Court Opinion

ID: 9472118
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:50:07.065646+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:45.368914
License: Public Domain

NELSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
A lawyer is admitted to practice before an Arizona federal court solely because he is licensed to practice in Florida. When that lawyer loses his license in Florida, may the Arizona court absolutely ignore Florida's decision? The majority says it may.
I respectfully dissent.
Hoffman argues that a lawyer who has lost his only earned license to practice law should, per se, be deemed ineffective counsel in all jurisdictions that predicate permission to practice on that license. Like the majority, I reject this position.1 Although disbarment in one state is relevant to other jurisdictions, Theard v. United States, 354 U.S. 278, 77 S.Ct. 1274, 1 L.Ed.2d 1342 (1957), I am not convinced that it should be binding on those jurisdictions. Unlike the majority, however, my rejection of a per se rule does not mean that disbarment can be ignored.
In rejecting the per se rule, the majority relies heavily on United States v. Merritt, 528 F.2d 650 (7th Cir.1976) (per curiam). There, as here, an unlicensed attorney represented a criminal defendant in court. There, as here, the trial court reviewed the record, concluded “that counsel’s performance had been competent and denied relief.” Id. at 651. But there, unlike the majority here, the appellate court concluded that the lawyer’s dubious professional status “create[d] an appearance of inadequate representation” and reversed for a new trial. Id.
If the trial court found counsel adequate in the Merritt case, and the Seventh Circuit reversed without disturbing this finding, the lesson of that case is clear: although unlicensed attorneys are not per se ineffective counsel, there is a heavy presumption *604of ineffectiveness that must be overcome. The majority relies on Merritt for the first half of this lesson, but ignores the second completely. I would prefer to cite the case for its entire holding.
At an intuitive level, it seems obvious to me that an attorney’s suspension reflects on his effectiveness as counsel. After all, in the state in which he has been suspended, the attorney is conclusively presumed ineffective for the period of suspension.2
At an ethical level, the judicial system must avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Model Code of Professional Responsibility EC 9-6. To uphold a verdict that rests on the performance of a lawyer who, had the facts been known, would not have been allowed into the district court,3 is to give the appearance that the judicial system has failed. I would take care to avoid such an appearance of impropriety.
At a legal level, every court to address this issue has concluded that unlicensed lawyers are suspect. United States v. Merritt, 528 F.2d 650 (7th Cir.1976) (per curiam); United States v. Butler, 504 F.2d 220 (D.C.Cir.1974). If not bound by the precedent of these courts, I am convinced by their logic. I would hold that lawyers who have lost the license that was the explicit predicate for granting them permission to practice before a second court are presumptively ineffective. Thus, I would remand for reconsideration in this light.
The only disturbing question that remains is why the majority stretches to apply the Cooper standard to the case before us. See Cooper v. Fitzharris, 586 F.2d 1325 (9th Cir.1978) (en banc), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 974, 99 S.Ct. 1542, 59 L.Ed.2d 793 (1979). Cooper applies the harmless error rule to allegations that unprepared or incompetent counsel violated a defendant’s sixth amendment rights.4 Such allegations can be made at every criminal appeal, are difficult to assess, and lack an objective basis. To restrain a potential avalanche of ineffective counsel claims, we apply a deferential standard of review and often view such claims skeptically. E.g., Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970); Ewing v. Williams, 596 F.2d 391 (9th Cir.1979).
Here, we have no such concerns. Hoffman points to the undeniable fact that the *605Florida State Bar found Vernell unfit to practice, and suspended his license for six months as punishment. The potential trickle of ineffective counsel claims under these circumstances poses no administrative threat; any such claims would have an objective basis and be simple to assess. Thus, I believe that the majority’s reliance on the Cooper standard is misplaced.
Official loss of license is a serious sanction, disturbing both to the legal profession and to society as a whole. Unwilling to treat this sanction as lightly as the majority, I would reverse.

. Several circuits do apply a per se rule that unlicensed attorneys are ineffective counsel. E.g., Salina v. United States, 709 F.2d 160 (2d Cir.1983). Like the majority, I see a distinction between a lawyer who has never been licensed and a lawyer who has been suspended in one state but has not yet been suspended in a second state. Unlike the majority, I would not equate a state bar’s reasoned determination that a person is unfit to practice law with a mere "technical defect” in licensing. Ante at 600, citing Solina v. United States, 709 F.2d at 167.

. Some might argue that Vernell, although found unfit to practice law, was not specifically found "incompetent” by the Florida State Bar. Rather, he was suspended for "ethical” reasons. Florida Bar v. Vernell, 374 So.2d 473 (Fla.1979) (per curiam).
As a matter of "competence,” lawyers must understand their "ethical" duties. Thus 24 states now require successful completion of the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination as a requirement for licensure.
As a matter of "ethics," lawyers owe their clients a duty of "competence.” Model Code of Professional Responsibility DR 6-101, EC 6-3, EC 6-4. Wisely, the majority does not rest its decision on any supposed distinction between suspension for reasons of ethics rather than competence.

. Although, as the majority notes, the district court would not have been legally compelled to suspend Vernell upon notice of Florida’s action, the briefs make clear that the court would voluntarily have chosen to do so. What little Supreme Court guidance is available suggests that this decision would often be proper. See Theard v. United States, 354 U.S. 278, 282, 77 S.Ct. 1274, 1276, 1 L.Ed.2d 1342 (1957) ("If the accusation rests on disbarment by a state court, such determination of course brings title deeds of high respect.”).

. As a general rule, courts are wary of applying the harmless error rule to denials of effective counsel. The doctrine has been rejected in many circumstances. See, e.g., Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980) (lower court failed to determine if joint representation gave appellant's trial counsel the conflicting interest); Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U.S. 475, 98 S.Ct. 1173, 55 L.Ed.2d 426 (1978) (co-defendants with conflicting interests improperly required to accept joint representation); Geders v. United States, 425 U.S. 80, 96 S.Ct. 1330, 47 L.Ed.2d 592 (1976) (defendant improperly barred from consulting with counsel during overnight trial recess); Herring v. New York, 422 U.S. 853, 95 S.Ct. 2550, 45 L.Ed.2d 593 (1975) (defense counsel improperly denied closing argument); Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 23 & n. 8, 87 S.Ct. 824, 827-28 & n. 8, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1976) (the right to counsel described as one of those "constitutional rights so basic to a fair trial that their infraction can never be treated as harmless error”); Hamilton v. Alabama, 368 U.S. 52, 55, 82 S.Ct. 157, 159, 7 L.Ed.2d 114 (1961) (absence of counsel at arraignment).