Court Opinion

ID: 9467563
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:51:46.425825+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:24.775666
License: Public Domain

WILLIAM E. DOYLE,
Circuit Judge, concurring.
I concur specially.
The position that I take derives from the fact that we have limited authority to deal with a case such as this one, which comes to us after it has been processed by the state court and also in the federal district court. Moreover, our standards are limited. Rule 25 sets forth the criteria and requires this court to impose the same discipline that the district court has imposed, or as the court of any state, territory, district, etc. has imposed. There is not a lack of notice or opportunity to be heard nor insufficiency of proof in support of the conviction. Nor can it be said that the imposition of the same discipline by this court would result in grave injustice; or that the misconduct es*1151tablished has been held by this court to warrant substantially different discipline. Hence, no legal ground is present which would allow us to reverse or modify the judgment.
The opinion of Judge Barrett follows the action taken by the district court which has imposed the same sanction handed down by the Colorado Supreme Court. The only standard which could possibly be regarded as applicable here would be the third standard, which reads, “the imposition of the same discipline by this court would result in grave injustice.”
Needless to say, I am unable to say that the imposition of the same discipline by this court would result in grave injustice.
The reason for my lack of enthusiasm for the decision is my belief that the sanction is severe, considering that the offense is not a grievous or a flagrant one. To be sure it displays a gross inability to practice law and to understand the standards of discipline and ethics that apply. On the other hand, there is no evidence that the defendant intended to injure his client. What the record reveals is that he lacks legal judgment. His lack of knowledge of a lawyer’s duties to his client warrant imposition of some sanction. However, a three-year suspension virtually sounds the death knell. His legal fees were not high, but I think that the hearing panel was concerned by the fact that little or no effort was needed to complete the estate work, since everything was in joint ownership. Even though the fees were not high, they were high from the standpoint of the small amount of property that was being transferred by operation of law.
Nevertheless, I would feel better about the case if a plan could have been put together providing that he return the money that he had collected over and above a reasonable fee for the inheritance tax waiver and for his going through the other small formalities that went with the handling of these transfers.
My other thought would be that perhaps the man could be returned to law school to take some special courses that might impress him with his deficiencies. Thus, if he could take a course in wills and estates from Judge Wade at the University of Denver, and a course in legal ethics. It would also help to require him to study contracts and torts and real property. This would do a great deal more good than merely suspending him for three years. I don’t object to the pronouncement of the three-year suspension; however, it seems to me that if he were required to study the mentioned courses, with the provision that the suspension would be lifted at the discretion of the court upon successful completion of them, the order would be much more meaningful. I am not certain that such conditions can be imposed. However, an order from the court would help him gain admission.
I do not disagree with anything that BARRETT, J., has said.