Court Opinion

ID: 9513902
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:42:03.092902+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:05.710732
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Chief Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
[¶ 18] I agree Buresh violated the North Dakota Rules of Professional Conduct and the North Dakota Rules of Lawyer Discipline noted in the majority opinion. However I would follow the Hearing Panel’s recommendation of an 18-month suspension.
[¶ 19] The term “disbarment” may carry a tone of finality. In reality, where disbarment is not permanent, and I do not understand the majority opinion to permanently disbar Buresh, the difference between disbarment and suspension is essentially a factor of time rather than one of finality. Thus, N.D. Stds. Imposing Lawyer Sanctions 2.1 provides:
Disbarment. Disbarment terminates the individual’s status as a lawyer. Where disbarment is not permanent, procedures should be established for a lawyer who has been disbarred to apply for readmission, provided that:
(1) no application should be considered for five years from , the effective date of disbarment; and
(2) the petitioner must show by clear and convincing evidence:
(a) successful completion of the bar examination, and
(b) rehabilitation and fitness to practice law.
Compare these requirements with suspension as defined by Standard 2.2:
Suspension. Suspension is the removal of a lawyer from the practice of law for a specified minimum period of time. The time period prior to application for reinstatement should not be more than three years. When applicable, procedures should be established to allow a-suspended lawyer to apply for reinstatement, but a lawyer who has been suspended should not be permitted to return to practice until he has completed a reinstatement process demonstrating rehabilitation and fitness to practice law.
[¶ 20] Although not specified by the rule governing suspension, we have also required suspended lawyers to take all or a portion of the bar examination as part of the reinstatement process. See, e.g., In Re Reinstatement of Ellis, 2006 ND 194, 721 N.W.2d 693; Matter of Allen, 262 N.W.2d 25 (N.D.1978); Application of Christianson, 253 N.W.2d 410 (N.D.1977). The applicant who has been disbarred and the applicant who has been suspended must each demonstrate rehabilitation and fitness to practice law. Thus, when a suspended lawyer is required to take the bar examination as a condition of reinstatement, the difference between disbarment and suspension is a factor of time and the difference may be as little as the time between the maximum suspension of three years, when a suspended lawyer is eligible for reinstatement, and the minimum five years when a disbarred lawyer may be eligible for readmission.
[¶ 21] It is difficult to argue that Bu-resh should not be disbarred. While, as the majority notes, each case must be decided on its own merits, I nevertheless believe it is this Court’s responsibility to maintain some proportionality in the discipline imposed on wayward lawyers. In comparison, see, for example, this Court’s *216order in Disciplinary Action Against Kaiser, 484 N.W.2d 102 (N.D.1992) in which the Court decided that two episodes of testifying falsely under oath, which had a profound effect on a legal proceeding producing actual, serious, and long-lasting injuries, warranted a two-year suspension from the practice of law. There were mitigating and aggravating factors present in Kaiser and there are mitigating and aggravating factors present here.
[¶ 22] If disbarment is to be the ultimate discipline in each instance of misconduct as defined by N.D. Stds. Imposing Lawyer Sanctions 4.11, 4.61 and 5.11, there is no proportionality. But, those standards by their own terms are “generally” appropriate in the specified instances and do not require a lockstep application.
[¶ 23] I recognize, as the majority observes, that we must exercise our own judgment in these matters. But, as the majority also recognizes, we give due weight to the recommendations of the Hearing Panel. Because I believe the Hearing Panel, in arriving at its recommendation of 18 months suspension provided that proportionality, I would adopt the recommendations of the Panel with the addition that upon applying for reinstatement Buresh must furnish evidence of the successful completion of the Professional Responsibility Examination.
[¶ 24] Gerald W. Vande Walle, C.J.