Opinion ID: 2608843
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Proceedings and Recommendations

Text: The hearing panel, consisting of a single referee, initially concluded that compelling mitigating circumstances predominated in this case and recommended discipline less than disbarment, including two years of actual suspension from the practice of law. Thereafter the hearing panel granted the hearing examiner's motion to present additional evidence of aggravating circumstances occurring after the initial hearing. After receiving and considering this additional evidence, the hearing panel filed an amended decision recommending that petitioner be disbarred. In so recommending, the hearing panel said it could no longer conclude, as it had in its initial decision, that petitioner was sincerely remorseful or that his misappropriations were aberrational. The hearing panel stated that the evidence in aggravation made petitioner's assertions of remorse sound very hollow and that it is clear that the good reputation [petitioner] previously established cannot be relied upon as [a] guide to his future conduct. Petitioner sought review of the hearing panel's amended decision. By a vote of 15 to 1, the review department adopted the hearing panel's findings, conclusions, and discipline recommendation as stated in the amended decision.