Court Opinion

ID: 9687122
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:16:27.010376+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:24.391793
License: Public Domain

WAHL, Justice
(concurring specially).
Under Rule 11(A)(2), Rules of the Supreme Court for Admission to the Bar, the burden of establishing good character and fitness to the satisfaction of the Board is upon the applicant. Had this court been the finder of fact, we might have credited petitioner’s assertions that certain omissions on his bar applications, his failure to report to the Wisconsin Court, and the salary misrepresentation were unintentional and excusable good faith mistakes, but the Board could, and did find, on the record before it, that these actions of petitioner were intentional evasions which indicate a lack of the candor and integrity required of a member of the bar. The case is troubling. As the majority recognizes, petitioner did not violate any written order; indeed, according to legal counsel for Wisconsin court services “[I]t does not appear that Respondent failed to comply with any existing child support order.” And, yet, the record shows “deliberate avoidance of obligations to the court extending over a period of years, and culminating in deceitful behavior with respect to two applications to the Board and the income misrepresentation to the Wisconsin court.” Because it seems unlikely to me, in light of this devastating experience, that petitioner would ever again handle his obligation to his child or to the Board in this fashion and because it appears that in all other matters he conducts himself with honesty and integrity, I would waive two of the three years he would otherwise be required by Rule VIII(B) to wait before applying for readmission. I would allow petitioner to renew his application after June 30, 1993, *59for the purpose of showing he meets the character and fitness standard.