Committee on Professional Ethics and Conduct of Iowa State Bar Ass'n v. Bromwell
Decision Date | 18 September 1974 |
Docket Number | No. 57521,57521 |
Citation | 221 N.W.2d 777 |
Parties | COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND CONDUCT OF the IOWA STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, Complainant, v. James Edward BROMWELL, Respondent. |
Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Hedo M. Zacherle and Lee H. Gaudineer, Jr., Des Moines, for complainant.
James Edward Bromwell, pro se.
Considered en banc.
The Committee on Professional Ethics and Conduct of The Iowa State Bar Association lodged complaint against respondent James Edward Bromwell, asserting his willful failure to file federal and state income tax returns violated professional standards of ethics and § 610.24, The Code. August 2, 1974, this court's Grievance Commission, fourth division, filed its report, incorporating certain findings and conclusions, and included its recommendation that respondent be suspended from practice of law in Iowa for a period of 18 months.
Respondent did not appear in person or by counsel in the Grievance Commission proceeding. The Commission had before it a written stipulation in which respondent conceded he had willfully and knowingly failed to file United States and Iowa income tax returns for the calendar years 1965 through 1972, although required by law to file for each of those years. Respondent was indicated in United States District Court in three separate counts for failing to file the required federal returns for 1968, 1969 and 1970. He pled guilty to Count II (without prejudice to his right to contest the validity of the gross income stated therein) and has been sentenced.
Respondent denies he owes income tax for any of the years in question. He is contesting an Internal Revenue Service report proposing deficiencies for the years 1968, 1969 and 1970. Neither the Commission nor this court makes any finding whether or not tax is owing for any of the above years, a matter which still stands unresolved between respondent and the taxing authorities.
I. Willfully failing to file an income tax return is a misdemeanor under both federal and Iowa law. See 26 U.S.C. § 7203; § 422.25(5), The Code. Here the respondent, in a consistent pattern spanning eight years, knowingly chose to disregard the mandate of these statutes.
During most of the time pertinent to this proceeding, Canon 29 of the canons of professional ethics applicable under our court rule 119 provided a lawyer '* * * should strive at all times to uphold the honor and to maintain the dignity of the profession and to improve not only the law but the administration of justice.' Specifically, Canon 32 admonished a lawyer to '* * * observe and advise his client to observe the statute law, though until a statute shall have been construed and interpreted by competent adjudication, he is free and is entitled to advise as to its validity and as to what he conscientiously believes to be its just meaning and extent.'
October 4, 1971, this court adopted the Iowa Code of Professional Responsibility for Lawyers. Canon 1 provides, 'A Lawyer Should Assist in Maintaining the Integrity and Competence of the Legal Profession.' Ethical considerations 1--5 cautions:
Disciplinary rule 1--102 relating to the same cannot states:
'(A) A lawyer shall not:
(1) Violate a Disciplinary Rule.
(4) Engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.
(5) Engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.
(6) Engage in any other conduct that adversely reflects on his fitness to practice law.'
The issues in this disciplinary proceeding are whether respondent violated these ethical principles, and if so, what disciplinary penalty should be imposed.
II. Lay persons recognize that the bench and bar each have a grave and heavy responsibility in the administration of justice. The practicing lawyer assumes an important role both in and out of court. He or she is the first to pass on the merit, or lack of merit, of potential litigation as a client unfolds facts across a desk. The lawyer counsels on complex law requirements, and frequently is responsible for a client's decision to avoid possible law violations--including 'white collar' crimes--until recently a fact little known and even less appreciated.
In the courtroom a lawyer is still more conspicuous as a vital force in our justice system. The importance of his function was well described more than 20 years ago by Dean Roscoe Pound:
--The Lawyer from Antiquity to Modern Times, pp. 25--26 (West Publishing Company, 1953)
It is in these ways that lawyers are inextricably and logically connected, in the public view, with the application of law and the protection of constitutional rights.
Consequently, there is no place in the justice system for persons who, through willful and serious law violations, tend to bring that system into public distrust and disrepute.
Pertinent here are the words of the Court of Appeals of Maryland in Maryland State Bar Association, Inc. v. Agnew, Md., 318 A.2d 811, 814 (1974):
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