Court Opinion

ID: 9767767
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:26:12.876451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:32.819108
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, concurring. Appellant raises a serious question regarding the possible inconsistent application of the Committee’s four sanctions because our court’s rules fail to describe the type of misconduct that is covered under each sanction. Guidelines, in my view, should be established as an aid so the Committee would have clear standards to follow when considering an attorney’s misconduct and the sanction it should impose. In fairness, an attorney should have some advance knowledge concerning which sanction(s) he or she may expect considering the complaint and allegations filed against him or her. Appellant suggests the following guidelines which I think are worth of consideration. (1) WARNING — to be given when there is some reasonable question as to whether there was in fact a violation. (2) CAUTION — to be given when there has been a violation but no irreparable harm. (3) REPRIMAND — to be given when there has been a violation with irreparable harm. (4) SUSPENSION — to be imposed when the violation is intentional or includes moral turpitude. First, I should point out that the above guidelines fail to help the appellant because, as the majority opinion reflects, the Committee’s finding was not clearly erroneous in deciding the appellant “consciously” or intentionally violated Rule 1.3. Nonetheless, appellant’s suggested guidelines are no less worthy of this court’s consideration when such guidelines, or ones like them, could be adopted and utilized to assure consistency in administering sanctions. Without such guidelines, the Committee, considering the large number of cases it hears and decides, innocently runs the risk of imposing different sanctions to situations where the same or similar misconduct may be involved. The guidelines suggested by appellant present a starting point from which our Committee and this court can begin to improve the sanction stage of our court’s procedure under our rules regulating the professional conduct of attorneys. Everyone agrees, administering sanctions is a serious business, especially when an attorney’s license and privilege to practice law is suspended for any time. This court can ensure fairness now missing in this process by defining the sanctions that are available to the Committee and by describing the misconduct to which each sanction applies. Although I agree with the decision reached by the majority, I believe it may prove worthwhile to memorialize appellant’s suggested sanction guidelines. Knowing there are other members on this court who share the view that the court’s sanctions should be defined, I recommend our Committee consider these foregoing guidelines along with any others it may find worthy of consideration. In my view, notice and due process considerations are appropriate matters for this court to consider when an attorney’s privileges to practice law becomes an issue. The court’s present rules are inadequate in affording proper notice regarding possible sanctions, and the court and its Committee should take this opportunity to correct those deficiencies.