Court Opinion

ID: 7560423
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-29 05:56:44.606813+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:24:10.988162
License: Public Domain

LEMMON, Justice,
concurring in the denial of the application.
Relator, admitting the allegations in the specifications of misconduct and submitting evidence of mitigation from the investigatory hearing, has applied for a voluntary suspension of indefinite length. Pretermit-ting the question whether an attorney may invoke the original jurisdiction of this court in bar discipline matters, I am opposed to suspensions of indefinite length. The better procedure in the case of substantial mitigation involving disability is to suspend the attorney for a specific minimum period, with reinstatement conditioned upon a showing of current fitness to practice law. See Standards for Lawyer Discipline and Disability Proceedings § 6.3 (1979). However, I see no objection to a joint petition for disciplinary action based on the evidence submitted herein, without the necessity of a commissioner’s hearing and with full discretion as to penalty unconditionally reserved to this court after briefing and oral argument.