Court Opinion

ID: 9618737
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:16:35.936761+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:03:47.310418
License: Public Domain

BIRD, C. J.
I respectfully dissent. I would grant petitioner’s request for an evidentiary hearing to augment the stipulated statement of mitigating circumstances. Discipline should be deferred until after such a hearing.
As the majority note, this court has declared that State Bar disciplinary proceedings are not criminal actions. However, this declaration “is *476considerably undermined by the repeated concession that they are ‘quasi-criminal’ proceedings. (Golden v. State Bar (1931) 213 C. 237, 247, 2 P.2d 325; Furman v. State Bar (1938) 12 C.2d 212, 229, 83 P.2d 12; Herrscher v. State Bar (1935) 4 C.2d 399, 403, 421, 49 P.2d 832... . The attorney whose professional license is challenged has as much at stake as the defendant in many a criminal prosecution, and should be similarly protected in the trial of serious charges.” (1 Witkin Cal. Procedure (2d ed. 1970) Attorneys, § 252, at p. 260.)1
The right to practice one’s profession, which is at stake in disciplinary proceedings, has long been deemed sufficiently fundamental to surround it with a panoply of procedural safeguards. (See Emslie v. State Bar (1974) 11 Cal.3d 210, 226, 229 [113 Cal.Rptr. 175, 520 P.2d 991]; Endler v. Schutzbank (1968) 68 Cal.2d 162, 169-173 [65 Cal.Rptr. 297, 436 P.2d 297]; Brecheen v. Riley (1921) 187 Cal. 121, 124-125 [200 P. 1042].) Although this court is not compelled to extend the procedural rules governing civil or criminal litigation to these proceedings, “such rules have been invoked by the courts when necessary to insure administrative due process. [Citation.] ... [1Í] The question whether a particular rule of the civil or criminal law, not otherwise provided for by statute or categorically established by case law, should be applied in State Bar disciplinary matters to assure administrative due process, must be determined upon the facts presented in a particular case.” (Emslie v. State Bar, supra, 11 Cal.3d at p. 226.)2
Contrary to the majority’s position, petitioner’s request is not governed by the case of Inniss v. State Bar (1978) 20 Cal.3d 552 [143 Cal.Rptr. 408, 573 P.2d 852]. In Inniss, this court remarked that when it is considering an increas.e in the recommended discipline, it “may relieve the attorney from the binding effect of the stipulation. Ordinarily, however, the stipulated facts may not be contradicted... .” (Id., at *477p. 555, second italics added.) Thus, Inniss determined only that an attorney who had entered into a stipulation as to acts or omissions which required discipline could not challenge those admissions if this court chose to consider a more severe discipline. Petitioner mounts no such challenge here. He merely requests an opportunity to make available to this court additional testimonial and documentary evidence of circumstances in mitigation of his conduct.
Specifically, petitioner requests an evidentiary hearing to enable him to substantiate and detail his stipulated representations regarding Kelly’s consultation with other counsel, Kelly’s experience in real estate and business matters, the breakdown in communications between himself and Kelly which led to the filing of a facially inaccurate demurrer, the agreement between himself and other attorneys to pay the costs of an investigator’s bills on a pro rata basis, that the pro rata share he owed was less than the amount in the trust account, and that his clients had authorized him to withhold payment to the investigator. Moreover, petitioner indicates that he would present this evidence at a hearing to set forth his condition, his cooperation and candor with the State Bar, and his reputation in the legal community.
The majority’s observation that petitioner has failed to advise this court of any “mitigating circumstances which he would put in evidence on a remand which do not now appear in the stipulation” (maj. opn., ante, at p. 473, fn. 3) mischaracterizes petitioner’s request. At oral argument, petitioner explained that he and his counsel met with a State Bar examiner at a “pretrial settlement conference.” They negotiated (1) a recommended discipline which appeared reasonable to both parties, and (2) a mutually acceptable recitation of the acts and omissions which warranted discipline. Only some weeks later, petitioner explained, did the State Bar examiner, who was familiar with his case, prepare a statement of mitigating circumstances and mail it to petitioner and his counsel for approval.
This statement was not the subject of give-and-take negotiations as were the matters pertaining to discipline and the factual basis therefor. The statement consisted basically of a summary of petitioner’s arguments as to why he should be afforded lenient treatment. Other than some documents which were in his possession, petitioner did not present any evidence to support his assertions. Nor, apparently, was he asked to do so. Thus, in contrast to the factual admissions in the stipulation, which are presented straightforwardly as facts, the mitigating circumstances in the stipulation are preceded by the qualifying phrase *478“Respondent [attorney] represents that....” In consequence, the State Bar has not, by the literal terms of the stipulation, agreed to the truth of anything other than the fact that petitioner offered various unsubstantiated claims in mitigation of his misconduct.
Petitioner argues convincingly that his uncorroborated and necessarily self-serving representations could be made considerably more persuasive if they were buttressed by the testimony of less partial witnesses or by documentary evidence in the possession of others. As any advocate knows, the source of a piece of information is often a significant aspect of that information’s probative and persuasive force. Moreover, petitioner’s proposed evidence regarding his intent, his cooperation with the State Bar, and his professional reputation is not now in the record before this court even though it is relevant to any determination of appropriate discipline.
It is true that petitioner could have insisted on a formal hearing before he entered into the stipulation and could have presented the evidence there which he now seeks to add to the record.3 However, Inniss v. State Bar, supra, 20 Cal.3d 552, did not put petitioner on notice that his failure to insist on an evidentiary hearing on mitigation would preclude him from obtaining such a hearing at a later date. Indeed, petitioner indicates that he believed he would have an opportunity for such a hearing if this court contemplated rejecting the disciplinary recommendation.
Moreover, it was not apparent that a fuller exposition of mitigating circumstances would have been necessary or useful at that time because, as petitioner noted in oral argument, “There was nobody to persuade.”
The examiner, who had negotiated the stipulation, obviously regarded the recommended discipline as appropriate. If the referee or hearing panel, who must approve a stipulation before it is filed with this court, were to disagree with the recommended discipline, rule 408, subdivision (b) of the Rules of Procedure of the State Bar ensures that in such a situation “the parties shall be relieved of all effects of the stipulation ...” Whatever procedural rights petitioner might have surrender*479ed by entering the stipulation would thus be restored to him. Only in the rather unlikely event that this court were to think that the disciplinary recommendation might be too lenient would there be a need to develop a full and persuasive record of the factors in mitigation.
Although this court bears the ultimate responsibility for determining the degree of discipline to impose, the recommendations of the State Bar Disciplinary Board are accorded great weight (In re Duggan (1976) 17 Cal.3d 416, 423 [130 Cal.Rptr. 715, 551 P.2d 19]), and will ordinarily be followed by this court. (Moura v. State Bar (1941) 18 Cal.2d 31, 32 [112 P.2d 629].) In the usual case, a summary of the factors in mitigation will provide an adequate record to enable this court to determine whether to follow the board’s recommendation. However, if in reviewing that record, this court decides that the attorney’s misconduct may warrant a harsher sanction, it may then become appropriate to provide this court with a more thorough record of the mitigating circumstances. Indeed, the economies made possible by the stipulation process could be lost if every attorney accused of misconduct felt impelled to insist on a formal evidentiary hearing on mitigating factors in anticipation of the prospect that this court might later decide to consider an increase in discipline.4
This court should have a full record before it when assessing the appropriate discipline to dispense. It is important as well for purposes of his rehabilitation that the disciplined attorney feel that he has been afforded his full and fair day in court. Mindful of the “concepts of fundamental due process” (Emslie v. State Bar, supra, 11 Cal.3d at p. 228) which govern this court’s treatment of State Bar disciplinary proceedings, in fairness to the attorney here I would remand for an evidentiary hearing on mitigating circumstances before imposing any discipline.
Tobriner, J., and Newman, J., concurred.

See In re Ruffalo (1968) 390 U.S. 544, 551 [20 L.Ed.2d 117, 122, 88 S.Ct. 1222], which held that disbarment proceedings were “adversary proceedings of a quasi-criminal nature. [Citation.]"’ “Disbarment, designed to protect the public, is a punishment or penalty imposed on the lawyer. [Citations.],” the court reasoned, and the attorney “is accordingly entitled to procedural due process . . .. ” (Id., at p. 550 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 122].)

Petitioner invokes the analogy of the statutory provisions governing the criminal plea bargaining process. He argues that he has surrendered his rights to various procedural protections and admitted misconduct in return for the State Bar’s recommendation of a particular discipline. When a trial court declines to approve a plea bargain which a criminal defendant has negotiated, petitioner notes, the plea is deemed withdrawn and may not be received in evidence in any other proceeding. (Pen. Code, § 1192.5.)

It is unclear whether the State Bar Disciplinary Board would have agreed to stipulate as to the facts and recommended discipline and at the same time hold an evidentiary hearing on mitigating factors. Indeed, rule 406, subdivision (iv) of the Rules of Procedure of the State Bar requires that a proposed stipulation as to facts and discipline include a “statement of mitigating circumstances, if any____”

Of course, if petitioner had elected to proceed by way of formal hearings rather than by stipulation, he would be under a duty to present to the board any and all evidence he deemed favorable to himself. (Coviello v. State Bar (1955) 45 Cal.2d 57, 65 [286 P.2d 357].)