Court Opinion

ID: 9622463
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:18:04.414592+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:16.998655
License: Public Domain

JOHNSTONE, Justice,
concurring.
I concur completely in the Opinion and Order of the Court, but write separately to express my bewilderment at the Dissenting Opinion. The Opinion and Order does not adopt a “bright-line rule” that a lawyer-client romantic relationship, regardless of the nature of the relationship or when it is commenced, is a violation of the Rules. Nor does it create uncertainty regarding such a relationship. The motion before us simply requests that this Court approve an agreed disposition of a disciplinary case, *557something we have done countless times before.
And it is clear what we have before us to base our opinion upon — first, an admission by the Movant that he has violated SCR 3.130 — 1.7(b); and, second, the Kentucky Bar Association’s agreement that the Mov-ant should be publicly reprimanded as a consequence of that violation. If the Dissenting Opinion advocates that we should discontinue approving agreed dispositions of disciplinary charges, it should simply so state. It is demeaning to the members of this Court to imply that we are “rubber stamping” motions without thought or consideration. Nothing could be further from the truth.
STUMBO and WINTERSHEIMER, JJ., join.