Court Opinion

ID: 9669909
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:10:47.027254+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:01.075824
License: Public Domain

GILDEA, J.
(dissent).
I respectfully dissent. I do not agree that Sharon Ramirez has proven by clear and convincing evidence that she has undergone a moral change such that clients can have complete confidence in her professional morality. I would deny reinstatement of Ramirez at this time.
The majority discusses the multi-prong analysis we follow in reviewing petitions for reinstatement. For me, this case begins and ends with analysis of moral *927change. We have said that evidence of moral change “is the ‘decisive’ factor in considering a petition for reinstatement.” In re Reutter, 474 N.W.2d 343, 345 (Minn.1991). Applicants for reinstatement “must establish by clear and convincing evidence that” they have “ ‘undergone such a moral change’ ” that they are now fit “ ‘to enjoy the public confidence and trust once forfeited.’” In re Hanson, 454 N.W.2d 924, 925 (Minn.1990) (quoting In re Smith, 220 Minn. 197, 201, 19 N.W.2d 324, 326 (1945)). We require this “high standard of proof’ so we can “be assured that reinstatement would serve the public interest.” Hanson, 454 N.W.2d at 925. Finally, the evidence of moral change must be persuasive enough so “clients can have complete confidence in [their attorney’s] competence and morality.” In re Anderley, 696 N.W.2d 380, 385 (Minn.2005). In my view, Ramirez has not made the requisite high showing.
Ramirez was disbarred because, while working in the position of a government affairs attorney for the St. Paul Companies, she stole approximately $30,000 from her employer by repeatedly submitting false expense reports over a period exceeding 1 year. Subsequent to her disbarment, Ramirez was convicted of felony theft by swindle for her misconduct. She served time in jail and was placed on probation. A little more than 2 years after she was discharged from probation, Ramirez applied for reinstatement.7
The majority emphasizes Ramirez’s continued employment by the Federal District Bankruptcy Court in Puerto Rico as evidence of her moral change. Although I agree that what happened with the bankruptcy court provides compelling evidence on the question here, I reach the opposite conclusion from the majority. In my view, the way in which Ramirez secured her job with the bankruptcy court confirms that she has not shown sufficient moral change to warrant reinstatement.
In applying for the position with the bankruptcy court, Ramirez filled out an application form that asked her the reason for leaving the St. Paul Companies. She wrote: “relocated to North Carolina.” Although Ramirez testified that she had been planning to move to North Carolina at the time of her resignation, she testified that she would not have left the St. Paul Companies when she did if she had not been under investigation for stealing from her employer. She agrees that the bankruptcy court might have been misled by her answer to this question and also stated that “I think they would think that I left the company because I was going to another state.” She also testified that what she wrote was “not the complete truth, but it’s not a lie.”
Not only did Ramirez fail to tell the bankruptcy court “the complete truth” in February 2001, but she also did not tell her supervisor about her felony conviction and disbarment for more than 3 years. Ramirez finally told her supervisor not because her conscience compelled her to do the right thing (i.e. because of moral change), but because she had decided to petition for reinstatement and “wanted to ask her [supervisor] to be a witness on [her] behalf.” Such self-interested behavior does not support a finding of moral change.8
*928We have said that “candor and integrity [are] required of a member of the bar.” In re Cunningham, 502 N.W.2d 53, 57 (Minn.1993). In fact, it was Ramirez’s lack of integrity in filling out expense reports that was the basis for her original disbarment. Ramirez’s continued lack of candor in both the job application for her current job and her decision to keep her true status from her supervisor leaves me unconvinced that she is fit “to enjoy the public confidence and trust once forfeited.” In re Hanson, 454 N.W.2d at 925 (quoting In re Smith, 220 Minn, at 201, 19 N.W.2d at 326) (internal quotation marks omitted).
“The practice of law is a privilege, not a right.” In re Swanson, 405 N.W.2d 892, 893 (Minn.1987). We have previously noted that misconduct similar to the type that led to Ramirez’s disbarment is “among the most serious acts of misconduct a lawyer can commit.” Id. Misappropriation of client funds “strike[s] at the heart of the relationship of trust that must exist between attorney and client.” Id. We have historically been very cautious in returning the privilege of practicing law to someone who has forfeited the public trust. I would exercise that same caution here and deny reinstatement at this time.

. The majority notes that it has been over 8 years since Ramirez was disbarred. In my view, the relevant temporal issue is the time that has lapsed since Ramirez was discharged from probation. See In re Swanson, 343 N.W.2d 662, 665 (Minn.1984) (noting that "the time passed since the expiration of probation is too limited to merit reinstatement”).

. While the majority is "especially persuaded” by what it characterizes as the bankruptcy court’s decision to place Ramirez in a *928position of trust, I am not similarly persuaded. After learning the truth from Ramirez, Chief Deputy Clerk of the bankruptcy court, Wilma Jaime, testified that she was concerned about the integrity of the court's hiring process because the information about Ramirez’s criminal conviction and disbarment should have been known at the time of hiring. Ultimately, the bankruptcy court decided that the failure to know about Ramirez's past misconduct "was an administrative error” and the court "determined that there was no legal basis to terminate her employment” based on the representations made by Ramirez in her application. In my view, the bankruptcy court's legal decision regarding employment is inapposite to the issue of whether Ramirez has demonstrated moral change by clear and convincing evidence.