Court Opinion

ID: 9561532
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:11:19.971423+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:51.372519
License: Public Domain

Browning, President,
dissenting:
It is with deference that I find myself in such disagreement with the majority that it is necessary to state the reasons therefor in a formal opinion. I believe that the majority has overlooked the fact that this Court in the exercise of its inherent power has created an integrated West Virginia State Bar, requiring all who practice law in this State to be members thereof, and has laid down firm rules with regard to the admission to practice and the determination of the right to practice law in this State. Therefore, I believe that any previous decisions of this Court, such as in the application of Jackson V. Blair, Jr., Order Book 57, Page 151 (June 14, 1948), in which this Court, without a written opinion, did grant Blair a license to practice law after his initial license had been *846revoked, are inapplicable. Furthermore, it is my opinion that Code, 30-2-1, has no' application whatever to the controlling issue in this case.
The language of Article VI, Part H, § 31, of the By-Laws of the West Virginia State Bar is clear and unambiguous in providing that, “The annulment of a license to practice law by any court of competent jurisdiction shall revoke and forever terminate such license, and shall constitute a disbarment.” The majority has found that the language “such license” refers only to the initial license granted to the attorney and that he may apply for a new license at any time after the original has been revoked. I cannot accept this appraisal of that language. The words “forever terminate” and “disbarment” mean more than a routine revoking of a license without prejudice. In my opinion, they mean an irrevocable termination of the right to practice law in this State by the person whose license was revoked and annulled. If the language of that rule is ambiguous then § 24 must be read with it to ascertain its meaning. That section provides only for the “suspension” of a license to practice law upon conviction of a crime not involving moral turpitude or professional unfitness, and when a court has suspended the license of an attorney, the way back to full restitution of his right to practice law is a difficult one. When the period of suspension has ended, he must apply for permission to practice again, and when that is done, this Court refers the petition to the Committee on Legal Ethics of the State Bar for a full investigation and a determination of whether he has complied with the conditions imposed upon him when he was suspended and a recommendation with regard to disposition. There is no such provision in § 31 concerning the situation presented herein for the simple reason, in my opinion, that the rule did not contemplate any subsequent application by an attorney whose license had been revoked and forever terminated. Although the majority states that with which we are all in agreement, i.e., the inherent power of this Court to regulate the practice of the law, it has found it necessary to turn to an ancient *847statute, Code, 30-2-1, which has been a part of the law of this State since 1863 and was last amended in 1923, to find that an attorney whose license has been revoked may by the simple procedure of complying with that statute secure a new license to practice law. There is no explanation as to why this Court would impose a much more severe penalty upon an attorney whose license was merely suspended than upon one who was disbarred and his license forever terminated.
It is evident from a casual reading of Code, 30-2-1, that its provisions do not relate to an application for a license to practice law by an attorney whose first license had in a proper proceeding been revoked. It is clear that its provisions are applicable only to a graduate of a college of law who seeks for the first time to be admitted to the practice of law. The first step is to appear before the circuit court of the county in which the applicant has resided for at least a year and prove to the satisfaction of that court that he is twenty-one years of age and of good moral character. Upon receipt of a certified copy of the order of the circuit court to that effect by the Supreme Court of Appeals, the applicant, if a graduate of other than the West Virginia University College of Law, may apply to the Board of Law Examiners, appointed by this Court, for the purpose of taking an examination to ascertain whether he is qualified to practice law in the courts of this State, and if he successfully passes the examination, he is issued a license to practice law by this Court. A graduate of the West Virginia University. College of Law need only produce a copy of the circuit court order and his diploma in order to be entitled to practice law in this State. The majority required of this applicant only that he comply with the first requirement, i.e., submit the certificate of the circuit court of the county of which he is a resident, and did not refer the matter to the Committee on Legal Ethics of the West Virginia State Bar for further action of any kind. It is my opinion that this Court has, in effect, amended Article VI, Part H, § 31, of the By-Laws of the State *848Bar, a power delegated to the State Bar by virtue of the language contained in Article X, §§ 1 and 2 of the By-Laws:
§ 1. AMENDMENTS AT ANNUAL MEETING.
Subject to the approval of the supreme court of appeals, these by-laws may be altered or amended at any annual meeting on recommendation of the board by vote of a majority of the members present or, without such recommendation, by vote of two thirds of the members present.
§ 2. AMENDMENTS BY MAIL VOTE.
The board may at any time submit to the members of the State bar, by mail, proposed alterations or amendments to the constitution and to the by-laws of the State bar, and such alterations or amendments shall become effective when approved by a majority of the members voting and by the supreme court of appeals.
In summary, Code, 30-2-1, has no application to the issue before the Court in this case. It does not provide for the granting of a second license to an attorney whose first license has been “forever terminated.” If the Legislature had passed such an act this Court would strike it down as an invasion of the “inherent” power of the judicial branch of the government and as violative of Article 5, § 1, of the Constitution of this State, the separation of powers provision of that document. Article VI, Part H, § 31, of the By-Laws of the West Virginia State Bar contains no language that could possibly be interpreted as authorizing the granting of a second license to an attorney whose original license had been annulled. This Court in the exercise of its inherent power approved that rule. This rule can be changed only in the manner provided in Article X, §§ 1 and 2 of those By-Laws which sections were approved by this Court. I would deny the application of the petitioner for a second license to practice law in this State for the reasons stated herein.
I am authorized to say that Judge Calhoun concurs in the views expressed in this dissent.