Court Opinion

ID: 9760061
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:39:45.942155+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:08.034955
License: Public Domain

*241
Eldridge, J.,

dissenting:

While I do not minimize the seriousness of Mr. Sherman’s misconduct, I believe that a three-year suspension from the practice of law is an excessive sanction under the circumstances.
In cases involving findings of willful misrepresentations made by attorneys to courts, we have imposed a suspension of one year (Attorney Griev. Comm’n v. Levitt, 286 Md. 231, 406 A.2d 1296 (1979)) and a reprimand (Attorney Griev. Comm’n v. O’Neill, 285 Md. 52, 400 A.2d 415 (1979)). The degree of misconduct shown by the evidence in the instant case does not approach that in a recent case in which we imposed a two-year suspension, Attorney Griev. Comm’n v. Kerpelman, 288 Md. 341, 420 A.2d 940 (1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 970, 101 S.Ct. 1492, 67 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981), disbarment by the Supreme Court, 450 U.S. 975, 101 S.Ct. 1507, 67 L.Ed.2d 810 (1981). The Kerpelman case involved two different willful and deliberate misrepresentations to a client plus advising a client to violate a court order. See also Attorney Griev. Comm’n v. Haupt, 285 Md. 39, 399 A.2d 1350 (1979) (imposition of a ninety-day suspension upon an attorney who made a willful misrepresentation to an official in charge of a detention facility which "jeopardized the entire security system at the facility” (285 Md. at 57), and who had previously been suspended by the Court for a different violation of the disciplinary rules).
This Court has repeatedly stated that "suspension is for the protection of the public, not by way of punishment of the individual lawyer. It is protection for the public because it demonstrates the type of conduct which a court will not tolerate without sanction.” Attorney Griev. Comm’n v. Lockhart, 285 Md. 586, 597, 403 A.2d 1241 (1979). See also Attorney Griev. Comm’n v. Kerpelman, supra, 288 Md. at 382. A suspension for three years is not required to demonstrate to the bar that we shall not tolerate conduct such as that disclosed by the evidence in this case.
In light of the testimony below, and our prior cases, I would suspend Mr. Sherman for a lesser period than three years.