Court Opinion

ID: 9703703
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:05:31.812186+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:51.297973
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MORAN, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. In determining the appropriate sanction to be imposed in a disciplinary proceeding, this court must appraise the respondent’s conduct in reference to the underlying purposes of our disciplinary process. Those purposes are to maintain the integrity of the legal profession, to protect the administration of justice from reproach, and to safeguard the public. In re LaPinska (1978), 72 Ill. 2d 461, 473. In rejecting the Hearing Board’s recommendation that the respondent be suspended for a period of three years and until further order of this court, the majority concludes that the respondent’s conduct is “considerably less egregious” than that found in In re Levinson (1978), 71 Ill. 2d 486. The respondent in Levinson had no prior history of discipline. In this case, however, the respondent was previously suspended from the practice of law for six months for neglecting the affairs of two different clients. (In re Guilford (1978), M.R. 2145.) Despite that suspension, however, respondent did not change his behavior so as to prevent the neglect underlying count I of the complaint. Like the respondent in Levinson, the respondent here also obstructed the Commission’s investigation of his misconduct. The majority reasons that, because the respondent eventually appeared before the Hearing Board and timely appeared before both the Review Board and this court, his disregard for these proceedings is not so severe as to warrant suspension until further order of this court. Contrary to the majority’s view, I consider respondent’s blatant disregard for his professional responsibility to the Commission to be at least as serious as the respondent’s in Levinson. Unlike the respondent in Levinson, the respondent here had also been previously disciplined for failing to cooperate with the Commission. In 1982, the Commission issued a subpoena duces tecum for the production of documents relating to the matters of three of the respondent’s clients. The respondent failed to produce the documents. After he did not answer a rule to show cause for his failure to comply with the subpoena, this court suspended the respondent for six weeks. That suspension did not, however, deter the respondent’s efforts to obstruct the proceedings now before us. Initially, respondent ignored the Commission’s complaint against him. The Hearing Board noted that, “[consistent with his prior conduct, he refused in this case to appear or produce requested documents at his deposition or at the hearing on January 8, 1985.” In addition, there is yet another aggravating factor which was not present in Levinson. During the inquiry stage of these proceedings, the respondent wrote a letter to the Commission in which he knowingly misrepresented his actions in handling Brandon’s claim. The majority also found that the respondent’s misconduct was not as serious as that found in In re Levin (1984), 101 Ill. 2d 535. Like the respondent in Levin, the respondent here had been previously disciplined for neglecting clients’ affairs. The majority concludes that Levin is distinguishable in that the respondent there was found to have neglected the affairs of six different clients. As already discussed, however, the respondent here was also previously disciplined for his failure to cooperate with the Commission’s investigation of his conduct. This aggravating factor was not present in Levin. I therefore believe that a more severe sanction is necessary. In my view, respondent’s continuing course of neglecting his clients’ affairs and his contempt for the disciplinary process manifest his disregard for his professional obligations to his clients and to the Commission. Such disregard for those obligations adversely reflects upon his character, fitness and ability to practice law. Under the facts of this case, and in light of respondent’s prior history of discipline, I do not believe that a suspension for two years will adequately protect the public or maintain the integrity of the legal profession. I believe these interests would be best served by adopting the recommendation of the Hearing Board by suspending the respondent for a period of three years and until further order of this court.