fail to pay fees will be suspended, we hold that the Bar has the authority to administratively suspend attorneys for failing to pay appropriate annual licensing fees. [8]