Court Opinion

ID: 9711292
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:28:28.780046+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:03.477543
License: Public Domain

Knutson, Justice
(concurring specially).
After thoroughly reading this voluminous record, I have come to the conclusion that the testimony of many of the witnesses relied upon by the committee is of such doubtful value that the findings of the referee should be affirmed. I therefore concur in the result. In so doing, I wish to voice my disapproval of the tactics of respondent in attempting to transform this investigation of his activities into an attack upon the committee charged with the responsibility of conducting the investigation and its attorneys. I do not believe that anyone can fairly read this record without coming to the conclusion that the committee was in possession of such information at the outset as to justify, if not require, the commencement of these proceedings, if it was to perform the duties entrusted to it. No one could foresee that nearly all the witnesses whose testimony had been taken by depositions, participated in by respondent, would have so little regard for the sanctity of an oath that they would later repudiate their sworn testimony in affidavits given to respondent. Had the investigation rested upon the original depositions of the witnesses, *67the outcome might well have been the opposite of what it is. In conducting an investigation of this kind, the committee acts as an arm of this court in presenting to our referee, and finally to us if there is a review, such evidence as it has. In so doing, the committee is entitled to fair treatment and a decent respect. While it may be respondent’s good fortune that the witnesses relied upon by the committee had so little respect for an oath as to render their testimony unworthy of belief, I cannot read this record without coming to the conclusion that had there been more devotion to the duty resting upon respondent of fairly assisting the committee in clearing himself of the charges brought against him and less effort spent in seeking to impute to the committee an improper motive in commencing and conducting the investigation, the outcome would be more satisfactory to all concerned. If the standards of the legal profession are to be preserved, it is essential that charges of this kind be investigated, no matter from what source the information comes. The investigation should be fair to the attorney involved, to the end that those unjustly accused may be vindicated, but in like measure those charged with the unpleasant duty of conducting the investigation are entitled to fair treatment. Only by the reciprocal discharge of their respective responsibilities with fair treatment to each other may attorneys who have been improperly accused receive the vindication to which they are entitled without leaving a suspicion that all is not as it should have been and the committee be enabled to discharge its duties without having the referee lose sight of the fact that after all it is the activities of the attorney and not the committee that are under investigation.