In re Chadwick, 83-1294.

• Decision Date: 31 January 1991
• Docket Number: No. 83-1294.,83-1294.
• Parties: In re William J. CHADWICK, Respondent.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

585 A.2d 798

In re William J. CHADWICK, Respondent.

No. 83-1294.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Submitted December 19, 1990.

Decided January 31, 1991.

Michael S. Frisch, Asst. Bar Counsel, with whom Thomas E. Flynn, Bar Counsel at the time the statement was filed, Washington, D.C., was on the statement filed for the Office of Bar Counsel before the Bd. on Professional Responsibility.

Jamie S. Gorelick, Washington, D.C., was on the statement for respondent filed before the Bd. on Professional Responsibility.

Before BELSON and STEADMAN, Associate Judges, and PRYOR, Senior Judge.

PER CURIAM:

On July 27, 1989, the Supreme Court of California ordered that respondent William J. Chadwick be suspended for five years from the practice of law in California, with an actual suspension period of one year, and probation involving a number of conditions.¹ Before us is a recommendation of the Board on Professional Responsibility that reciprocal discipline be imposed upon respondent pursuant to D.C.App.R. XI § 11 (1990). Respondent interposes before us no objection to the proposed action.

We generally agree with the analysis set forth by the Board in its annexed report and accept its recommendation. Although, as the Board points out, we have never imposed a condition of probation in a case of this type, our rules would not preclude such action² and we agree with the Board that in this reciprocal discipline case, no reason exists to impose a sanction different from the one imposed in California. We also agree with the Board's determination that no purpose would be served in this case by imposing upon respondent, a California lawyer, additional probationary conditions in the District of Columbia.

Since respondent has filed the requisite affidavit that he has not practiced law in this jurisdiction since September 6, 1989, the commencement of his suspension in California, the reciprocal discipline will be imposed nunc pro tunc to that date. In re Goldberg, 460 A.2d 982 (D.C.1983).³

Accordingly, it is ORDERED that respondent William J. Chadwick is suspended from the practice of law in the District of Columbia for five years, commencing nunc pro tunc on September 6, 1989, with execution of four years of the suspension stayed and that he is placed on probation for that period, with an actual suspension from practice of one year and with all the other terms and conditions of probation as imposed by the Supreme Court of California⁴ to serve as terms and conditions of his probation in the District of Columbia.

So ordered.

APPENDIX

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS BOARD ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Bar Docket No. 87-82

IN THE MATTER OF WILLIAM J. CHADWICK, RESPONDENT.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE BOARD ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

On February 5, 1990, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued an order directing the Board on Professional Responsibility to determine whether reciprocal discipline should be imposed on Respondent resulting from the California Supreme Court's discipline imposed on Respondent in that state. The California Supreme Court suspended Respondent for five years with the imposition of all but the first year of that period suspended and placed him on probation for five years with certain conditions.

The disciplinary violations in California grow out of the same transaction which resulted in the one year suspension of James D. Hutchinson by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in In re Hutchinson, 534 A.2d 919 (D.C.1987) (en banc). In short, Chadwick, as did Hutchinson, traded in certain securities based on inside information, communicated material, nonpublic information concerning a tender offer to others, and lied to the Securities and Exchange Commission about his trading. Both Hutchinson and Chadwick ultimately entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor violation of 15 U.S.C. § 78ff(a) and 17 C.F.R. § 240.14e-3(d) which, in general, prohibits the communication of inside information regarding tender offers.

Hutchinson's disciplinary charges proceeded through the District of Columbia disciplinary system in the normal course and resulted in an en banc decision by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals suspending him for one year. At or about the same time, Bar Counsel filed a petition against Chadwick asserting essentially the same violations he asserted against Hutchinson. On January 6, 1984, the Board granted Chadwick's motion to defer proceeding in this case pending resolution of the State Bar of California's proceedings against him.

The California Supreme Court has now held that Chadwick engaged in acts involving moral turpitude including agreeing with Hutchinson to lie to the SEC, lying to the SEC and trading in securities with the use of inside information. The Court suspended Chadwick for five years, suspended imposition of all but one of those years of suspension, placed Chadwick on probation for that same period with the condition that he comply with the provisions of the State Bar Act and the Rules of Professional Conduct, file quarterly reports attesting to his having complied with those provisions, report to a State Bar probation monitor and take and pass the Professional Responsibility examination prior to the expiration of the period of his actual suspension.

Chadwick, in response to the Court of Appeals' direction to the Board, argues that no more than reciprocal discipline as described in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Order should be imposed. Chadwick reads that Order as describing the discipline imposed in California as limited to a suspension of five years with the execution of all but one year suspended. In short, Chadwick does not believe that the District of Columbia Court of Appeals had in mind other conditions of probation imposed by California as part of the reciprocal discipline that would be imposed if the Board concludes that reciprocal discipline is appropriate.

Bar Counsel, on the other hand, argues that reciprocal discipline should be imposed and that, because Chadwick's conduct was arguably more serious than Hutchinson's, and because the proceedings against him here have been substantially delayed, all the conditions imposed by California should be imposed here as reciprocal discipline.

While we agree with Bar Counsel and Chadwick that reciprocal discipline should be imposed, we disagree with the approach taken by both. We do not believe that the fact that Chadwick's proceeding was delayed for a substantial period of time can be held against him. He properly moved this Board to defer consideration of his case until a final disposition of charges brought against him in California. The Board granted that motion. Perhaps, in hindsight, the Board should not have granted that motion, but the fact remains that it did and Chadwick should not be penalized because the Board granted relief he sought.

Nor do we agree with Bar Counsel that Chadwick's conduct was more serious than Hutchinson's, and therefore, all the California probation conditions should be imposed. Chadwick's conduct may have been more or less serious than Hutchinson's.¹ All we can say from the record in the two cases is that Chadwick appears to have engaged in virtually the identical conduct as Hutchinson. He may have been the instigator of the scheme that led to their misconduct, but Hutchinson fully endorsed it and both...