Court Opinion

ID: 9790350
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:52:02.288389+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:29.080997
License: Public Domain

CORCORAN, Justice,
specially concurring:
Although I agree with the dissent that the record before us shows that respondent’s conduct may have been questionable during these proceedings, I join in the conclusion reached by the majority that this record does not contain clear and convincing evidence that respondent committed the ethical violations with which he was charged. Absent this evidence, I agree that the complaint should be dismissed. I write separately, however, to express my concern with the procedural status of this case.
This matter arose from respondent’s involvement with a client that began in July 1984 — almost 6 years prior to our final resolution of these issues. The hearing at which respondent failed to appear occurred on September 19, 1984. The letter complaining of this conduct was not received by the state bar until nearly a year later. The probable cause panelist did not issue his finding of probable cause and informal reprimand until January 6, 1986. When respondent requested a formal proceeding, the panelist’s order was vacated and the formal disciplinary complaint was filed. The first hearing committee met on March 25, 1987. The first disciplinary commission ruling was issued in October 1987; that ruling remanded the matter back to a second hearing committee, which did not hold a hearing until November 2, 1988. The commission met a second time to review the second committee’s report on February 11, 1989. It ultimately reached the same conclusions as did the first hearing committee, recommending public censure. After that point, the matter eventually arrived for review in this court. The formal record in this case is one of the largest encountered to date.
I believe that the length of time this matter has been in the disciplinary system — more than 5 years — is directly related to the extensive use of volunteers in the system. Members of the hearing committees and the disciplinary commission are busy professionals with only sporadic availability to meet and consider these cases. As a result, these matters drag on for years with lengthy delays between procedural steps. I believe that it may be time for this court and the state bar to consider whether it has become necessary for the state bar to hire administrative law judges to hear evidence on an ongoing basis instead of relying on hearing committees that meet only occasionally. It may also be time for the bar to hire more full-time paid bar counsel, rather than rely on volunteer bar counsel with other professional obligations.
Additionally, I believe that the delay in this case results from a convoluted disciplinary process. Perhaps this system can be simplified. See American Bar Ass’n Model Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement (August 1989).
I urge the bench and bar to consider resolving these problems to prevent unreasonably . long procedural delays like the ones that occurred in this case.